This is the story of an artist looking for a new method of attention. When Lady Gaga wanted to reconnect — with her focus, her body, her being — she turned to Marina Abramovic, the godmother of performance art. And what she discovered wasn’t just a creative exercise. It was something deeper.
Marina Abramović: Between Art and Focus
As a teenager, she had already decided she wanted to become an artist. Her parents invited an abstract landscape painter, Filipović, to their home to give her lessons. He prepared brushes and a canvas on the floor. Then he opened a jar of glue and poured it onto the canvas, added sand and various colors—yellow, red, and black—before setting it all on fire.
“This is a sunset,” he said. And then he left.
This was how Marina Abramović discovered what performance art truly was—the freedom to work with anything, or with nothing at all.
Walk Through Walls: An Honest Journey
Published in 2016, Walk Through Walls is a raw and compelling autobiography that chronicles Abramović’s life—from her childhood in communist Yugoslavia to her rise as an icon of contemporary art.
The book reveals the struggles and triumphs that shaped her career, her artistic attempts to transcend pain, her partnership with Ulay (both in life and art), her moves across Europe, and her eventual arrival in America.
Written in the first person, Abramović shares the stories behind her most famous performances—Rhythm 0, The Artist Is Present, and more—offering a unique insight into the meaning and impact of art. She also reflects on the path every artist must take to discover authenticity: learning to listen to oneself, focus, and share deeply.
The title itself encapsulates her artistic quest—the ability to overcome physical, mental, and emotional boundaries to reach a new state of awareness and freedom.
If you are interested in her story you can also check her TED.
Entrepreneurship, Method, and Mass Culture
After achieving global recognition with her performance The Artist Is Present at MoMA—three months during which she sat silently, locking eyes with anyone who chose to sit across from her—Abramović realized it was time to share her method.
She cannot teach what to create, but she can teach how to discover one’s own voice. And this is what this video is about.
Marina Abramovic began her entrepreneurial journey, supported by renowned artists who attended her workshops—most notably Lady Gaga, who also backed Abramović’s Kickstarter campaign.
Her influence has reached mass culture, inspiring not only artistic circles but also popular parodies, such as Virginia Raffaele’s famous imitation.
A Must-Read for Creatives
Walk Through Walls is more than the memoir of a groundbreaking performance artist; it is a guide to creative courage and discipline. Highly recommended—not only for contemporary art enthusiasts but for anyone seeking to unlock their own creative potential.
If you’re interested in creativity you can also read this and this.
