Marina Abramovic’s mixed reality artwork to hit the auction block – Yahoo News

Christie's will offer the Serbian-American performance artist's "The Life" during its Frieze Week sales in October 2020.

The work, which premiered at London's Serpentine Galleries last February, requires viewers to put on special eyewear to experience an "intimate digital encounter" with the godmother of performance art herself.

While viewers can still observe other visitors and the gallery space around them, a hologram of Abramovi appears and paces around a 15-foot circle before disappearing at seemingly random intervals.

For "The Life," the Serbian-American artist collaborated with film producer and founder of Mixed Reality production studio Tin Drum, Todd Eckert, who filmed her 19-minute performance with 32 cameras against a green screen.

"Working with this new technology, finding out the endless possibilities -- because we are talking about something which is really capturing performance in its essence -- was for me, revolutionary," Abramovi explained in a statement, also adding that the work revolves around the theme of immortality.

Next October, "The Life" will become the first mixed reality work to ever hit the auction block.

Christie's estimates the piece to sell for about 600,000 (around $775,000), even though its fabrication reportedly cost 1 million ($1.2 million).

According to The Art Newspaper, the buyer of the work will receive a recording of the performance along with the wearable devices necessary to see the virtual Abramovi -- all certified by the artist.

"The Life" currently exists in three editions, with Abramovi retaining the artist's proof.

As the Financial Times pointed out, it is rather unusual for an auction house to sell a work consigned directly by the artist as primary market sales are traditionally reserved for galleries.

The sale of "The Life" will coincide with Abramovi's major show at London's Royal Academy of Arts, which will notably mark the first exhibition by a female artist held in the museum's main gallery in its 250-year history.

Early next year, the piece will tour around the world ahead of Christie's Frieze Week sales, with the auction house announcing dates and cities in the spring of 2020.

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The forthcoming sale of "The Life" testifies to the ever-growing interest for high-tech art. In October 2018, Christie's became the first auction house to offer a work of art created by an algorithm. The AI-generated "Portrait of Edmond de Belamy" sold for an unexpected $432,500, more than 40 times than its estimate.

Earlier this year, Sotheby's tried to generate the same fervor with the AI-created "Memories of Passerby I," which hammered at a more modest 32,000 (around $42,000).

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Marina Abramovic's mixed reality artwork to hit the auction block - Yahoo News