The Aggressiveness and Vulnerability Within Human in Marina abramovic’s Performance art
ARTH 701, Contemporary ArtProfessor: John AlfordXiaoxue Li, Corey Liu, Shenyue HuangMay 17th, 2017The Aggressiveness and Vulnerability within Humanin Marina Abramović’s Performance ArtHuman 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,