New performance by Marina Abramović: 200,000 people in silence for 7 minutes at Glastonbury

“Let us give unconditional love to each other”: it was with this intent that Marina Abramović yesterday silenced, for seven minutes, as many as two hundred thousand people, that is, the audience of the Glastonbury festival. It was a new performance by the Serbian artist, who at one of the world’s most important music events, difficult to associate with the idea of silence, staged her Seven Minutes of Collective Silence, with the stated goal of “seeing how we can feel positive energy in the whole universe.” A silence against the wars and violence that are still tearing the world apart today.

Announced only a day in advance, the performance succeeded thanks to the far from predictable collaborative spirit of the audience: with the exception of a few isolated screams, the participants ensured the success of the work. Marina Abramović, for the occasion, took the stage in a long white dress in the shape of a peace symbol, designed by Taranto designer Riccardo Tisci, former creative director of Burberry. In introducing herself to the audience, the artist made a short speech admitting that she was “scared and honored” to be there: “scared because, as an artist, in all my life I have never seen this kind of audience. I’m not singing, I’m not dancing. This is a music festival and all you want to have is to have fun and listen to great music. In my 55-year career, though, I’ve always done everything with energy, and there’s no better place than here now to bring the energy itself in.” He went on to say, “The world is having a really shitty time. There are wars, hunger, protests, killings, violence. What happens if we look at this picture? Violence brings more violence, killing brings more killing, anger brings more anger, demonstration brings more demonstration. Here, we try to do something different: how to be in the present, here and now, and how we can actually all together give unconditional love to each other.” He then invited each audience member to put their hands on their neighbors, close their eyes, get comfortable, after which the performance started after the sound of a gong played by Emily Eavis, festival organizer.

Why the choice of silence? According to Marina Abramović, silence is a means of connecting people with each other in a way that words cannot. And in the context of a music festival, the Serbian artist said before the performance, silence, in the context of an event where there is a continuous flow of sound and energy, offers an opportunity to achieve unity and introspection. Silence for reflection, according to the idea of the artist, who created his performance in collaboration with CIRCA - Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts, which is based in London. And now we just have to wait for the critics’ opinions on the new stunt of the world’s most famous performer.

New performance by Marina Abramović: 200,000 people in silence for 7 minutes at Glastonbury

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