Author Guide · Performance Art
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In the spring of 2010 Marina Abramović sat silently on a chair in the atrium of the Museum of Modern Art in New York for 736 hours and 30 minutes, while 1,545 people took turns sitting opposite her. Performance art is made to disappear, so her books are where the work survives: monographs that record each piece in photographs, descriptions and transcripts, catalogues of her retrospectives at MoMA and the Royal Academy, and in 2016 a memoir that tells the life behind them, from a childhood in Communist Belgrade to twelve years of work with the artist Ulay. This guide covers her 7 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 7 key books · 1995–2023 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Marina Abramović’s best-known book is her memoir Walk Through Walls (2016), written with James Kaplan. Her other key books are documents of her work: Artist Body (1998), Seven Easy Pieces (2007), the MoMA catalogue The Artist Is Present (2010) and the Royal Academy catalogue Marina Abramović (2023). Start with Walk Through Walls, then use the catalogues to see the works it describes.
Where to Start with Marina Abramović
If you want her life story
→ Walk Through Walls (2016) — the 2016 memoir, from Belgrade to MoMA.
If you want the most famous performance
→ The Artist Is Present (2010) — the MoMA retrospective and the 736-hour sitting.
If you want the full record of the early work
→ Artist Body (1998) — every performance from 1969 to 1998, solo and with Ulay.
If you want an overview of the whole career
→ Marina Abramović (2023) — the 2023 Royal Academy catalogue.
7 Marina Abramović Books, in Order
Cleaning the House
An early monograph edited by Johan Pijnappel and published by Academy Editions in London, made in close collaboration with the artist. It is laid out like a personal scrapbook of her life and influences, from Buddhism, Australian Aboriginal culture and religious imagery to Western artists such as Joseph Beuys.
Artist Body
A chronological survey of her performances from 1969 to 1998, both solo and with Ulay, published by Charta in Milan. Each work is documented in photographs, descriptions and transcriptions, with audience comments and essays by critics and curators including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Chrissie Iles, Thomas McEvilley and Bojana Pejić.
Student Body
A 525-page record of her teaching: the workshops she ran with students from 1979 to 2003 and the performances that came out of them, with texts by the artist and biographies of the participants. It was published by Charta for a “Cleaning the House” workshop organised by the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea in Santiago de Compostela.
Seven Easy Pieces
In November 2005, over seven consecutive nights in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Abramović performed key works from 1965 to 1975 by Vito Acconci, Valie Export, Bruce Nauman, Gina Pane and Joseph Beuys, her own Lips of Thomas (1975) and one new piece, each for about seven hours. This 240-page book documents the seven nights, with texts by Erika Fischer-Lichte and Sandra Umathum and an interview by Nancy Spector.
The Artist Is Present
The catalogue of her retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (14 March–31 May 2010), organised by Klaus Biesenbach: about fifty works from four decades, many re-performed live by other artists during the show. The 224-page book has essays by Biesenbach, Arthur C. Danto, Chrissie Iles, Nancy Spector and Jovana Stokić, and comes with a recording of the artist’s voice.
Walk Through Walls
Her memoir, written with James Kaplan and published by Crown Archetype as she approached seventy. It begins in Communist Yugoslavia with her parents, both former Partisans whose stormy marriage shaped her childhood, follows her from painting at the Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts to her first performance in 1969, and covers her years with Ulay and the making of works such as Nightsea Crossing, Balkan Baroque and The Artist Is Present. Publishers Weekly called it confessional and unsentimental. A 1979 diary passage about Aboriginal Australians that surfaced before publication drew criticism and an apology from the artist.
Marina Abramović
The 262-page catalogue of her exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (23 September 2023–1 January 2024), the first solo show by a woman in the Academy’s main galleries and the first UK exhibition to cover her whole career. Contributors include Karen Archey, Adrian Heathfield and the curator Andrea Tarsia, and an augmented-reality app lets readers watch films of the original performances.
In What Order to Read Marina Abramović
Her books do not form a series, and apart from the memoir they are documents rather than narratives: photographs, scripts and essays. Reading them in publication order shows how the record of the work grew alongside it, from the scrapbook of Cleaning the House to the full survey of Artist Body and the large museum catalogues.
The simplest route is to read Walk Through Walls first, for the story and her own account of each piece, and then turn to Artist Body or the Royal Academy catalogue to see the works themselves.
A reading path
1. Walk Through Walls (2016)
2. The Artist Is Present (2010)
3. Artist Body (1998)
4. Seven Easy Pieces (2007)
5. Marina Abramović (2023)
Other Books by and about Marina Abramović
Beyond the 7 key books: 5 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Other books and catalogues
3
3 books · 1996–2006
- 1996Spirit Cookinga book of “aphrodisiac recipes”, made with Jacob Samuel
- 2001Public Body: Installations and Objects 1965–2001her installations and objects, published by Charta
- 2006Balkan Epicpublished by Skira
Books about her
2
2 books · 2008–2010
- 2008Marina Abramovića monograph published by Phaidon
- 2010When Marina Abramović Diesthe first biography, published by MIT Press
The years · 1946–2023
Quick facts about Marina Abramović
- Known for
- She is known for long, physically demanding performances that turn the audience into part of the work, from Rhythm 0 in 1974 to her silent sitting at MoMA in 2010.
