The single constant presence in the work of Marina Abramović is the figure of the artist herself. For more than 40 years, her body has been exposed to an alarming range of shocks, challenges and hazards. "I test the limits of myself in order to transform myself,” she explains and at Palazzo Strozzi, in a show called The Cleaner, she sweeps through the memories of being burned, whipped and cut with blades, of sitting, bleeding or lying down in public performance for several hours on a block of ice. Her career has been a test of discipline and endurance for the artist and for the audience, too. Visitors emerge momentarily transformed—but, thankfully, intact.
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