"Art must be beautiful"

pigmentbaesd inkjet print on baryta

signed (pencil) on recto

In her performances Marina Abramović often goes to her own physical and psychological limits. The artist herself describes her 45 minutes performance Art must be beautiful. Artist must be beautiful…, which was staged at the 1975 Charlottenburg Art Festival in Copenhagen, as follows: "I brush my hair with a metal brush in my right hand and simultaneously comb my hair with a metal comb in my left hand. While doing so, I continuously repeat, 'Art must be beautiful, Artist must be beautiful' until I destroy my hair and face." (Marina Abramovic) Abramović sits with free upper body in front of a white wall. A camera faces her frontally, so that the artist looks directly at the viewer. She combs and brushes her long hair slowly at first and then more and more aggressively, repeatedly saying the sentence "Art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful...". In the course of the performance Abramović maltreats her hair and scalp ever more violently and repeats the sentence ever faster. Her voice and facial expressions reveal the strain and pain.
(Svenja Clauss, ZKM Karlsruhe)

As part of the exhibition "Marina Abramović" from October 10, 2025 to March 1, 2026 at the Albertina modern, Vienna, a new edition of the recording was released.