The Aggressiveness and Vulnerability Within Human in Marina abramovic’s Performance art

ARTH 701, Contemporary Art

Professor: John Alford

Xiaoxue Li, Corey Liu, Shenyue Huang

May 17th, 2017

The Aggressiveness and Vulnerability within Human

in Marina Abramović’s Performance Art

Human emotion is a vast universe that contains millions of possibilities. Therefore, people try to capture the emotion and convey it. By transforming the emotions into something visible, listenable, eatable and touchable, people can grasp a better understanding of it and engage with their self-emotional shifts more rationally and efficiently. Besides, the human emotional connection can be cataloged in two part: the emotion within and the feeling towards the external objects. Nowadays, even though the emotional connection between humans is undeniably strong, it’s also as fragile as a piece of paper. To interpret and unveil this paradox within humans, the artist Marina Abramović uses her body as a medium to create the performances that present the aggressiveness and vulnerability within humans. In this paper, three points will be given to demonstrate this concept: the aggressiveness and vulnerability within the individual self; the aggressiveness and vulnerability towards external audiences; the aggressiveness and vulnerability within group behaviors.

What are the aggressiveness and vulnerability? Saul Rosenzweig claims that aggression contains three different kinds of forms, which are “privation, conflict, and victimization”.^[1]1 In contrast, Barry Hoffmaster concludes that the vulnerability is an essential human feature. It has been attached to everyone since the very first day, and people still feel vulnerable from time to time.^[2]2 He also explains that it is the common vulnerability that combined people together and it’s also the reason why people share the same concern with each other.^[3]3 In Marina Abramović’s artworks, she uses various of methods and mediums to present the aggressiveness and vulnerability within the human.

The aggressiveness and vulnerability within the individual self

[pic 1]

Fig.1. Marina Abramović, Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes), 2005 (Marina - A Documentary Film about Marina Abramović, http://marinafilm.com/test-2.)

© 2012 SHOW OF FORCE LLC AND MUDPUPPY FILMS INC.

First, Marina Abramović uses the poisonous animals as mediums to discuss her emotional aggressiveness and vulnerability. In her artwork in 2005, Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes) (Fig.1), she placed herself as the subject in front of the camera with a scorpion on her face. To the general audience, it must be an odd combination or a dangerous pair. As well, it posts a question to the public: what emotional state she is in, to make her put a deadly creature on her face. Due to its natural feature, the scorpion is considered to be dangerous and harmful for human beings. Jürgen Wasim Frembgen states that the scorpion has been symbolized in Muslim culture and Central Asian culture. According to the Thangka Painting in Tibet, the scorpion is the symbol that associates with hell. Also, in Arabic-Muslim literature, the scorpion always represents evil. In Hindu culture, there was a deadly goddess with a scorpion painted on her belly.^[4]4 Above all, it shows her vulnerable self toward this poisonous creature. At the same time, this dangerous movement can also be considered as a way of showing her aggression toward herself.