Body Art

She’s now a world-famous artist, celebrated as a major pioneer of performance and body art. Fifty years ago, however, such universal acclaim was a long way off; the documentary Body Art, which includes footage of Abramović’s first-ever performance in the Netherlands (1975), in gallery De Appel on Brouwersgracht in Amsterdam, was met by a storm of indignation.

Razor, whip

There was debate in the House of Representatives about the proposed broadcast of the NOS art programme Beeldspraak, in which a young, then-unknown Marina Abramović cut a pentagram in her stomach with a razor and lashed herself with a whip. The commotion led to a weeks-long media kerfuffle, after which the broadcast was cancelled and the material, shot by experimental filmmaker Frans Zwartjes (Pentimento, In Extremo) and edited by Wouter Snip, disappeared under lock and key.

The Body Art programme was the idea of ​​designer, artist and writer Simon Mari Pruys (1927-1980), in collaboration with art centre de Appel. The Body Art documentary was filmed by Frans Zwartjes (1927-2017) and contains never-before-seen material by Abramović's (ex-)partner Ulay (1943-2020), with whom she performed – now legendary – performances for over ten years.

Search, discussion

Five decades later, Simon Mari Pruys’ son, filmmaker Joeri Pruys, tracked down the banned (‘embargoed’) material. Joeri Pruys is currently making a documentary about that search, entitled Final Cut, which asks the question who ultimately determines what we, as viewers, see and what is hidden from our view.

After the world premiere of Body Art, Marina Abramović will talk with Joeri Pruys about the film and her very first meeting with Ulay during the filming in 1975. The talk is moderated by Nina Folkersma

The screening of Body Art is a collaboration of Eye, Beeld & Geluid, NTR and Rainproof Media.