num_pages: 384
description: I had experienced absolute freedomI had felt that my body was without boundaries limitless; that pain didnt matter that nothing mattered at alland it intoxicated me.In 2010 more than 750000 people stood in line at Marina Abramovis MoMA retrospective for the chance to sit across from her and communicate with her nonverbally in an unprecedented durational performance that lasted more than 700 hours. This celebration of nearly fifty years of groundbreaking performance art demonstrated once again that Marina Abramovi is truly a force of nature.The child of Communist war-hero parents under Titos regime in postwar Yugoslavia she was raised with a relentless work ethic. Even as she was beginning to build an international artistic career Marina lived at home under her mothers abusive control strictly obeying a 10 p.m. curfew. But nothing could quell her insatiable curiosity her desire to connect with people or her distinctly Balkan sense of humorall of which informs her art and her life. The beating heart of Walk Through Walls is an operatic love storya twelve-year collaboration with fellow performance artist Ulay much of which was spent penniless in a van traveling across Europea relationship that began to unravel and came to a dramatic end atop the Great Wall of China.Marinas story by turns moving epic and dryly funny informs an incomparable artistic career that involves pushing her body past the limits of fear pain exhaustion and danger in an uncompromising quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. A remarkable work of performance in its own right Walk Through Walls is a vivid and powerful rendering of the unparalleled life of an extraordinary artist.
language: English
title: Walk Through Walls: A Memoir
publisher: Crown Archetype