Eternally young with Marina Abramović scrub and serum

Although it is still not entirely clear whether it is a

a serious business or neither of the two, Marina Abramović has launched, at 77 years old and to the surprise of many, a line of beauty products for skin care. and health in general, in collaboration with Dr. Nonna Brenner.

Inspired by

and as an extension of her famous Marina Abramović Method – a series of techniques that, according to the artist, you can apply to your daily life and with which Lady Gaga is said to have stopped smoking – the first launch includes facial lotion, cleanser, exfoliant or a kind of natural

.

In the (somewhat dystopian) video on his website, Abramović says that we live surrounded by so many screens that our souls seek simplicity.

True longevity, according to her, is not in technological devices, but in the knowledge of our ancestral past.

The almost self-parodic tone that permeates everything has opened the box of jokes: what if the next thing is going to be mud baths by Anish Kapoor, light therapy in the lighting installations by Yayoi Kusama or a line of gym machines by Jeff Koons.

Jokes aside, last month the writer and poet Jordan Castro wrote an extensive article in

about his fascination with weightlifting.

In addition to improving his physical strength, blood flow or bone density, for the author of

, crushing his muscles in the gym leads to an experience that goes beyond language.

Developing our muscles through repetition of exercises is comparable, for him, to an exhausting poetic experience, and he considers it an optimal way to pause our busy existence.

and does pull-ups.

But, returning to Abramović's beauty products, perhaps this new line and its artistic alibi is a good reflection of the crossroads at which contemporary art currently finds itself.

Amid so much immersive exposure, entertainment and paralyzing narcissism, art has ended up rivaling the search for well-being offered by a yoga class or the protection of a good sunscreen while trying to live up to the immediacy of a meme.

Recently, a friend who is a chef wrote to me to ask for advice about a music program she is recording for a local radio station.

In her new episode she wanted to select the songs that she had recently discovered in the background music of Planet Fitness, a famous gym chain in the United States.

With its mix of sweat and endorphins, perhaps the gym has become the “ideal” space for the total simplification of art to run rampant, I thought.

One more task in a multitasking environment.

And a terrifying idea, really.

Perhaps the only thing we have left, for now, is to remember, between squats and pull-ups, that if something bores you after two minutes, try it again for four more minutes.

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