A performance art piece consists of 4 elements: Time, Space, the body or presence of the artist in a medium and the relationship between the artist and the audience. One of the most famous works of performance art in history is “The artist is present” by Marina Abramović. In her words, “In The Artist is Present, I perform every day for three months. Performance is really about presence. You have to be in the here and now, 100 per cent.” In general, to be present means to fully enjoy the moment you are in, and presence means the state of being somewhere. Moreover, meditation in today’s society teaches us that we also need to be present in order to live a fulfilled life. The opposite of presence is alienation, and in today’s capitalist world most people feel alienated from themselves and from others. What does it mean for an artist to be present in performance art? Is presence a state of non-being where we have no content in our mind, where artists do not feel joy or sadness, artists are not connected to feelings, thoughts or emotions. This event explores the question of whether artists in contemporary performance art can be ‘present’ and experience presence in front of a live audience.
