The Visitor Is PresentSome photos I snapped of Marina Abramovic at MoMA. For her current solo exhibition, The Artist Is Present, Abramovic is sitting still at this table all day, every day, through May 31st, unflinchingly maintaining eye contact with whomever volunteers to sit across from her and look back.This volunteer was there when I arrived and remained there for the rest of my two-hour visit to the museum.The energy that seems to radiate from two strangers looking at each other in this way is so intense that to watch them feels almost voyeuristic. At the same time, it made me think about universal love and the transcendence of the physical — about a soul interacting with another soul.Shit was crazy intense.
Read an entertaining article about this part of the show, and Holland Cotter's full review at nytimes.com (there are also several slideshows and interactive features).
Info about The Artist Is Present, which is up through May 31st, at MoMA.org.