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Abramovic, Marina; Ulay «The World is My Country: The Sex Life of Flowers»
Abramovic, Marina; Ulay, «The World is My Country: The Sex Life of Flowers», 1982
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 Abramovic, Marina; Ulay
«The World is My Country: The Sex Life of Flowers»

In this video installation, the visitor is called on to hang upside-down from the ceiling to view a monitor showing a television documentary on 'sex' in the plant kingdom. The apparatus from which his feet hang contains a mechanism triggering and stopping the video. The active participation of the viewer is what sets this installation with performative elements in motion. A reciprocal relationship is established between the actor's physical discomfort and the fascinating documentary. The viewer's active effort and energy are demanded for the information. An exchange takes place in this installation, already pointing the way to the later objects of Marina Abramovic, in which visitors are also invited to meditatively assume specific positions.

 

Rudolf Frieling