ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a number of Marina Abramovic’s fundamental concepts, approaches and discusses in a number of key publications and interviews. It describes energy as an electromagnetic force as well as energy interpreted as a manifestation of the ‘soul’ as it is in a number of religious traditions that Abramovic has encountered. Abramovic’s worldview has very much been influenced by her experience of other cultures and societies which she uses without any particular strategy other than a desire to maintain a fresh interest in learning about and experiencing other ways of living and being. The film is revealing in as much as it continues to reiterate the problematic discourse Abramovic has espoused for decades: that she withdraws from the ‘western’ world to gain strength, energy and insight from the ‘east’ or in this instance the global south. Video installations, set up in isolation, largely rule out the potential for spectator interactivity.