Marina Abramović, born in 1946 in Belgrade, is one of the most influential performance artists of our time. Her practice spans performance, video, installation and large-scale stage works, all exploring themes of endurance, vulnerability and the transformative potential of presence.
The exhibition The Head notably features the Video Portrait Gallery (1975–98), a major ensemble of fourteen video performances acquired by Mudam in the early 2000s. Since the beginning of her career, the head has emerged as a central motif in her work – a focus on the face, the gaze and the intimate connection between artist and viewer. The exhibition explores how the motif recurs in her practice, while also unfolding it through the perspectives of works by other artists.
In an expansion of this vision, the Grand Hall will during the first weeks of the exhibition host a continuous programme of durational performances curated by Abramović and the MAI, the performance-focused institution the artist founded in 2012. The programme will feature works by artists selected by invitation and through an international open call. Through this partnership with MAI, the exhibition becomes a site for sustained live performance, shaped by prolonged action and the immediate encounter between performer and audience.
The exhibition is curated by Léon Kruijswijk, assisted by Hollie Douglas and Nicole Wittmann
The performance programme is curated by Marina Abramović and the MAI
