Marina Abramovi in "The Artist is Present" (2010): body, consciousness and performance as agents for cultural criticism

Throughout the text I will study Marina Abramovic's performance The Artist Is Present (2010) to explore the interrelation between body-space and artist-audience. For this purpose, I will dive in her artistic discourse, especially in her understanding of art as a social agent of transformation in the era of globalization. In this article, on one hand, I will analyze the importance of art as a device for cultural critique and on the other hand, I will explore the relevance of ritualized pain as a mechanism to achieve a state of full consciousness.