ART-PRESENTATION: Marilyn Arsem-100 Ways to Consider Time

Marilyn Arsem has been creating live events since 1975, from solo gallery performances to large-scale, site-specific works. Many of her works are durational in nature, and minimal in actions and materials. Created in response to the site, they engage with the immediate landscape and materiality of the location, its history, use, or politics. She is a member (and founder) of Mobius, Inc., a Boston-based collaborative of interdisciplinary artists.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Museum of Fine Arts Boston Archive

 “100 Ways to Consider Time”, is a new durational Performance by Marilyn Arsem, the 2015 Maud Morgan Prize recipient. For the exhibition, Arsem will perform for six hours every day at the MFA-Boston open to the public for 100 days (9/11/15-19/2/16). “If viewers have the time to allow themselves to slow down with me, small details will become visible. The work could be viewed as if it were a Minimalist or Abstract painting or sculpture. In that respect, it operates similarly as a kind of opaque or seemingly simple surface that reflects back to the viewers the complexity of their own thoughts. This is not a work that offers answers, but rather one that provides an opportunity to consider one’s own concerns about the passage of time”. said Arsem. Her Performance is an invitation to pause and experience the present moment together, providing a temporary respite to the frenetic pace of modern lives. When she is not in the gallery, an audio recording of her voice, reflecting on the performance the day prior, plays in the space.

Info: Curators: Edward Saywell & Liz Munsell, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Avenue of the Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Duration: 9/11/15-19/2/16, Days & Hours: Mon-Tue, Sat-Sun 10:30-16:30, Wed-Fri 15:30-21:30, www.mfa.org