Art world celebrity/performance artist Marina Abramovic (who by the way is now art directing for Givenchy) indirectly provided this subliminal setting to a music video you're about to witness -- if not already -- from her "The Art Is Present" show in 2010 at the MoMA. Back then, her live art performance consisted of spending one minute of silence, sitting just across from a complete stranger, with the goal of triggering whatever emotions each subject, including herself, would bring. Several strangers took part, but it's her response to one in particular that you're about to hold back tears or reach for the tissue paper.
Fast-forward or should I say, refresh to today, against the backdrop of music by Nashville musicians How I Became The Bomb, who capture on their song, "Ulay, Oh" the emotional story of former lovers Marina Abramovic and a surprise stranger -- in this case her ex Ulay's -- first encounter after the two separated more than 30 years ago. You'll know which stranger he is just by the emotional outpour from Marina, but watch closely at the 1:30 minute mark.
News Flash: love is still our strongest emotion! Currently racking up over 19 million youtube views, and that's only within one month, this video is indeed touching. But it shouldn't be surprising, even though some won't get it. Those who do, the majority of us who've been loved, loved someone, been in love or just are longing, know that these emotions aren't necessarily just reserved for romantic relationships either. In fact, Ulay in this case, could've well been a runaway child now found, a once absent biological father, the list goes on. As a result, the song took off totally organically and reached Billboard's Top 100 (#58) last week. Like many videos out there, nothing was manipulated to make this go viral. Uploaded last October and just sitting there waiting for people to find it, the song was created by the band after the lead singer and main composer, Jon Burr accidentally wandered into MoMA during "The Artist Is Present" and saw the footage later, wrote the song, then contacted Marina for permission to use the footage for the band's video.
Could it soon be the anti-"Gangnam Style" viral video of the summer? Most don't bring this level of catharsis to viewers, unless of course we're talking about practice, or it comes to those skillful cats. Who knows, maybe it boils down to 'Love vs Cats'! Then again, there could always be another dress gone viral that causes us all to go blind.
Photo, video stills and video used by permission from Decibel Collective Records.