The Artist is Present till May 15

A young boy, about 7, watches as people brush past a narrow passageway formed by a woman and man, who face one another naked holding an entranced gaze. The young boy continues to look on with an expression of fear and repeatedly tells his mother, "I'm not going through there!" At first his mother tries to reason with him explaining there's no other option until a guard motions them to a wider entrance towards the right.

Tthe original performance of Imponderabilia in 1977 museumgoers in Italy had no option they had to pass through the controversial performance artist, Marina Abramovic, and her then lover, Ulay.

MoMA found it necessary to provide a second route, telling Abramovic that a wider alternative would allow for those in wheelchairs to access the exhibit.

In its 81 years of history, this is the first live nude exhibition for the museum. "The Artist is Present" started on March 14 and showcases videos of Abramovic's performances throughout the past forty years and reproductions of five earlier works. Most are controversial reasons range from the nudity to the gruesome and pain-inflicting nature of her performances.

At 64, Abramovic is working on her longest performance yet. For the MoMA retrospective she will sit in the spotlight in a chair engaging with a participant. They sit silently looking directly at one another, the participant is allowed to sit for as long as they like. Others either wait their turn or watch from a distance.

Abramovic will do this for three months, seven and a half hours four days a week, and ten hours on Fridays, nonstop.

She does not take breaks, when a participant leaves she rests her neck down and closes her eyes. A brief moment passes until the next person sits across from her and she raises her head, and then opens are eyes to look into the participant's eyes.

"The attitude is the same as toward a painting--the performance is always there," she tells W Magazine.

Anne Deniese, visiting from Australia, found it incredible that Abramovic can sit there for so long. "I wouldn't be able to sit there for very long," she says, "It'd be too disconcerting." Deniese looks on at the young woman, who has been sitting across the artist for over an hour, and remarks that "Marina's eyes haven't moved from hers."

Another museumgoer chipped in, "It definitely takes something to do this."

According to a security guard she only sees an average of twelve people a day and mentioned that one man sat for seven hours.

A man in his late-twenties, standing in line to sit with Abramovic, explained that he was rehearsing the way he would present himself to her. "There's a lot of unspoken communication, from the way you sit, posture, and of course your gaze."

The exhibit ends on May 31.

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