Performers applying to take part in artist Marina AbramoviÄ’s upcoming show have been warned they “should feel comfortable being nude in the public galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts”.
The exhibition, which opens in the central London gallery on September 23, is the first major UK survey of the Serbian artist dubbed the Grandmother of Performance Art.
More than 50 works will go on show including performances of works including Imponderabilia where two people stand in a doorway naked so the public have to squeeze between them to pass.
There will also be performances of Luminosity where Abramovic balances nude on a bicycle seat mounted high up on a wall with recent performances seeing other performers take her place on a rotating basis.
An open call for performers said they should have “an interest in durational performance” and warned the “role is physically demanding and requires nudity ; applicants should feel comfortable beind nude in the public galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts”.
Casting takes place later this month with rehearsals in September ahead of the show opening.
AbramoviÄ is famous for her dedication to physical performance art. In one of her earliest shows she lit a petrol-drenched star on fire then threw her nails and hair onto the flames before leaping across them into the centre of the star only to lose conciousness from smoke inhalation.
In 2010, her show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art attracted 850,000 visitors including more than a 1,000 who queued to sit opposite her at a wooden table and lock eyes with her.
Among the famous faces who took part were Bjork, Lou Reed, Sharon Stone and James Franco.
Footage of the performance went viral after Abramovic was moved to tears when her former lover and artistic partner Ulay pulled up a chair opposite her on opening night and the work inspired the video for Jay-Z’s Picasso Baby.
