Marina Abramovic, one of the most seminal performance artists of our time, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the transformation of an abandoned New York theater into an interdisciplinary performance and education center: Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI).
The institute, designed by Shohei Shigematsu and Rem Koolhaas of OMA, will be dedicated to the presentation and preservation of long durational work. Visitors will spend a minimum of six hours partaking in the Abramovic Method, a method that helps participants “develop skills for observing long durational performances through a series of exercises and environments designed to increase awareness of their physical and mental experience in the moment.” Needless to say, MAI will be unlike any other institute in existence.
A virtual tour of OMA’s design and more information after the break...
MAI is using Kickstarter, a platform that will allow it to communicate directly with future visitors, and to offer rewards that engage them in its mission. By inviting the broader public to contribute to the early development of MAI, Kickstarter helps to affirm and build the engaged community necessary for sustaining the institute into the future.
If this initiative succeeds, backers will have helped to found both the largest cultural institution ever to get off the ground using Kickstarter, and the only project of its kind in the world.
Get involved in the MAI’s development by donating here on Kickstarter. More information can be found on the official MAI website.
Abramovic will be doing an online Reddit AMA today, July 30th at 12:30EST, to answer questions about the institute.
