A new exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art is causing
discomfort among some visitors by bringing them close to nude
performers - some might say too close.
Two nude performers stand inches apart in a narrow doorway of
the exhibit of work by Yugoslavian-born artist Marina
Abramovic, which opened on Sunday.
The position of the naked pair, who alternate and are either
opposite or same-sex performers, forces patrons to decide
whether to walk between them.
To some patrons, a brush with live flesh was just too much to
ponder.
Morgan Wolfe, an 18-year-old visitor to the museum, decided
not to walk between two male performers.
"It bothers me a bit," he told the New York Post in
Sunday editions.
The exhibit, "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present,"
presents a view of Abramovic's career over four decades and
her work in a variety of mediums, including performance art,
installations, sound pieces, video works and photographs.
Besides the naked pair in the doorway, the exhibit includes a
nude performer lying under a skeleton and a naked woman on a
bicycle seat.
Abramovic is best known for performance works in which she
exposed herself to physical pain, sometimes involving
audience participation.
In one of her most squirm-inducing works, she invited members
of the audience to inflict pain on her with one of 72
objects, including a rose, a chain, scissors, knives, a whip
and a gun.
The exhibit at the MoMA continues through to May 31.
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