POWER OBJECT: MARINA ABRAMOVIC

Contemporary artists share their personal talismans both made and found 

I poured blood over the Power Objects to stage a certain emotion, to make a power center. 

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Natural Perforated Stone, New Caledonia 

The owner of the stone chews a certain plant and spits into the largest hole. He then has a meal of boiled yam and goes to fight and kill an enemy. He collects a portion of food chewed by the enemy (for example, chewed sugar cane, banana skin, etc.) and dips this repeatedly in the largest hole until blood appears from the smallest hole, which is the sign that the victim is dead.

Text excerpts from Marina Abramovic, Public Body (Charta: Milan, 2001).

Marina Abramović; Power Objects from the work Spirit Cooking with Power Objects; 1998; beeswax, bandages, pig blood; Moderna Gallerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia; © Marina Abramović; courtesy of the Marina Abramović Archives — Marina Abramovic; *Power Objects* from the work *Spirit Cooking with Power Objects*; 1998; beeswax, bandages, pig blood; Moderna Gallerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia; © Marina Abramovic; courtesy of the Marina Abramovic Archives

About the Contributor

Marina Abramovic has pioneered performance art, creating some of the form’s most important early works. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Abramovic was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In 2008 she was decorated with the Austrian Commander Cross for her contribution to art history. Abramovic founded the Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields.