Abramovic retrospective opening 'new horizons'

Listening to Marina Abramovic at the press conference of her new exhibition in Istanbul, everyone wonders what it takes to be a performance artist. She has been bruised, attacked, has performed with her loved one and done many different acts and performances in her lifetime and is still trying to give her best to the performance art. "You have to be present and ready for a durational performance," she said.

Marina Abramovic's retrospective at Sakıp Sabancı Museum is an evidence of her risk-taking and enduring nature. Speaking at the press conference, the artist said that hosting such an exhibition and presenting durational performances in museums is a risk, but Sabancı Museum has succeeded in doing so.

She added that this time the museum stands as a laboratory and there will be durational performances of 15 performance artists.

The exhibition, titled "Flux," somehow teaches the viewer the methods of Abramovic and introduces performance art.

The exhibition consists of three sections, featuring video and photographic documentation of Abramovic's iconic performances, performance projects of different artists, Arda Cabaoğlu, Bahar Temiz, Dilek Champs, Evren Kutlay, Halil Atasever, İlyas Odman, Merve Vural, Metehan Kayan-Umut Sevgül, Murat Adash, Murat Ali Cengiz, Şebnem Dönmez, Maria Stemenkovic Herranz, Nancy Stamatopoulou, Nezaket Ekici and Virginia Mastrogiannaki. The artists chosen by the MAI, Marina Abramovic Institute.

These performances are durational and will be presented in the museums between 12 pm to 8 pm every day. The artists will be doing performances for eight hours a day. One has to be prepared, both mentally and physically to do a durational performance,
according to Abramovic, and that's why the exhibition is...