Marina Abramovic—MAI Presents: Counting the Rice
1–11 May 2014, 11am–6pm
In 1987 the Centre d’Art Contemporain hosted die Mond, der Sonne, the final collaboration between Marina Abramovic and the German artist Ulay before they separated on the Great Wall of China during their performance The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk.
For the Centre’s 40th anniversary, Marina Abramovic is returning to Geneva for a public exercise from the Marina Abramovic Method—”Counting the Rice”—in a site-specific structure designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind. The exercise will allow its participants to develop endurance, concentration, self-control, willpower, and to overcome their physical and mental limits.
The exercise lasts approximately six hours, and will take place on 1–3 and 7–11 of May, from 11am (welcome for participants) to 6pm (the Centre’s closing time). Places are limited; prior reservation at presse [at] centre.ch is essential. Counting the Rice is free and open to all.
On May 7th Marina Abramovic will be in conversation with Andrea Bellini (Director of Centre d’Art Contemporain), about the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI) and her latest projects. The talk is organized in collaboration with the HEAD – Genève.
Marina Abramovic is currently establishing MAI in Hudson, New York. The institute will be a centre for performance and for interdisciplinary teaching dedicated to presenting and preserving long-duration performances, and to promoting collaboration between art, science, technology and spirituality. Through MAI, the artist will offer a space where anyone can acquire the skills needed for staging and watching long-duration performances. Additional information can be found on www.mai-hudson.org.
Marina Abramovic is a New York-based Serbian-born performance artist who began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over four decades, her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind.
