Marina Abramovic in the documentary “The Artist is Present” is a tour de force, her preparation as an artist borders on a monastic rigor, fasting and engaging with the self conscious by blocking off the external world for a three month exhibit. The simple, not simplistic, ideology of her work is transparent but the inaction of herself and the viewer morphs into a therapeutic session, granting agency to the viewer to journey into various emotions all while confronted in her gaze. The gaze becomes attention, often neglected and transitory in many people lives, which is why this work has such a profound impact on visitors. Abramovic becomes a mirror, forcing the viewer to immediately becomes self reflective at the precise moment when they believe they will engage with the artist. The work is so powerful that museum visitors look toward one another, staring, stopping time by being truly present. Only when we are completely inactive, we are forced to assess ourselves, often surfacing emotions that we have suppressed. A mirror would be insufficient especially in this galley setting, because you are no removed for other patrons nor are you confronted with another person looking at you. I think this work is so successful because it is mediated by the individual and their emotions and their performance, for she is static. The performance is flipped on is head and the external  pressures and conceptions are removed once you sit in the chair.

Nochlin: Nochlin invalidates the excuses as to why there have not been great women artists and argues that the structures and definitions of great art were made by and associated with men.

Wark: Rosler, Piper, Antin, and Wilson linked art and politics of the 1960s and 70s to challenge dominant values and artistic traditions.

Abramovic: “The Artist is Present” marks a critical moment in performance art, not only engaging the viewer but making the viewer’s performance and vulnerability the work.

Taylor: Taylor gives background and artistic examples  that joined sexual politics and visual art during the feminist art movement in the 1970s.