Presence is Art

As has become evident through Professor Lasch’s Art of the MOOCs, there is art in almost everything and everyone around us. Throughout the weeks we have seen that there can be art in fireworks, art in architecture, art in how we dress; but this week’s new video leads us to believe that there can even be art in presence. Artist Marina Abromavic had an artwork called “The Artist is Present” and this artwork was her physically sitting in a chair and having museum goers sit down and stare her back in the face. People don’t always realize but the manner in which they are present is often an art form; the way they look back at someone or how they even breathe when in the presence of someone else can be considered expression. For an artist to make herself the exhibit is not only a bold move but also a very calculated one, leaving all of the museum goers curious and fascinated as to what it was they just experienced.
Not only this MOOC but this specific piece of art focuses on the relationship between the alive and the still, the body in motion and motionless. Being alive doesn’t always mean in motion and when you watch the fast-paced version of the Artist is Present, you can see the comparison between the busy museum goers moving quickly so they all get a turn and the artist herself, sitting there nearly motionless and without expression.