Artist Abramovic turns from the extreme to decompression

ZURICH

Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic, known for works that push her body and her audience to extreme limits, is these days inviting people to decompress by taking a break from digital overload.

For a retrospective at the Kunsthaus Zurich art museum tracing her 55-year career, Abramovic created a new installation called "Decompression Chamber."

Inside, the 78-year-old artist invites visitors to put away their mobile phones, watches and any other distracting items, don a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and sit back in a deckchair to relax, lose track of time and reconnect with their inner selves.

Abramovic told AFP it was "my response to the overuse of technology".

"This allows visitors to get in touch with the here and now and go into their own selves. It is an opportunity to detach from the external and reattach to the internal," she said in an email.

It is a riposte to a world in which "the younger generation takes photographs with their phones" in an exhibition "before they have any experience of actually seeing the work" and engaging with it on a deeper level, she said.

The exhibition is the first comprehensive retrospective in Switzerland of Abramovic's work, and encompasses every phase of her more than half-century career.

The Belgrade-born artist is known for her performances that put her body to the test and sometimes push visitors to the darkest corners of the soul.

The retrospective, which runs until Feb. 26, mixes video recordings and live performances. To enter, visitors must first squeeze their way between a completely naked man and woman standing opposite each other in a narrow doorway.

The museum warns from the outset that the retrospective contains disturbing scenes.

"It's very, very challenging, but I'm happy I saw it, without any doubt," said visitor Winfried Knust, 61, as he left the exhibition.

"It opens your mind; it challenges you about what you define as art," he told AFP.