The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic (Basinski) Madrid 2012 Robert Wilson

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic  
• Composer: Antony Basinski, William Basinski  
• Libretto: Marina Abramovic    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Teatro real de Madrid, Spain  
• Recorded: 2012
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Marina Abramovic, Ivan Civic, Amanda Coogan, Willem Dafoe, Andrew Gilchrist, Antony, Elke Luyten, Christopher Nell, Kira O´Reilly, Carlos Soto, Antony Rizzi, Svetlana Spajic
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra:
• Stage Director: Robert Wilson  
• Stage Designer: Robert Wilson  
• Costume Designer: Jaques Reynaud  
• Lighting Designer: A. J. Weissbard  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Teatro Real  
• Date Published: 2024  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  “This is a very different kind of show from the Marina Abramovic Presents… that we performed at the Manchester International Festival in 2009. That was performance art, but The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic is a poetic work of biographical theater. The first one emerged during a really difficult period in my life, when I didn’t know where I was going with my work. I think I adopted the theatrical form to distance myself from the pain. I found the process so interesting that every five or six years I return to it, and I enjoy it. I ask a different director to revisit my biography. Charles Atlas made the first biography in 1989 and Michael Laub made the last one, The Biography Remix, in 1997. This time, I wanted to work with Bob because I have been a big fan of his for a long time. He has truly invented a new language of theater in relation to time and space. His imagery is iconic, he paints with light.

  Every time I do a biography, I start from the same principle: completely relinquish control. So, by handing the material over to a director, he can reorder my life in a certain way. It may lead to a chronological story or not – that does not matter. I am material and nothing more. I don’t contribute anything, but what happens every time is that my life is new to me. I can’t tell you how liberating that is. When I met Bob, he said that he wanted me to play my mother, when in real life I have a huge problem with my mother, a real love-hate relationship. But he saw something in it, and he wanted to explore it, even though it meant I spent all my time crying since I arrived in Manchester.

  This biography is different, because all the other directors focused on aspects of my work, while what Bob wanted to explore was my life. He took all the tragic, painful and emotional stories that I am made of, and put them on stage. In fact, it all becomes so tragic that you almost have to laugh, and for me it has been a tremendous release of negativity. Working with Willem and Antony is like a fascinating chemical reaction. I can’t imagine working with anyone else: Antony has put my life into music in a very moving way, and Willem is an amazing actor.
  Why does my biography continue to intrigue me? Because artists always work with materials from their own lives. Making art consists of transferring those feelings and thoughts into a universal language. Biography also works like this. But for me, it is still very personal, and that is why I want to dedicate The Life and Death of Marina Abramović to the great love of my life, Paolo Canevari.”

  Marina Abramovic

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