Marina Abramović Institute
Marina is setting up an experience performance center inspired by her own latest project. Abramovic aims to put art, science, technology and spirituality together in the "Marina Abramovic Institute," a dynamic museum which displays what she calls "long durational work." All visitors will become active participants in the art. This champagne is a proof that large and expensive projects can be crowdfunded. The costs of the project are expected at 20.000.000 dollars. Marina funded the first phase herself. She purchased the building for $950,000 and donated it to the institute. She funded the budget of the MAI office for six months and commissioned the architectural concept (Shohei Shigematsu, Rem Koolhaas). Marina has paid $1.5 million out of pocket towards the early stages of MAI. The reason why she chose to fund the institute through Kickstarter as opposed to private investors was that MAI hoped to gain not only seed money, but to create a community of people around the institute. Marina personally thanked all those who contributed to the creation of MAI by hugging every backer of this Kickstarter at a live event called “The Eembrace”. This event took place in two locations, one in New York City and one in London.
Status on Marina Abramovic facebook profile (6.10.2014.):
“We would like to extend our gratitude to all of the MAI Founders who joined Marina Abramovic and the MAI team at The Embrace this past Saturday at Kickstarter HQ in New York and on September 22nd at Serpentine Galleries in London. We'd also like to thank those who participated in the events via live stream.”
From this point of view, after the champagne ended, Marinas financial supporting was very important for a first phase. People realized that she strongly believes in her idea and backed the project. She is also celebrated artist who made many successful performance art projects. She has a background in a field of performance art and many supporters in art community. She had also support from celebrity (Lady Gaga and Jay-Z).
