Author Description

This publication reflects the richness in the exhibition "Terra Comunal : Marina Abramovic + MAI" (Sesc Pompeia - São Paulo, 2015), a retrospective of acclaimed Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic. With installations and sculptures, films and a series of live events, the exhibition stimulated encounters between visitors and performers, activating an interaction inherent in the artist's propositions. MAI (Marina Abramovic Institute) is home to the Abramovic Method, a series of exercises designed by Abramovic over the course of 40 years to explore boundaries of body and mind. The title of the exhibition was inspired by Abramovi?'s profound experiences in Brazil over many years. In 1989, the artist traveled to Brazil to research crystals and their influence on the body and the mind, which significantly influenced her artistic practice. She began to create objects using crystals and other minerals from Brazil that would later be utilized for the Abramovi? Method. In 2012, the artist spent an extended period in Brazil looking for spiritual communities and places of power as part of her research on energy and how to apply it to immaterial forms of art. The catalog includes texts by art historian Sophie O'Brien, philosopher Peter Pál Pelbart and anthropologist Regina Polo Müller who study the open and collaborative work between artist and spectator and the concepts of presence and mystery, transcendence, transformation and humor.