Marina Abramović In Residence

December 21, 2015

During June 2015, Kaldor Public Art Projects presented a unique experiential 12 day live-in residency with prominent performance artist, Marina Abramović and a group of 12 Australian artists.

The project was supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund and was open to the public with a total of 31,000 visitors, many participating in the Evenings in Residence program.  All the chosen participants’ practices resonated with Abramović’s intensive long-duration approach, albeit from a variety of disciplines.

The 12-day Residency involved the artists in one-on-one mentoring by Abramović and intense learning through the Marina Abramović Method. All artists participated in discussions about the practice and history of performance art with Australian and international curators, artists and academics in daily professional development sessions. The artists showcased their practices and explored ideas in the dynamic ‘Evenings in Residence’ public program and participated in the extensive education program, interacting with diverse audiences including school students, tertiary students, the Australian art community and the general public. They focused on formulating ideas for new work and worked together in new ways, in order to expand their practices, connecting across disciplines and developing concepts and proposals with, and for, the visiting public.

Frances Barrett, one of the artists involved, said, “The residency was an intense experience, extracting me from my usual, insular creative processes and instead thrust me into a situation where my process was open to the public. Over the two weeks I was in a continual conversation about performance, authenticity, economic viability, institutionalisation, and processes of documentation. Each of these conversations gave me a perspective on my own practice and political position. To be part of such a large public project was difficult, but gave me an in depth understanding of what Australian practitioners are producing and why we are driven to make work.”

To read more about this unique project click here.

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