Exhibitions

Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy

Venice, Italy

Marina Abramović becomes the first living woman artist to be honoured with a major exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. The show is presented during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.

Detail photo of Marina Abramović
1 / 2

Image credit

© ©Clara Melchiorre Detail photo of Marina Abramović

Meet the artist

The Movement

Art Installation, Contemporary Art

ArtLovers Tip

Marina Abramović doesn’t want you to simply look at art. She wants you to enter it — physically, mentally, energetically. Enter Transforming Energy as a ritual, not as a checklist. Abramović’s art becomes powerful when you stop asking “what am I looking at?” and start asking “what is happening to my attention, my body, my patience, my energy?” This is the kind of exhibition that asks you not only to see differently — but to be present differently.

Exhibition Highlights - What you'll see

Performance art, participatory installation, conceptual art, body art, durational practice and spiritual/energetic experimentation.

This landmark event, Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy, opens during the 61st Venice Biennale and marks a very special milestone: the artist’s 80th birthday.

Transforming Energy connects Abramović’s long history of performance with a more participatory language: objects, gestures and situations designed to activate the public, not leave them as passive spectators.

Transforming Energy brings Abramović’s work into one of Venice’s most historic museums, placing contemporary performance and participatory practice in dialogue with the Gallerie dell’Accademia’s Renaissance setting.

You’re experiencing:

  • Interactive works and objects that invite the visitor’s participation
  • References to Abramović’s performance history, including works connected to endurance, presence and ritual
  • A dialogue between contemporary body-based art and historic Venetian painting
  • Crystals, bones and symbolic materials used as tools for attention, memory and transformation
  • A museum visit that becomes less about speed and more about presence

Reuters described the exhibition as involving visitors directly, with guides encouraging engagement through crystal objects and works connected to earlier pieces such as Balkan Baroque.

The result is not a traditional retrospective. It feels more like a training ground for attention.

Worth the trip

Discover brand-new works created especially for this occasion, all bringing Abramović’s career-long exploration of endurance, vulnerability, and the power of transformation into clear, moving focus.

This exhibition matters because Abramović has spent decades expanding what art can be: not only image or object, but time, endurance, silence, discomfort, energy and encounter.

It also matters historically: showing a living woman artist at this scale inside the Gallerie dell’Accademia marks a major institutional moment in Venice.

Venice already asks you to slow down; Abramović asks you to slow down even more. In the context of the Biennale, this is not just another exhibition — it is an invitation to experience art as presence.

How to experience it

You can experience her interactive 'Transitory Objects'—including stone beds and crystal-embedded structures—by sitting, standing, or lying upon them to activate what the artist calls a shared 'energy transmission.'

The show features a powerful collection of iconic works, such as Imponderabilia (1977), Rhythm 0 (1974), Light/Dark (1977), Balkan Baroque (1997), and Carrying the Skeleton (2008), alongside projections of her early performances.

Don’t rush. Abramović’s work needs time, silence and commitment.

Treat participation seriously — the viewer completes part of the experience.

Put your phone away when possible; attention is part of the artwork.

Notice the contrast between Renaissance images and contemporary performance energy.

Let the exhibition work on your body, not only your mind.

Venice, Italy

Discover the destination

Experience art in Venice

Italy

Venice is a city where art does not live inside museums only — it floats through palaces, churches, canals, biennials, private collections and contemporary pavilions.

For art lovers, Venice is not just a destination. It is a stage where every façade, bridge, church and canal becomes part of the experience. Avoid rushing Venice. Choose one main art area per day — Dorsoduro, San Marco, Castello, Giudecca — and let the city reveal itself between visits.

Explore Venice

Because you are an artlover,

Join our community of art enthusiasts and discover exhibitions, artists, and masterpieces tailored to your tastes. Get personalized recommendations and never miss a must-see show again.

Join us