Rest Energy (performance piece)

Rest Energy is a 1980 performance art piece created, enacted, and recorded by performance artist duo Marina Abramović and Ulay in Amsterdam, Netherlands.^[1][2][3] Four minutes in duration, Abramović has described it as one of the most difficult pieces she has ever done, saying

I was not in charge. In Rest Energy we actually held an arrow on the weight of our bodies, and the arrow is pointed right into my heart. We had two small microphones near our hearts, so we could hear our heartbeats. As our performance was progressing, heartbeats were becoming more and more intense, and though it lasted just four minutes and ten seconds, I’m telling you, for me it was forever. It was a performance about the complete and total trust.^[4]

The work is in the collection of the Netherlands Media Art Institute in Amsterdam.^[5]

References

1. "Marina Abramovic & Ulay". Pomeranz Collection. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.
2. Documenting the performance art of Marina Abramović in pictures. Phaidon. p. 9. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.
3. "Rosc '80, the poetry of vision; an international exhibition of modern art and Chinese painting [shown in the rooms of the School of Architecture University College Dublin and in the National Gallery of Ireland, July to September 1980]". Dublin City Public Libraries. Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.
4. "Works With Ulay". Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.
5. "Video: Marina Abramović and Ulay, Rest Energy, 1980. (Excerpt)". artforum.com. Retrieved Feb 10, 2015.

External links

• 2010 Guardian article about Abramović
• Video excerpt of piece at NMAI