Constructing an Emancipated Culture of Art Spectatorship?: The Ambiguity of Ben Lewis’s Reportage-Series ART SAFARI (2003-2006)

In 2010, television stations from various parts of the world reported on Marina Abramović’s retrospective and her three-month performance entitledThe Artist Is Presentthat took place at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In her performance, Abramović remained motionless on a chair in the museum’s foyer for seven hours each day for the entire duration of the show. An empty chair was placed before the artist for the visitors, who, one by one, could take a seat and look into her eyes for as long as they wished. As I was studying Abramović’s work at the