GENESIS & INSTITUTIONAL MODEL

DOCUMENTED FACTS / SOURCE ACCOUNT

MAI was originally conceived as a permanent physical institution. Marina Abramović planned to transform a theatre in Hudson, New York, with architectural plans by Rem Koolhaas.

In 2013, a Kickstarter campaign raised approximately $620,000 against a $600,000 target. Lady Gaga, after participating in a four-day workshop with Abramović, shared a video connected with the project. Abramović was also investing proceeds from her own art sales.

After a lecture at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens, Thanos Argyropoulos, trained at the London School of Economics and experienced in investment and banking, examined the finances. According to the source account, he calculated that the existing spending rate risked bankruptcy within approximately three months. Asbestos was also discovered in the Hudson building, requiring an estimated additional $700,000.

The project was radically reformulated rather than preserving the monumental building at all costs.

FROM BUILDING TO IMMATERIAL INSTITUTION

MAI became conceived as immaterial, mobile, nomadic and invited. Its motto became: “Don't come to us, we'll come to you.” Institutions would invite MAI and finance its arrival, eliminating the enormous permanent overhead.

Conceptual proposition: the institution becomes a practice rather than a building.

PLACE RETURNS

MAI subsequently worked in contexts including São Paulo, Ukraine, Istanbul and Athens. A physical MAI space opened in Karyes in 2023.

This preserves a productive tension rather than resolving it:

IMMATERIALITY ↔ PLACE

The abandonment of a monumental permanent institution did not eliminate physical sites; place became one component of a practice that could remain mobile.