June 3, 2010

Stares In The City

Sex And The City's Kim Cattrall was one of more than 1300 people who sat across from performance artist Marina Abromovic in her 3-month marathon show at MOMA.  It ended on Monday afternoon to the applause of a filled atrium and the relief of Marina's back, which she was having some difficulty with after sitting 8 hours a day.


The Village Voice's website has put up photos from the Flickr stream of another artist, Marco Anelli, who took a picture of each person who stared down Marina for periods ranging from 1 minute to more than a couple hours.  Other celebs who sat were Lou Reed, Isabella Rossellini and Antony Hegarty.  There is also a priceless photo of a young girl who's 6 going on 60, a true city-kid skeptic of this whole performance art thing.  


I was at MOMA last week and it was fascinating to watch the different reactions of people as they sat to face the stone-faced Abromovic.  It was amazing to me that many people waited for more than 8 hours to have a few minutes in the chair opposite her for what some described as a religious experience. Some wept, some smiled and one woman even whipped off her clothes only to be removed by security.  Only in New York, kids!