On May 4th I moved to NY from Los Angeles (26 years in CA), mostly to find a job, which I found after 2 months. My son graduated from NYU with an art history/photo BFA and on the 5th of May, he took me to MoMA and told me about Marina. I had never heard of her. I looked at her in the Atrium then went to the 6th floor with a friend from CA. He could not understand what the big deal was and clearly did not like anything about Marina’s show.
I was not sure what to think, wondered what the story was. I was interested in learning more, intrigued by Marina. As I was unemployed, I did not feel guilty about going to MoMA!!! So I did. I went to see Cartier-Bresson’s exhibit a few times, other things, and stopped for 20 min. to see Marina. I didn’t stand in line.
One day, in late May, I asked my friend Sadie if she would be interested in visiting the museum with me. We met the following day at 9:15 am, the herd was already forming. I did not like the way MoMA handled the whole thing: waiting, shoving, people who were in the back suddenly in the front…
When I finally sat it was around 1:30 pm. At first, I was distracted by the people walking by behind Marina. I believe I connected with her, as all of us probably do. I only sat for 10 minutes because I felt guilty knowing that people, a lot of people, were waiting. That was purely stupid! As soon as I got up, I wished I hadn’t.
I met people in line whom I still see including Paco. I went back another time and met Paco at 9:00 something. That day, I sat for 18 minutes. I have bright red hair, so I think Marina recognized me. She did not smile but she smiled. It was a wonderful experience. I felt her goodness. I loved meeting Marina at the “chair”. I wish I could have sat longer…. I wanted to go back for more, go back and back. I went seven or eight times and sat twice.
The last day was a “zoo”! I met Paco and some of my friends, and was there when the girl pulled her dress off, naked. I was too short to see her as people were in front of me. I missed the guy who “barfed”… I went to the 6th floor and listened to and watched her videos for a few hours, then came back downstairs and talked to Paco and Marco. The crowd got bigger and bigger and by 4:30 pm, it was packed.
I was not that far from Marco, standing in the first row, so when Marina FINALLY got up, and greeted her friends and walked around the room, she came close to where I was and I looked at her and said, “mon tres cher petit chien russe”. This is what she had written in French to Ulay (it was displayed in a glass case upstairs), so she looked at me, smiled and we hugged and she gave me a kiss! I told her she was fabulous and that was that!!
Paco asked 75 people who sat with Marina to write about their experience in 75 words and created a book. After Marina left the atrium he was able to present it to her.
Since then, a group of us met at a restaurant near Union Square and there is apparently another get-together planned where Marina will come.
This was really a great experience, where we kind of became “obsessed” with Marina and her experiences, message, etc. I am extremely happy I was part of it.
