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04/06/2024 – The Italian premiere of The Life, the immersive work by Marina Abramović and Tin Drum, was presented today at Pesaro 2024, the Italian capital of culture, which for the first time in the history of art offers a performance in a double dimension: physical and digital.
The deputy mayor and beauty councilor of the Municipality of Pesaro took part in the press conference at the Pescheria Visual Arts Centre, Daniele Viminithe artistic director of Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture Agostino RiitanoAnd Todd Eckertopera director, founder and president of Tin Drum.
TheLife constitutes a unique three-dimensional cinematic experience, open to the public from 5 to 18 June 2024, to the Pescheria Visual Arts Centerin the heart of Pesaro, and part of the schedule of Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture “The nature of culture”.
The mayor of Pesaro introduced the presentation Matteo Ricci: “Pesaro will once again be a protagonist in the world thanks to another great event that enriches the extraordinary year of the Italian Capital of Culture: TheLife, by Marina Abramović and Tin Drum. A national first, one of a kind, which will allow the city and our entire province to keep the spotlight alive on the cultural, environmental, entrepreneurial, food and wine uniqueness of our territory. We look forward to seeing you in Pesaro!” commented Matteo Riccimayor of the Municipality of Pesaro.
“The art that creates an unprecedented space between real and virtual, goes beyond the boundaries of in-person performance and creates an authentic human connection between artist and spectator: The Life by Marina Abramović represents the essence of the research that guided the path that took us led to the year as Capital” underlines thus Daniele Viminideputy mayor and councilor for Beauty of the Municipality of Pesaro. “Much more than an immersive work, The Life is a profound reflection on nature and technology, body and memory. It will be a unique and extraordinary experience for all temporary citizens of Pesaro 2024!”
TheLife is the first immersive mixed reality performance art event ever conceived. Presented at the Serpentine Gallery in London in 2019, the work has crossed the world, coming to life in various cities, even reaching the milestone of a record auction sale at Christie’s London autumn event in 2020. Even before the globalized world experienced the forced isolation caused by the covid-19 pandemic, developing strategies to maintain one’s social connection, the artist asked himself the question of the dematerialization of the body and its transposition into a dimension disconnected from the here and now.
In Pesaro the immersive event debuts with an expanded formatenriched with original costumes and acoustic elements designed to invite you to a reflection dedicated to the nature of memorywhere the artist transits into different worlds and crosses time and space.
These are the words by the artist Marina Abramović in the video message: “It is a great honor to be invited to Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture. I will present with Tin Drum my new mixed reality work entitled The Life. I know that Pesaro Capitale is focused on the relationship between science, nature and technology; my work is based on the performing arts and this is my first experiment, my first attempt to use new technologies and to broaden the idea of how the performing arts can be seen in the future, if the artist is no longer physically present”.
TheLifecreated by Marina Abramović and produced by the studio specialized in mixed reality Tin Drum, directed by founder Todd Eckert, is an immersive work that accompanies the visitor on a journey with a ritual flavour. Each participant is asked to discard and wear any electronic devices an augmented reality viewer, through which to visualize the boundaries of an empty room. At the center of the virtual environment it moves the hologram of the artist Marina Abramović, whose performance can be observed by the audience freely and from any angle. The absence of barriers and screens provides the opportunity to grasp new points of view, living a one-of-a-kind experience together with the artist.
The work reflects on the power of art as an intangible force, resulting from the encounter between the artist and the collective energy of the people involved in the work. Marina Abramović’s digital image allows the artist to create a performance without being physically present, creating a space that oscillates between real and virtual and surpassing the boundaries of in-person performance to fully enter the symbolic territory of memory.
The director explains Todd Eckert: “In a hundred years, when everyone who knew Marina Abramović is dead, there will be people watching TheLife and hopefully, they will feel that sense of connection – of human experience. This is really the point of the work: to try to create an authentic human connection between artist and audience beyond the simple observation that dominates our current media.”
TheLife invites you to engage with the ideas of absence and duration, addressed through the positioning of the artist in a dimension beyond time. The work, which comes to life in a horizon of the eternal present, puts the spotlight on the possible intersections between technology and artistic action, while cultivating the human connection that is created between artist and spectator.
Explains Agostino Riitanoartistic director of Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture: “Hosting TheLife in the cultural program of Pesaro 2024, we take on the task to give the community paths for reconnaissance and promotion of the artistic languages that will mark our time. Marina Abramović is one of the greatest representatives of contemporary aesthetic practices, in particular those that from the 1980s to today have proposed some of the most complete, as well as complex, forms of questioning and provocation: the centrality of the body and the consciousness of the body and performing art is aimed at breaking down the barriers of genre, category and division between knowledge. We are convinced that among the profound meanings of being the Italian Capital of Culture is becoming the center of attraction and driving force of theories and practices useful for building a new vision and new ideas of the future.”
The immersive event is open to the public every day from 5 to 18 June, from 10.00 to 23.00in the spaces of the Pescheria Visual Arts Center. Entrance is available by reservation through the site vivaticket.it or in the following locations: Centro Arti Visive Pescheria (corso
The conversation open to the public between enriches and completes the project Marina Abramović and Todd Eckertscheduled Tuesday 18 June at 9.30pm at Rossini Theatre. The meeting sees the artist and the director explore the genesis of TheLife and the implications that the work brings to light during an open debate. Tickets are available from June 12th on vivaticket.itat Tipico Tips or at the Rossini Theater ticket office.
