Marina Abramović

Serbian-born grand dame of performance art currently based in New York City. Her work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Active for over three decades, Abramović has been described as the "grandmother of performance art." She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body."

Her parents were Youguoslavian communists believing in a new world order. She was raised by her grandparents until age six.

From 1971 to 1976, she was married to Neša Paripović. In 1976, after moving to Amsterdam, Abramović met the West German performance artist Frank Uwe Laysiepen (30 November 1943 in Solingen, Germany), who went by the single name Ulay. He was exactly born 3 years before her. They decided to form a collective being called "The Other", and spoke of themselves as parts of a "two-headed body". They dressed and behaved like twins and created a relationship of complete trust, as soul mates. In 1988, after several years of tense relations, Abramović and Ulay decided to make a spiritual journey which would end their relationship. They each walked the Great Wall of China, in a piece called The Great Wall Walk, starting from the two opposite ends and meeting in the middle.