In a podcast interview with Louis Theroux, Marina Abramović revealed that curator Klaus Biesenbach was initially skeptical of her landmark 2010 performance "The Artist Is Present" at MoMA. Biesenbach, then chief curator at large at the Museum of Modern Art, had invited Abramović for the institution's first performance art retrospective, proposing the title "The Artist Is Present." When Abramović suggested sitting silently in the museum's atrium every day for three months, Biesenbach reportedly called the idea "ridiculous," predicting no one would participate. Despite his doubts, the performance drew some 1,500 visitors, with one person sitting for an entire day, and became a defining moment in 21st-century art.
The revelation matters because it underscores the tension between curatorial caution and artistic vision that can produce transformative cultural events. "The Artist Is Present" not only broke attendance records but demonstrated the power of durational performance to engage audiences deeply, with visitors crying and even fellow artists like Ulay and Tehching Hsieh paying tribute. The anecdote also highlights how institutional support, even when hesitant, can enable historic works, and it adds nuance to the legacy of both Abramović and Biesenbach, now director of Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie.