Marina Abramovic solo exhibition opens in Beijing

Marina Abramovic has been exploring feminist and body art for over 40 years. The Serbian artist is internationally recognized and often said to be the most significant figure in the history of performance art. Now, an exhibition showcasing the artist's pioneering works has opened at Beijing Light Society.

The exhibition features Marina Abramovic's new and key past works in the mediums of video, photographs and sculpture.

Spanning her 40-year career, many of the works have never before been shown in China.

Artistic works of Marina Abramovic are on display in Beijing. /CGTN Photo

"The exhibition is actually a group of different works of her. It presents both her early performance pieces done by herself and her collaboration with Ulay, her partner, and her new works that have not been seen before," saidDavid Tung, director of Lisson Gallery Shanghai.

"This work by Abramovic was filmed at a specialized Polaroid studio in Boston, with Ulay's help. This piece would probably be the largest known Polaroid photo, and it is the first time it has been exhibited in China,"Wang Jun, founder of Beijing Light Society told CGTN.

Since the beginning of her career in Belgrade during the early 1970s, Abramovic has pioneered performance as a visual art form.

Artistic works of Marina Abramovic are on display in Beijing. /CGTN Photo‍

Described as "one of the defining artists of radical performance," she has created some of the most important works in the genre.

With her body as both subject and medium, she explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the human body, and the possibilities of the mind.

"I think there's something we all look for in human engagement. It's very hard for us not to be in touch with other humans, not to speak, not to listen, not to feel, all these things we take as a kind of daily basis. But because of her practice and training, she really takes these thing to extreme -- not talking for 16 hours, sitting there staring at people for 20 hours, living in a space for 20 days without engagement with anybody. These are the moments where we test the limits of human possibility. I think when we look at that energy, we understand what make us human," added Tung.

The exhibition is supported by Lisson Gallery, which has been working with Marina for about 15 years. It runs through June 15.