August 12, 2021 

A still from WeTransfer’s presentation of Marina Abramović’s The Abramović Method. Courtesy of WeTransfer. 

Marina Abramović has announced a new exhibition to be held in London this September. Traces will take place at the Old Truman Brewery on September 10-12, allowing free admission for visitors to immerse themselves in a multimedia sensory experience created by the legendary performance artist.

The show represents the conclusion of Abramović’s year-long collaboration and guest curatorship with WePresent, in which she has previously highlighted important emerging performance artists as well as bringing techniques from her celebrated Abramović Method into the digital realm.

Alongside two of Abramović’s works “Crystal Cinema” (1991) and “10,000 stars” (2015), Traces has also been created around five significant objects, each selected by the artist for their importance in the development of her life and practice over the last 50 years. 

The exhibition is conceived as an “immersive time capsule”, created to not only underscore the personal historical importance of the collection carefully curated by Abramović, but as a way of conserving these precious relics – both physically and conceptually – for generations to come. In a statement released by WePresent, the artist revealed a few of the objects she believes must be preserved for the future, “From the astounding natural delight of the Rose of Jericho, to Susan Sontag’s crucial essay ‘Regarding the Pain of Others’.” 

Rose of Jericho, Starry Night, essays by Susan Sontag. If Marina Abramović were to bury a time capsule today, those are some of the items she’d put in. 

Marina Abramović. Photo: Carlo Bach 

That’s the conceit of the performance art star’s upcoming show, “Traces,” a three-day experience in London that will take visitors on a journey through her life in five rooms.

Conceived as an immersive installation, each room will be inspired by an object or idea that, like the aforementioned herb and Van Gogh painting, has proven to be a particular influence on her work. 

Culminating with an interview with Abramović herself, each installation will be devoted to one of these revered objects, creating a series of unique spaces in which visitors can immerse themselves in reflections on vast, essential concepts evoked by Abramović’s treasures, such as nature, human suffering, empathy, survival, and the wonders of the cosmos. 

Marina developed her Method over decades of creating performative and immaterial works, and this new digital iteration designed and built by WeTransfer offers viewers the first interactive experience with the artist herself. WeTransfer created a custom video player that incorporates interactive animation and audio to guide viewers through Marina’s Method in the most engaging way.

In a statement, Abramović said WePresent “have always been willing to look at new interpretations of my work and passions.” For the Abramović heads that can’t make it to London, Traces will also exist as a digital experience on the WePresent website.