Marina Abramovićs Performance Lips of Thomas fand erstmals in der Galerie Krinzinger in Innsbruck statt. Ursula Krinzinger erfuhr über einen Artikel der Zeitschrift Flash Art Magazine über Abramovićs frühe Performance-Arbeit Rhythm 10 und schrieb der damals 29-jährigen Künstlerin, um sie zur Teilnahme an einer Performance-Reihe mit einem neuen Werk in die Galerie Krinzinger einzuladen. Das Ergebnis war Thomas Lips, so der ursprüngliche Titel, ein Kunstwerk, das zu einem der wichtigsten Werke in Abramovićs früher Karriere werden sollte.

Zum fünfzigjährigen Jubiläum der ursprünglichen Performance präsentiert die Galerie Krinzinger die Ausstellung THOMAS LIPS, die auf der sensationellen Wiederentdeckung bisher unveröffentlichter Vintage-Negative von F. Krinzinger, die beim Umzug des Galerie- Archivs von Innsbruck nach Wien entdeckt wurden, basiert.

Marina Abramović first performed Lips of Thomas in 1975 at Galerie Krinzinger in Innsbruck. The invitation came from the gallerist Ursula Krinzinger, a pioneer in platforming performance work in the 1970s. Ursula Krinzinger had read about Abramovićs early performance work, Rhythm 10, in Flash Art Magazine and wrote to the then twenty nine year old artist requesting her participation in a performance series with a new work at Galerie Krinzinger. The result was Thomas Lips, the original title, an artwork that was to become one of the most important works of Abramovićs early career.

At the fifty year anniversary of the original performance, Krinzinger Gallery presents, THOMAS LIPS

The exhibition highlights moments from the original performance, with large scale photography and installation, and to celebrate the discovered material, a collage wall has been created so the negatives can be viewed all at once. A

portfolio will be presented alongside the exhibition to catalogue this important work.

In Lips of Thomas, Marina Abramović pushes her mental and physical limits in an investigation of endurance, ritual, limitation, transformation and transcendence - themes that characterized and are recurring in Abramovićs work. In this performance, Abramović constructed a series of actions that confronts the tensions of her upbringing: living under communist rule in Yugoslavia, raised by her parents, high ranking officials in the socialist government, and her grandmother, devoutly Serbian Orthodox. In Lips of Thomas, Abramović offers bold and unapologetic actions layered in symbolism, that not only ignites her personal processing, but also builds a sequencing within the work, that is taken on by the public.

Lips of Thomas is set with a simple, yet intentionally charged arrangement: on a square table there is a white tablecloth, a jar of honey, a spoon, a bottle of wine, a wineglass, and a whip. On the floor, ice blocks are configured in the formation of a cross, illuminated by a heater suspended above. On the back wall, hangs a photograph of Thomas Lips. Over the course of the performance, Abramović subjects herself to a series of physical and emotionally demanding actions. Abramović enters the performance nude and sits at the table. She consumes a kilogram of honey and a liter of wine before breaking the wineglass with her hand. Then, she draws an enclosed pentagon around the photograph and proceeds to carve the same shape into her own stomach. As the blood from the star runs down her body, Abramović whips herself standing and then on the floor, until the final action where she lays on the ice cross, arms outstretched, her body facing upwards towards the heater. Abramović’s intention was to lay on the cross until the ice melted, but the performance was cut short after thirty minutes when a concerned spectator intervened in fear for Abramović. Thomas Lips was reperformed by Abramović at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City as a part of her performance 7 Easy Pieces in 2005. Abramović reconstructed the conditions

an exhibition based on the sensational rediscovery of previously unpublished vintage negatives by F. Krinzinger, found during the move fort he Gallery’s Archive from Innsbruck to Vienna.

The exhibition is made in collaboration with Sydney Fishman, Marina Abramovic Archive.

About Marina Abramović
 

Marina Abramović (*1946 in Belgrade, Serbia) is a pioneer of performance as a visual art form. Since the 1970s, she has used her body as subject and medium in her grueling long- term performances to exhaust her physical, mental and emotional boundaries – going as far as risking her life in search of enhanced awareness, transcendence and self-transformation. For the Serbian artist, the concept of time is an important aspect in her work, as well as the inclusion of the public. The significance of this dimension could be seen in her performances Thomas Lips (1975) at the Galerie Krinzinger, in her performances Seven Easy Pieces (2005) at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Artist is Present (2010) as part of her eponymous retrospective at MoMA, New York or 512 Hours (2014) at the London Serpentine Gallery.

Exploring her physical and mental limits in works that ritualize the simple actions of everyday life, she has withstood pain, exhaustion and danger in her quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. From 1975 until 1988, Abramović and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with rations of duality. Abramović returned to solo performances in 1989.

Marina Abramović’s works – performances, sounds, photographs, videos, sculptures, and transitory objects for human and non-human use – have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions in the USA, Europe, Asia and large international group exhibitions, such as for instance, the Biennale di Venezia (1976 and 1997) and the documenta VI, VII and XI in Kassel. Marina Abramović was awarded the Golden Lion as Best Artist for her extraordinary video installation / performance Balkan Baroque, her reaction to the Yugoslav War in 1997. In 2003, she received the Bessie Award for her 12-day performance The House with the Ocean View at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. In 2005, the premiere of the performance series Seven Easy Pieces took place at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. In 2008, she was awarded by the former President of Austria, Heinz Fischer, the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art. In 2011, she was appointed Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts (Hon. RA), London. With her performance and retrospective, The Artist is Present held at the MoMA in New York she played a major role in the eponymous film co-produced by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary. She was awarded the Panorama Audience Award in the documentary film category in 2012 following the first European showing at the 62nd International Film Festival in Berlin. That same year, Abramović’s opera performance The Life and Death of Marina Abramović, directed by Robert Wilson, premiered at the Teatro Real in Madrid and the participatory project „The Abramović Method“ took place for the first time at the PAC in Milan. In 2016, she released her gripping autobiography Walk Through Walls. In 2018, the retrospective The Cleaner was on display at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn (was previously shown at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, and the Henie Onstad Art Center, Høvikodden. Her retrospective traveled to the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence and in Belgrade in 2019. Simultaneously with her solo exhibition Two Hearts at the Galerie Krinzinger, the GLOBART think tank marked Marina Abramović as the most important performance artist of the present with the GLOBART AWARD 2018. Her most recent solo show at the Galerie Krinzinger took place in 2023, titled Energy Clothes. In 2024 Marina Abramović showed the exhibiton Transforming Energy at the Modern Art Museum in Shanghai. In September 2023 Marina Abramović opened a major retrospective at the Royal Academy, adaptions oft he exhibition were shown at the Kunsthaus Zürich and at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, both in 2024. Until March 1st 2026 the exhibition is presented at the Albertina Modern in Vienna.

On November 30th 2025 the exhibition Marina Abramović and Ulay will open at the Cukrarna Gallery in Ljubljana. In 2026, she will show 7 Deaths at the Cisternerne in Copenhagen, the Erotic in Marina Abramović's Art-Exhibition at theGropius Bau, Berlin, Transforming Energy exhibition at Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice and tthe Royal Academy exhibition will travel to the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome