A Saturday in May 2010

I had read and heard a lot how nudity had invaded the arts more openly recently: in one or two operas, in  musicals, and now in a performance installation at the MOMA. Cynical as I am I argued that this of course was only done to attract more visitors to the MOMA and these were pure business tactics to gain notoriety. Well, I had decided I would not contribute to this and simply would not see it (although we have a membership). But one afternoon, we went to see the very interesting German documentary

"The wondrous world of laundry" at the MOMA. Hans Christian Schmid's movie is an  excellent movie depicting bleak present day realities  of a small group of women and their families who live in a small border town in Poland and who wash the laundry for all the five star hotels in Berlin. The laundry is sent early in the morning and returned the next morning, washed, spic and span, folded neatly. The owner of this successful business in Berlin is a middle aged executive. He comments on his business practices, how to improve productivity of the women even further and how far he could possibly go. He is of the opinion that if you believe in something you definitely will be successful (he meant financially). Maybe he was never defeated, but he certainly was arrogant. On the other hand here were the simple Polish families and the stories mainly of the women who were virtually slaving away day for day, shift for shift, without making any financial headway. They are resigned to the fact that this is their life and they try to make the best out of it, which is not very much in our eyes. Everything looks shabby, gray and sad. They are incessantly smoking their home made cigarettes and have extremely little time for their children or any leisurely activity. School is not much to talk about and expectations are low. The only way out seems to move away to another country than Poland. Showing dignity, everything in their life evolves around their shifts, their routines to survive  the shift, every day of the week, and the complete lack of time. They are aware of their status and their lower life style compared to the rest of the European world and particularly the German (women's) way of life. But all of this is accepted by them without any complaints.

Afterwards I decided that I might as well  take a look at the performance installation that everybody talked about:

Marina Abramovic. And to just say it right away, I was very impressed and I like it! A lot! There she was, sitting in the middle of a room, on a chair (for seven hours a day) meditating, looking straight ahead, the longest time she has ever performed in a museum setting. It involves viewers' participation, and if you wanted to do so, you could sit across from her, motionless, for hours, minutes or seconds. Video screens and sound pieces document  her four decades performances accompanied by the artist's voice. The variety is far ranging, thought evolving,  referring to the cruelties of our world. It is all  awakening and very permanent. And there are the much talked about  life performances by other artists (who perform in the nude). So there is a beautiful couple,  stalk naked and standing opposite  and facing each other, blocking the entrance to another room, so close together that you virtually would have to push yourself between the two of them to pass through into the next room, if you so desire. Or there was a pinkish looking older man underneath a skeleton, motionless, for hours on time. Not far from there was a huge mountain of white washed (cow) bones, just the look of it made you shutter. Well, as I said, I was taken, I was entranced, and must say it falls into the category art —  a fact that I had disputed endlessly before I saw Marina's show. She uses her body as a medium and believes her art is not as dead as a photography; theater is just a repeat day for day — her life performances are the art, real but temporary.