Marina Abramovic

In the early 1970s, Marina Abramovic began developing a conceptual practice based on the use of her body to explore the limits of art. Abramovic was already active in the performance art milieu when she met German artist Ulay, in Amsterdam, in 1975. That same year, she presented her controversial piece, The Lips of Thomas, where she inflicted wounds onto herself and documented the process through photography. Both pioneers of performance art, Abramovic and Ulay maintained an intense romantic and artistic relationship for over twelve years. Their work, considered to be one of the most influential practices in the history of contemporary art, explored the limits of consciousness and of physical and psychic endurance through human relationships. Since the end of her romantic and artistic collaboration with Ulay, in 1988, Abramovic has continued to produce work involving the body, duration and ritual as a form of liberation.