Marina Abramović at Stedelijk
“I have always trusted LI-MA to preserve my work to the highest standards” – Marina Abramović, 2024
From 16 March till 14 July 2024, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam presented a major retrospective of Marina Abramović, the internationally acclaimed pioneer of performance art. At last, a major solo exhibition of her pioneering work will be on show in the city that has been her home since 1976. LI-MA has been preserving and distributing her work for many years and is delighted that a large part of her oeuvre can now be seen again in Amsterdam (LI-MA's home base) for the first time in a long time.
LI-MA preserves and distributes around ninety works by Marina Abramović, including her collaborations with, among others, her former partner Ulay. We preserve her work not only for the LI-MA collection but also for several other Dutch institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Van Abbemuseum and the Cultural Heritage Agency.
The collaboration with Abramović dates back to the 1980s, when she worked with the art institution de Appel in Amsterdam. That is where, among other things, her first exhibition in the Netherlands took place, which featured documentation and video of her first public performance in the Netherlands, Role Exchange (1976).
Marina Abramović, 'Sleeping Under the Banyan Tree' (2010). Distributed by LI-MA.
With the rise of video and performance art in the 1970s, locations were developed where equipment and knowledge about video art could be shared. In Amsterdam, these were Stichting Time Based Arts and MonteVideo. Abramovic often had her live performances recorded from the beginning of her career. An edit was then made of those recordings, which could be distributed as video work. Therefore, she collaborated with these pioneering institutions and later with LI-MA:
"In the late 1970's the Montevideo Foundation was founded with the mission to preserve and distribute artist video works. It was a pioneering organization at the time, as video was still in its infancy. Montevideo later became LIMA, which had the same aim and function. Video quickly became an integral part of my work, and from the beginning I have always trusted LIMA to preserve my work to the highest standards. For me, it was unthinkable to continue working on video without continuing this relationship. They care, they have deep dedication to their artists, and they always do amazing work with incredible precision." – Marina Abramović, 2024.
Art must be Beautiful, Artist must be Beautiful (1975). Distributed by LI-MA.
The management and preservation of media art requires a custom-made solution. Technology changes rapidly, requiring constant adaptation of file formats (and previously physical carriers) of media art. Media art is constantly subject to change. LI-MA plays a key role in the future-proof archiving, preservation and distribution of this art form and we are proud to work with pioneers and icons like Abramović, Nan Hoover and also the current and future generations pioneering in this field.
The exhibition on Dutch evening news
On Wednesday 13 March 2024, Abramović and the exhibition were featured during the evening news on two national television channels. Stream those features below.
Header image: Marina Abramović, The Hero, 2001
Marina Abramović, 'The Artist is Present' (2010). Screenshot from RTL News.
