Almost two years ago, Jay Z made a six hour performance in an art gallery for his “Picasso Baby” music video, which drew inspiration from an exhibition called “The Artist Is Present” created by Marina Abramović in 2010. But apparently, Jay Z was just a ruthless person in this agreement.
Indeed, in an interview with Spike magazine, Marina Abramović reveals that it was a “one-way transaction.” Marina: “I am very pissed by this, since he adapted my work only under one condition: that he would help my institute. Which he didn’t,” she told the magazine. “The day before, he came to my office and I gave him an entire PowerPoint presentation [sic] and said: okay, you can help me, because I really need help to build this thing. Then he just completely used me. And that wasn’t fair.”
But Marina stays positive and claims she doesn’t have any regret. She just learns from this experience: “I will never do it again, that I can say. Never,” she said. “I was really naive in this kind of world. It was really new to me, and I had no idea that this would happen. It’s so cruel, it’s incredible. I will stay away from it for sure.”
Here is Jay Z’s “Picasso Baby” performance:
Jay Z got 99 problems and Marina is one.
