Ethan Tingey

Marina Abramovic Essay

Benjamin Craig
11.30.2015

The Meaning of Contemporary Art

What is contemporary art, and why is the boundaries of contemporary art so harshly
debated? Contemporary art is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twentyfirst century. Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and
the issues relevant to ourselves, and the world around us. The subject of debate on contemporary
art is whether or not what the audience is intended to reflect upon should be controlled. By being
controlled, it mostly relates to religion and what the religious view as sinning. The side that
wants control, seems to care most when the art being performed is a form of sinning. Should
contemporary art be limited for the religious and others because it could be seen as sinning or
provocative? How does limiting contemporary art alter the meaning and purpose of
contemporary art? An example of contemporary art and the debate behind it is seen with the
performance artist Marina Abramovic. Marina Abramovic has been stimulating the debate of
contemporary art ever since the early 1970s. Following Marina Abramovics story we can see
the reasoning between both sides of the debate. The meaning and role of contemporary art is to
create thought and change through stimulating thought from a different state of mind, therefore
contemporary art should not be controlled.

Should contemporary art be limited? The simplest answer to this very complicated and
debated question is imagining the beginning of human civilization to the present completely
without art, from the beginning, starting with cave painting, to now. Without art in the timeline of
human events, the world would be with no design, no movies, and no photography; in fact no
image making at all, nothing would have been done for the sake of being aesthetically pleasing.
This shows the impact art has had in human development. Have we stopped developing? What is
there in contemporary culture that suddenly makes art lose this impact it has had for centuries?
But when speaking about individual artists today, like Marina Abramovic, it gets argued and
debated.
An argument that is in favor of contemporary art being controlled is that different artists
have different reasons for making the work they do. However, there is doubt that all
contemporary artists would say "I'm doing this for a meaningful impact on society". There is
some kind of creative drive that motivates contemporary artists, so that in a way they are doing it
for their own pleasure, recognition, release, or whatever it may be, indulging in that urge to
create is simply for some sort of self-pleasure. Thus, society should not base its social change on
contemporary art and should limit how contemporary art contributes to social change. There is a
belief that Marina Abramovic influences social change in the way that make profanity and
sinning okay. It is because of this belief that people believe contemporary art should be limited.
However, isnt it the point of contemporary art to provoke the thought of what is okay and
possibly change those views?
An argument in favor of contemporary art and all of its glory is that today, artists push the
developments in new technology to its limits. Give a gadget to an artist and the artist will
demonstrate things with the gadget that no one knew the gadget could do. Right now they are

creating and maintain everything from YouTube to the Nintendo Wii, which shows how
everything can be made better and eventually point the way to the next big thing. Several
mainstream things in our culture started out as experimental things. Society needs creative
people to come up with the experiment and to be willing to take the risk of challenging society.
By definition contemporary art is art that provides an opportunity to reflect on
contemporary society and the issues relevant to ourselves, and the world around us. Marina
Abramovics art at times depicts how life is too fast paced. People rarely sit and think about how
much a miracle it is to just be a part of life. Marina Abramovic demonstrates this in her The
Artist is Present by staring into another person across from her as they stare into her. Marina
gives up three months of her life to demonstrate how sometimes the best life is the simple life, a
life open to thinking. Marina also depicts the distaste society has on the naked human body, and
how religion looks down upon the exposure of the naked self. Is society right? Is it a horrible
thing to see a naked stranger? Well, it doesnt kill anyone or ruin anyones life. Yet people can
serve serious jail time and fines for public indecency. Obviously there are extreme forms of
public indecency that may be harmful to others. However, it is this sort of questioning and
thought that Marina Abramovic creates with her art.
Questioning and thinking is the accepted philosophy in creating more knowledge,
change, and advancement in modern western civilization. So why should the ability to question
and think from another state of mind, one free of societies pre-established right and wrongs, be
removed from the world? In fact it is art that has allowed for our society to form as it has.
Societies rules should always be questioned in order for the betterment of civilization.
Contemporary art allows for another view of the world and how the world should bend to create
a better and happier life for all. After all life is a miracle to all people and should be greatly

appreciated no matter the circumstance. The meaning and role of contemporary art is to create
thought and change through stimulating thought from a different state of mind, therefore
contemporary art should not be controlled.