Marina Abramović, the Serbian pioneer of performance art, inaugurated her latest exhibition "Transforming Energy" at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, days before the official opening of the Biennale International Art Exhibition. The show features a pile of plaster bones and crystal objects, with guides in white coats encouraging visitors to interact with the crystals to detox from modern technology. Abramović is the first living woman artist to present an exhibition at the Gallerie, which is known for its Renaissance masterpieces.
The exhibition matters because it asks the public to perform and connect with the artwork, a rare move for Abramović, who is typically the performer herself. The show establishes a dialogue between her contemporary work and Renaissance masterpieces, such as placing her still image "Pieta" in front of Titian's painting of the same name. It also pays tribute to her earlier work "Balkan Baroque," which won the Golden Lion at the 1997 Venice Biennale and addressed the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.