On the eve of her 80th birthday, the Serbian artist is celebrated in the lagoon with an unprecedented exhibition
Venice holds a singular meaning for Marina Abramovic ˊ. Her first visit took place at the age of 14, when she traveled by train from Belgrade with her mother to visit the Biennale: “When I walked out of the station and saw Venice for the first time, I began to cry,” she recalls. It was at that same prestigious Venetian exhibition in 1997 that the now internationally renowned Serbian artist received the Golden Lion for her installation Balkan Baroque - a gripping and immersive testimony to the atrocities of the Balkan War.
In 1997, she won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale for Balkan Baroque, a harrowing testament to the horrors of the Balkan War
Today, as she approaches her 80th birthday, Abramovic ˊ is celebrated in the lagoon during the 61st International Art Exhibition. From May 6 to October 19, the unprecedented exhibition “Transforming Energy” takes center stage. In a historic move, she is the first living woman to be granted access to the Gallerie dell’Accademia in such a capacity; while the museum has hosted contemporary artists before, this exhibition places her works not only in temporary galleries but also within the permanent collection, creating an extraordinary dialogue between past and present. The meeting between Abramović’s Pietà (with Ulay) (1983) - a powerful, secular, and autobiographical reimagining of pain and care - and Titian’s Renaissance Pietà (ca. 1575–1576) is particularly stirring. The latter was Titian’s final, unfinished masterpiece, later completed by Palma il Giovane. At the core of “Transforming Energy,” curated by Shai Baitel (Artistic Director of the MAM - Modern Art Museum, Shanghai), lies this intersection of different times and spaces, coupled with a constant inquiry into transformation, vulnerability, and endurance.
The first time she saw Venice, she began to cry. She was 14
True to Abramovic ˊ 's practice, the exhibition invites direct experimentation and visitor involvement. At the heart of the journey is the series of interactive Transitory Objects. These stone beds and structures, embedded with crystals, quartz, and amethyst (a subtle nod to Venice’s tradition of glasswork and mosaics), allow visitors to interact by lying down, sitting, or standing, facilitating an intense transmission of energy. Beyond this immersive itinerary, visitors can engage with landmark historical works. These range from Rhythm 0 (1974) - the first performance in the series of the same name, exploring the tensions between surrender and control - to Imponderabilia (1977), where two nude bodies forming a threshold are immortalized by Giovanna Dal Magro, the photographer of her early Milan performances. Also featured are Light/ Dark (1977), with its obsessive sequence of slaps between Marina and Ulay, the iconic Balkan Baroque (1997), and the more recent Carrying the Skeleton (2008).
She is the first living female artist to have the doors of the Gallerie dell'Accademia opened
