Marina Abramović cancels plans for physical MAI institute due to funding shortfall

Marina Abramović has abandoned plans to open a physical headquarters for the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), citing an inability to raise the $31 million required to realize architect Rem Koolhaas's design. The decision was announced during a talk at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London. The institute, conceived in 2010 after her MoMA performance "The Artist Is Present," was intended to preserve and promote performance art. Abramović had purchased a former theater in New York for $950,000 and raised over $600,000 via Kickstarter in 2013 to fund Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu's preliminary plans for the 30,000-square-meter space. Calling the architect's proposals "absolutely beautiful" but prohibitively expensive, Abramović stated she could never raise that sum unless a wealthy benefactor stepped in. She now plans to sell the building and adopt a nomadic model, stating, "Don't come to us, we'll come to you."