Hundreds gather to 'scream' in Munch tribute
Richard Orange - [email protected]
Published: 15 Aug, 2013 CET.
Updated: Thu 15 Aug 2013 09:18 CET
Men and women from across Oslo gathered on Thurday at a specially constructed vantage point in the city's Ekeberg sculpture park to "release their emotions by screaming".
The event, the first day of a collaborative art project by performance artist Marina Abramović, has been mounted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. Abramović, who will be in Oslo for the full five days of screaming, said she had been inspired by the chance to use the same backdrop that Munch used in his painting The Scream. "I do not like sculptures in parks. They are best when they are pristine and untouched," she told Dagsavisen. "But when I was told this was the place where Munch was inspired to paint The Scream, I could not believe that no one had thought of doing this already." Each of the 300 participants will be coached to get the most out of the emotional release. "Marina and a personal trainer will guide you to complete your screams. All you need is to do is to be present in the moment," an advertisement told potential volunteers. "Each scream will have a symbolic association with Munch's painting, but it is first and foremost your own experience and contact with yourself is important." Abramović, a Serbian based in New-York, describes herself as "the grandmother of performance art". The artist is perhaps most famous for 1970s Rhythm 0, in which she lay prone on a table and invited the audience to manipulate her body with 72 objects, which included a feather, a rose, a gun and a scalpel. Last week, she was in the headlines for getting pop star Lady Gaga to pose naked in a video to raise funds for her new Marina Abramovic Institute.
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The event, the first day of a collaborative art project by performance artist Marina Abramović, has been mounted to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch.
Abramović, who will be in Oslo for the full five days of screaming, said she had been inspired by the chance to use the same backdrop that Munch used in his painting The Scream.
"I do not like sculptures in parks. They are best when they are pristine and untouched," she told Dagsavisen. "But when I was told this was the place where Munch was inspired to paint The Scream, I could not believe that no one had thought of doing this already."
Each of the 300 participants will be coached to get the most out of the emotional release.
"Marina and a personal trainer will guide you to complete your screams. All you need is to do is to be present in the moment," an advertisement told potential volunteers.
"Each scream will have a symbolic association with Munch's painting, but it is first and foremost your own experience and contact with yourself is important."
Abramović, a Serbian based in New-York, describes herself as "the grandmother of performance art".
The artist is perhaps most famous for 1970s Rhythm 0, in which she lay prone on a table and invited the audience to manipulate her body with 72 objects, which included a feather, a rose, a gun and a scalpel.
Last week, she was in the headlines for getting pop star Lady Gaga to pose naked in a video to raise funds for her new Marina Abramovic Institute.
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