Marina Abramović's Endurance Performances as Labor Critique Post-2008

E. C. Feiss's 2012 essay for Afterall examines Marina Abramović's re-performances as a reflection of post-2008 economic precarity. At MoMA's 2010 retrospective 'The Artist Is Present', performers were initially paid $50 for 2.5-hour shifts without breaks or compensation, later renegotiated after fainting incidents. At MOCA's 2011 gala, performers received $150 and a museum membership for acting as live centerpieces. Yvonne Rainer, Douglas Crimp, and Taisha Paggett criticized the gala as 'economic exploitation verging on criminality'. Abramović's planned Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art in Hudson, NY, designed by Rem Koolhaas/OMA, would require visitors to sign contracts for six-hour stays. The essay argues that re-performance transforms endurance into financial survival, with performers' bodies as 'readymades' reflecting labor conditions in the experience economy. Boris Groys's analysis of the 'working body' is critiqued for overlooking value differentials between Abramović and paid performers. The essay links re-performance to broader issues of unpaid internships, vulnerable employment, and wealth inequality post-2008 financial crisis.