Having been familiar with her work as an artist as well as the HBO documentary “The Artist is Present” I wasn’t surprised to hear that Abramović took over a section of Trinity Bellwoods Park to gain feedback from participants who were going to experience the Prototype MAI’s “Abramović method” over the course of the Luminato Festival (June 14 – 23, 2013).
As stated by Abramović, her intention, with the Abramović method, is to “give the public the possibility to experience and to reflect upon emptiness, time, space, luminosity and void…in three basic positions: standing, sitting and lying down.” The input of the participants would be collected at the end of the experience and kept by the institute for the goal of refining the “Marina Abramović method.”
The experience took part in 7 different stages:
1/ getting dressed in white lab coats and soft silver boots and signing the MAI contract
Orientation Chamber
2/ physical/mental preparation: relaxation exercises (ex: massaging the face, rubbing our hands together for energy and transferring the energy to different parts of the body (ex: eyes, ears)),
3/ water drinking chambers (drinking water that had been infused with crystals/crystal energy) (ex:rose quartz, tourmaline quartz)
Water Drinking Chamber
4/ eye gazing chamber
Eye Gazing Chamber
5/ electricity chamber (feeling electric current run through rod-shaped lightbulbs)
6/ luminosity chamber (lying on a wooden bed and quartz pillow with eyes closed). All six rooms lent themselves to Abramović’s intention, leaving us with the last room
7/ recording our experience (comments, critiques, concerns, etc.) on a sheet of blank white paper.
As a participant, particularly at the beginning my Prototype journey, I remember myself over-thinking. With headphones giving us instructions, what to do and when to move on to the next room, I found myself battling my inner, judgmental, voice. For example, in the water drinking chamber, I had the searing desire to overthink, analyze and make judgments about what I was being asked to do rather than completely giving into the experience and be subjected to nothingness.
Water Drinking Chamber
As I moved into the subsequent rooms I began to relax and stay in the moment without overthinking. Although there were moments of discomfort (i.e.: lying on the quartz pillow and staring into my friend’s eyes for what seemed like half an hour) the challenge was to overcome the uneasiness and reflect on nothingness, to live in that moment and be open with one another, and open to our surroundings. Moreover, for those reasons, prototype has the potential to be an incredible bonding experience for both friends and strangers. It is also an opportunity to gain insight into our reservations, particularly our inability to be vulnerable with others, our environment and ourselves.
Luminosity Chamber
After removing my lab coat and soft silver boots, I left Trinity Bellwoods Park feeling as if I dreamt the past 2 hours of my life (unlike the 6 hours on the document shown below). This was mostly because the white walls, chairs, lab coats etc. reminded me of Tim Burton’s interpretation of Willy Wonka’s factory if it were transformed into a participatory contemporary art exhibit/happening. All joking aside, beyond the surrealistic atmosphere, it served as a moment of reflection and it exposed areas of my relationships with others/myself that need to be improved upon. Marina Abramović Institute’s Prototype made for a place of calm and contemplation that contrasted the hustle and bustle of Queen Street West.
Leanne Simaan
Photographs from Luminato Live stream