- 1946
- Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia
- 1974
- Rhythm 0 in Naples
- 1988
- The Lovers on the Great Wall, last work with Ulay
- 2023
- Retrospective at the Royal Academy, London
- Born
- 30 November 1946, Belgrade; her parents were both Yugoslav Partisans
- Education
- Academy of Fine Arts, Belgrade (1965–1970); postgraduate study in Zagreb (1972)
- Moved
- To Amsterdam in 1976
- Collaborator
- Ulay, her partner in work and life from 1976 to 1988
- Honours
- Golden Lion, Venice Biennale (1997); Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts (2021); Praemium Imperiale (2025)
- Institute
- Founded the Marina Abramović Institute for performance art in 2007
The red mark is 2016: Walk Through Walls, the memoir in which she tells the story behind her performances.
How Marina Abramović Makes Books: The Record of a Disappearing Art
A performance exists only while it happens, so for Abramović the book is part of the work. She has said that she spends as much time deciding how a piece will be documented as making it, because the record is what lasts. Her monographs are built accordingly: Artist Body gives each performance a date, a place, a short description of what she did and how long it lasted, and the photographs that survive.
The descriptions are deliberately flat. Rhythm 0 (1974), for example, is recorded as six hours at Studio Morra in Naples with 72 objects on a table, including a loaded gun, and an instruction that visitors could use them on her as they chose. The documents leave out commentary, and the essays by critics and curators that sit alongside them supply the interpretation.
Walk Through Walls is the exception: a first-person story, written with the biographer James Kaplan, which joins the works to the life. It moves from her childhood in Yugoslavia to the Ulay years and the late museum shows, explaining what she was trying to test in each piece, and admits doubt and failure as plainly as the catalogues record the works.
Watch
An art made of trust, vulnerability and connection
At TED2015 Abramović talks about how her performances blur the line between artist and audience, including the silent sitting of The Artist Is Present.
Frequently asked questions about Marina Abramović’s books
How many books has Marina Abramović written?
She is the author or main subject of more than a dozen books, most of them monographs and exhibition catalogues rather than written texts. This page lists 7 key books, from Cleaning the House (1995) to the Royal Academy catalogue (2023), plus three further books of her own and two books about her. Her only memoir is Walk Through Walls (2016).
What are Marina Abramović’s books in order?
Cleaning the House (1995), Artist Body (1998), Student Body (2003), Seven Easy Pieces (2007), The Artist Is Present (2010), Walk Through Walls (2016) and Marina Abramović, the Royal Academy catalogue (2023).
Where should I start with Marina Abramović?
With Walk Through Walls, her 2016 memoir, which tells the story behind each major work in her own words. Afterwards, The Artist Is Present (2010) or the 2023 Royal Academy catalogue show the works themselves.
What is Marina Abramović’s most famous book?
Walk Through Walls: A Memoir (2016), written with James Kaplan and published by Crown Archetype. Her most famous work is the performance The Artist Is Present at MoMA in 2010, documented in the catalogue of the same name.
What was The Artist Is Present?
A performance during her MoMA retrospective, from 14 March to 31 May 2010. She sat silently on a chair in the museum atrium for a total of 736 hours and 30 minutes, and 1,545 visitors took turns sitting opposite her. Ulay, her former partner, made a surprise appearance at the opening.
What was Rhythm 0?
A six-hour performance at Studio Morra in Naples in 1974. Abramović placed 72 objects on a table, including a loaded gun, with a sign telling visitors they could use them on her in any way they chose, and stood beside them. Visitors changed her clothing and body, and at one point one of them aimed the gun at her head.
Who was Ulay?
The German artist Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen), her partner in life and work from 1976 to 1988. Together they made “relation works” such as Rest Energy (1980) and Nightsea Crossing. They ended the relationship with The Lovers (1988), walking the Great Wall of China from opposite ends to meet in the middle. Ulay died in March 2020.
Has Marina Abramović been involved in controversies?
Yes, several. In August 2016 a 1979 diary passage from the manuscript of Walk Through Walls, comparing Aboriginal Australians to dinosaurs, surfaced online; she apologised, and the passage was left out of the published book. Also in 2016, an invitation to a Spirit Cooking dinner in the leaked emails of John Podesta fed conspiracy claims, and in 2020 Microsoft pulled an online advertisement featuring her after complaints. In September 2016 an Amsterdam court ordered her to pay Ulay €250,000 in backdated royalties and to credit their joint works to both of them.
Is Marina Abramović still alive?
Yes. She was born on 30 November 1946 in Belgrade. In 2023 she was the subject of a retrospective at the Royal Academy in London, and in October 2025 she premiered Balkan Erotic Epic, a four-hour work with more than seventy performers, at Factory International in Manchester.
Footnotes
- Marina Abramović — Wikipedia
- Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present — MoMA
- Start here: Marina Abramović — Royal Academy of Arts
- Walk Through Walls review — Publishers Weekly
- Marina Abramović apologizes to Aboriginal Australians — artnet News, 2016
- An art made of trust, vulnerability and connection — TED, 2015
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“My method is to do things I’m afraid of, the things I don’t know, to go to territory that nobody’s ever been.”
— Marina Abramović, TED2015 talk (2015)
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