Artist Is Present Response

I absolutely loved this documentary. It completely changed my perspective about not only Marina Abramovic as a person but also performance art as a whole. I have a newfound love for Abramovic, not only as an artist, but as a person as well. This documentary shed a new light for me on her life and on her work, and portrayed her less as a lofty and unreachable artist that we learn about in school--akin to the way we learn about famous writers, like Hemingway or famous inventors, like Benjamin Franklin (that is to say, brilliant, unparalleled, and held up on an unreachable pedestal)--and more as a real, living, human artist. The way she spoke and behaved behind the scenes made her seem as though she was just like everyone else, although oftentimes people only ever discuss how bizarre and monumental or outrageous her work is (which can cause people to build up a completely incorrect image of her as a person.) The documentary also provided new context to works I was familiar with, as well as introducing me to works I had never before heard of. I'm glad I was exposed to them with both contextual/historical background along with the artist's own words, because I feel like, if I had solely learned about these pieces from a removed source, the pieces would have lost a lot of their meaning or impact. The documentary was excellent, and I'm glad to have watched it.