London, 15th June 2021 - WeTransfer, the company with the digital suite of tools for the creative process, reveals a never-before-seen digital manifestation of performance artist Marina Abramović’s acclaimed ‘The Abramović Method’ which explores the importance of performance art and its application to our everyday lives. Through a series of new video material commissioned by WePresent, WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, the renowned artist shares her wisdom on cultivating inner strength, concentration and endurance as part of an exclusive year-long collaboration.
Abramović will personally guide viewers through four iconic exercises that define her unique Method with new videos in an immersive online experience designed by WeTransfer. From rice-counting to the artist’s signature mutual-gazing, a dedicated space on WeTransfer will host the experience indefinitely, available to its community of 80 million people worldwide to access 24/7 – all day, every day. Transcending time zones and geographical borders, this is a private performance by the world’s most prolific performance artist in your home, wherever you may be, as she invites you to join her in participation.
Marina developed her Method over decades of creating performative and immaterial works, and this new digital iteration designed and built by WeTransfer offers viewers the first interactive experience with the artist herself. WeTransfer created a custom video player that incorporates interactive animation and audio to guide viewers through Marina’s Method in the most engaging way.
This new phase follows the artist’s guest curatorship on WePresent earlier this year, through which she spotlighted five rising performance artists around the world. In September, Abramović will share her ‘Time Capsule', an everlasting body of references, ideas and objects through a hybrid physical and digital format which will continue to inspire us and future generations, while giving us a glimpse into her artistic universe. Similar to WeTransfer’s digitisation of the Royal Academy of Art’s 252nd Summer Exhibition, this new digital experience continues WeTransfer’s legacy as a supporter of creativity and the arts.
Marina Abramović said: “To be a performance artist, it’s a very difficult task. You need lots of preparation in order to make long durational performance work. So I developed different exercises to help myself generate willpower and concentration, crossing physical and mental limits. Later on, I understood these exercises can serve not just me but any profession in the world and so I turned these into something I call The Abramović Method. Following a year during which reconnecting with ourselves has never been more important, I’m delighted to share these with the world on WeTransfer’
Holly Fraser, Editor-in-Chief of WePresent said: “The pandemic has offered an opportunity for digital platforms such as WeTransfer to explore what is possible when bringing culture online. For a performance artist whose works exist primarily as experience, WeTransfer’s creation of ‘The Abramović Method’ in collaboration with the artist herself has given millions of people worldwide the opportunity to engage with an artistic practice developed from years of research, from their homes. We hope this digital experience of ‘The Abramović Method’ unearths not only new connections to the artist’s legacy, but also ourselves and our inner potential.”
Marina Abramović’s ‘The Abramović Method’ will be live on WeTransfer from 15th June as part of the artist’s year-long collaboration.The experience is commissioned by WePresent and designed by WeTransfer.
Image sheet available here and for download here.
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Marina Abramović
Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has pioneered performance art, creating some of the form's most important early works. Exploring her physical and mental limits, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation.
Abramović was awarded the Golden Lion for Best Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale. In 2010, Abramović had her first major U.S. retrospective and simultaneously performed for over 700 hours in “The Artist is Present” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Abramović founded Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a platform for immaterial and long durational work to create new possibilities for collaboration among thinkers of all fields.
Her most recent publication is Walk Through Walls: A Memoir, Published by Crown Archetype on October 25, 2016. Her retrospective The Cleaner opened at Moderna Museet, Stockholm in February 2017 and has toured to seven additional European venues, ending at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia in 2019. In September 2020 the Bayerische Staatsoper presented the world premiere of 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, which will continue to tour to other venues in 2021. And she will soon present her solo exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, and become the first female artist in the institution’s 250 year history to occupy the entire gallery space with her work.
About WePresent
WePresent is WeTransfer’s digital arts platform, acting as the company’s cultural torchbearer to 4 million monthly online visitors in 187 countries. Collaborating with emerging young talent to renowned artists such as Marina Abramovic, Riz Ahmed, FKA Twigs or Bernardine Evaristo, WePresent showcases the best in art, photography, film, music, literature and more, championing diversity in everything it does. The platform’s commissions range from editorial features to films, illustrations, photography series, events, exhibitions and social media activations. WePresent’s aim is to offer a fresh take on the magic and mystery of creative ideas through unexpected stories that wouldn’t have found a home elsewhere.
https://wepresent.wetransfer.com
About WeTransfer
Having made its name in the game of quick and simple file-sharing, WeTransfer has grown into an end-to-end suite of digital solutions with users in 187 countries. WeTransfer’s set of tools are specifically designed to enable creative professionals to inspire, conceive, share, and deliver their work, enabling collaboration and co-creation along the whole creative process. Collect is the go-to app people turn to for saving, organising and sharing inspiration. Paste® is the collaborative presentation tool of choice for fast-moving teams. Paper® helps creative minds sketch, paint, and draw. And of course there’s the original file-sharing platform providing a simple and seamless way to share ideas. The company showcases its global creative community on WePresent, WeTransfer’s digital arts platform to a monthly global audience of 4 million.
As a certified B Corporation™, WeTransfer strives to use business as a force for good. Since the beginning WeTransfer has donated up to 30% of advertising real estate to raise awareness for artists, creative work, and the world’s most pressing issues such as climate change and gun control. This has led to partnerships with artists and organizations like Björk, Ryan McGinley, Solange Knowles, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the UN Development Program.