The first ever UK exhibition spanning the life's work of one of the most important performance artists in the world - Marina Abramović.

Saturday 26 September - Tuesday 08 December, 10:00 - 18:00.

Over the past 50 years, Marina Abramović has earned worldwide acclaim as a pioneer of performance art. Abramović has consistently tested the limits of her own physical and mental endurance in her work – and invited audiences to encounter it with her.

Works such as Rhythm 0 (1974) invited audiences to freely interact with Abramović however they chose – famously resulting in a loaded gun held to her head. Later works such as The Artist Is Present (2010), at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, pushed audiences to question their own emotions, as they sat in silence opposite the artist.

In Abramović’s first major exhibition in the UK, we bring together works spanning her 50-year career, along with new works conceived especially for these galleries. As Abramović approaches her mid-70s, her new work reflects on changes to the artist’s body, and explores her perception of the transition between life and death.

Audiences will also engage with the ongoing debate that Abramović explores throughout the exhibition: can performance art outlive the moment of performance? ​Abramović examines the question of legacy through photographs, videos, installations and re-performances by younger performers.

Curated in close collaboration with Abramović, this exhibition will offer visitors the sort of intense, physical encounter for which she has become known. Abramović will participate in the programme of talks and events surrounding the exhibition.

Marina Abramović discusses her 50-year art career and the new work she will present in 2020 at the Royal Academy.

This event was live-streamed from the RA’s Benjamin West Lecture Theatre on 18 November 2019, and features speech to text transcription courtesy of Stagetext.