would take a photo and it would end up on Twitter. The
women understood that the moment was more important
than anything else. A moment of incredible simplicity,
but also of the exchange and the beauty and understanding each other. I really think a sense of feminine power
became much more clear to me.
When I say the word “integrity,” what comes to mind?
Independence.
Which work of yours has been the work that might have
transformed other lives?
The Artist is Present because I br ought a record number
of visitors to MoMA, 850,000. That has never happened
for a living artist. The guards of the museum, there are
86 guards, they would go home on the weekend and come
back to stand in line to sit with me. That says so much.
That never happened before. They started a group and were
meeting each other once a month, twice a month, just to be
together because of the experience and to experience the
moment together. It recreated a new community around
performance in New York. Which was made in the 70’s but
wasn’t happening after that.
Are you happy, Marina?
I have to tell you, I’ve never been more happy in my life
than right now, by myself. It’s incredible. There was so
much shit in my life at one time, and my life was so difficult and painful. It’s not that my life changed, it’s that my
work changed my life.
After looking at many of your works, and reading about
you, I have come to the conclusion that you are a true
romantic. What works of yours reflect that?
The walking of The Great Wall of China was a spiritual journey to end my relationship with Ulay. I approached it as a
theatre piece about life and death, working with the voice,
playing different roles: playing my husband, my father,
my brother. On the walk people would look at me and say,
“This is ridiculous. A phone call will not do?”
[Laughter] I like that.
It’s ridiculous but also it’s so Slavic. We have this suffering,
but it’s not even suffering for only Slavics but the universe,
generally. If I watch a movie and I don’t cry, the movie is
not enjoyable, but if I do cry then I am seriously interested.
One of my friends and critics said to me, “You always make
me cry.” And it’s true, because my work has an emotional
impact. There’s so many art works that are born intellectually. You have to think, this guy hated that he was always
affected because he wanted to face my work intellectually,
but I made him cry every time.
How would you like to be remembered, Marina?
I want to be remembered for a few things: I want to be
remembered as the one who brought performance art into
the mainstream. I want to be remembered as the one
who invented performing as an intimate way of actually
revisiting the history of performance pieces. And then
there is my institute: I want it to create a cultural spark. I
want other artists to profit and to create a new, ideal BauHaus. It is something that we need right now. We need to
have personal experiences, we need certain exercises to
change our way of looking at our own lives, in any field we
do; if you’re a farmer, if you’re a student, if you’re working in an office, if you are anybody – that’s the thing, it’s
not about the elite, it’s about the general public. That’s a
really big deal for me.