Marina Abramovic reveals plans for her funeral and calls it 'the artist's last piece before leaving'
The Serbian performance artist wants live music and bright colours
Marina Abramovic has shared her belief that an artist's funeral should be their "last piece" and revealed plans for her own, very memorable send-off.
The 68-year-old performance artist is known for her dramatic shows exploring the relationship between audience and performer but wants none to be greater than her final curtain.
Abramovic read out her manifesto during her 12-day residency for Kaldor Public Art Projects in Sydney earlier this week and, according to the Guardian, concluded that "an artist should die consciously without fear" as the funeral is "the artist's last piece before leaving".
The curious audience soon began asking the Serbian artist for more details about her own ideas, despite her being in good health, and she happily obliged:
"I want to have three Marinas. Of course, one is real and two fake because you can't have three bodies. But I want these Marinas buried in the three cities which I've lived in the longest, which is Belgrade, Amsterdam and New York."
The intrigue would come because no-one would know where her real body lay and mourners would be asked not to dress in black "like a cockroach" as she always does but in bright colours.
"I want Antony of Antony and the Johnsons, who is a great singer and friend of mine, to sing 'I Did It My Way'," she continued, clearly getting more and more excited about her own funeral. "He never said yes but I think he will be so sad that I die he will probably do it."
Abramovic spoke about her three personalities in a recent interview in Tasmania, during which she explained that one Marina is "very heroic", another is "very different, very spiritual, very emotional" and the third "really likes bulls**t".
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments