Marina Abramovic launches new app ahead of her participation at the Nobel Week Dialogue

“Only when we change ourselves can we change others. Water matters.” Marina Abramović

Marina Abramović will deliver a performance lecture at the Nobel Week Dialogue in Stockholm on 9 December 2018. Abramović is launching an app called Rising, letting users make active choices to take better care of the environment daily actions. The app is commissioned by Nobel Media, and is released as a countdown to her participation during Nobel Week.

Together with Nobel Laureates and experts from all around the world she will focus on the topic of water as part of the Nobel Week programme. Abramović will deliver a newly composed 20-minute performance lecture on stage where she will raise awareness of the rising sea levels.

Marina Abramović is one in a line of successful artists participating in activities during the Nobel Week. Previous collaborations have been developed with Patti Smith, Jeff Koons, Olafur Eliasson and Anish Kapoor.

The Nobel Week Dialogue aims to stimulate discussion at the highest level on a topical science-related theme by bringing together Nobel Laureates, the world’s leading scientists and experts, key opinion leaders, policy makers, artists and the public. The theme for this year event is ‘Water Matters’.

“Marina Abramović is, besides being one of the world’s premier performance artists, engaged in issues related to water and climate change. We look forward to her performance lecture at the Nobel Week Dialogue as part of the official program to celebrate this year’s Nobel Laureates. It is exciting to see how science and art can inspire new thinking.” Mattias Fyrenius, CEO of Nobel Media

About the Rising app

Marina Abramović’s Rising app is an extension of her previous Virtual Reality artwork also titled Rising, developed by Acute Art. Both the app and the VR address the effects of climate change; however, the app allows viewers to see the impact through daily actions and view Abramović in Augmented Reality. The artist in Augmented Reality, beckons from within a glass tank that is slowly filling with water from her waist to her neck. Abramović urges viewers to reconsider their impact on the world around them, asking them to choose whether or not to save her from drowning by pledging to support the environment, which lowers the water in the tank.

Abramović’s pioneering performance career has centered around time-based work, which uses both hers and the public’s body as a canvas. She has continually pushed the boundaries with durational work that has defined contemporary performance. With the Rising app, the artist’s presence is brought into another dimension.

To produce the artwork, Acute Art captured the artist’s unique facial expressions to create a realistic looking avatar of Abramović. Embracing new technology to transmit the presence of the artist virtually.

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