Gioia+EE

I am basically halfway through writing my EE, i still have to do most of the interviews and then add them in. (the title is still to be finalized as well)



[|**Norma Jeane**]
You could write to her too:

[|**Contact**]
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Good so far – make sure that you keep returning to and referring to the specific quote/research question. If it no longer seems appropriate to the evolving project then rewrite it. You either need to expand upon Gerbracht’s actual artwork or find another pivotal quote (maybe by Abramovic instead) At the moment the quote is left isolated in the RQ and not really fully integrated into your study. =====

//Rhythm 10,// 1973

In her first performance Abramović explored elements of ritual and gesture. Making use of twenty knives and two tape recorders, the artist played the Russian game in which rhythmic knife jabs are aimed between the splayed fingers of her hand ([|5-finger fillet]). Each time she cut herself, she would pick up a new knife from the row of twenty she had set up, and record the operation. After cutting herself twenty times, she replayed the tape, listened to the sounds, and tried to repeat the same movements, attempting to replicate the mistakes, merging together past and present. She set out to explore the physical and mental limitations of the body – the pain and the sounds of the stabbing, the double sounds from the history and from the replication. With this piece, Abramović began to consider the [|state of consciousness] of the performer. “Once you enter into the performance state you can push your body to do things you absolutely could never normally do.”

//Rhythm 2,// 1974 As an experiment testing whether a state of unconsciousness could be incorporated into a performance, Abramović devised a performance in two parts. In the first part, she took a pill prescribed for [|catatonia], a condition in which a person’s muscles are immobilized and remain in a single position for hours at a time. Being completely healthy, Abramović's body reacted violently to the drug, experiencing [|seizures] and uncontrollable movements for the first half of the performance. While lacking any control over her body movements, her mind was lucid, and she observed what was occurring. Ten minutes after the effects of that drug had worn off, Abramović ingested another pill – this time one prescribed for aggressive and depressed people - which resulted in general immobility. Bodily she was present, yet mentally she was completely removed. (In fact, she has no memory of the lapsed time.) This project was an early component of her explorations of the connections between body and mind, which later took her to [|Tibet] and the [|Australian desert]. Following //Rhythm 2//, she set to develop the rest of the series of rhythm projects, continually testing her endurance.

these are two performances by abramovi which explore the limits of the relationship between the body and mind, i could link this into dance and the movement of the body i could look into certain ritualistic african dances which in many cases involve a deep spiritual ceremony

Hi Gioia: I'd still think about interviewing/researching Rachael Mossom

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Mr M

**Hi Gioia**

**If you happen to be in Manchester this month get along to see this:**

[|**http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/8609085/Marina-Abramovic-It-takes-strong-willpower-to-do-what-I-do.html**]

**I may try to go myself!**

**Mr M**