The Artist Is Present (10th Anniversary, 10-Hour Gaze Sequence)
The Artist Is Present (10th Anniversary, 10-Hour Gaze Sequence), 2020.⠀
Edited and conceptualized by Diran Lyons
IG: @diran.lyons⠀
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10 years ago, on this date, March 14, 2010, #Marina Abramović’s #performance 'The Artist Is Present' opened in the #Museum of #Modern #Art in New York. #MoMA ⠀
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At 10 am EST on the 10th anniversary of the opening, I published on #YouTube a 10-hour sequence of #Abramović engaged in her #iconic, straightforward #gaze. I created the 10-hour #video by excerpting, time-remapping, and repeating 10 seconds of footage from Abramović‘s 2012 documentary by the same title. ⠀
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Of course, if one invests time into this “remix” (for lack of a better descriptor), the piece reveals only a #false gaze: the artist isn’t present. What peers back at the viewer is a ‘once was’ present, a mere simulation of an #experience that can no longer be experienced. ⠀
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Though the words are identical to its predecessor, the title of my video is false. Her title was true a decade ago. Conversely, the message of the performance is still present and perhaps increasingly more important now than then: to #encourage us to slow down, to really engage, to feel, to connect. I am thankful to her, Ulay, and others who gave so much, reminded us to #breathe, to not miss the forest for the #trees, to value our #relationships to one another, to #invest in the #healing process of others, to forgive. ⠀
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Presence: one of ‘the’ key concepts of our current moment. The milieu of higher education: herding everyone into digital deserts of the real. The public square: “Avoid others by staying home.” That which is hard to conceive but certainly upon us: an increase in mediated human interaction via social media. ⠀
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**FAIR USE** 17 US Code § 107 ⠀
US copyright code allows for the repurposing of copyrighted content when it provides criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Re-presentations of this nature are not an infringement of copyright