AM26 Arts and Culture Brochure

Collective The HumanExperience ReclaimingPresencein theAcross centuries and civilizations, artistic expression has provided a space to pause, to slow and to attune ourselves to the rhythms of life beyond the rush of daily existence. Through painting, performance, or sound, art creates moments of stillness, inviting reflection, contemplation and deeper engagement with the world around us. In an age defined by speed and constant connectivity, these experiences offer a vital opportunity to reclaim presence, to step back from the relentless flow of information and to encounter life with intentionality and care. However, this reflective dimension of art risks being drowned in the ceaseless hum of technology. The contemporary world is one of perpetual acceleration, a condition in which connection is constant but seldom deep, and access infinite but rarely mindful. Amidst the glow of screens and the velocity of information, the simple act of being present has become an act of resistance. (Opposite) Image: THE BUS is a collaboration between Marina Abramović, the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), Cart Department and Mirjam Varadinis Art Agency (MVAA), and with the support of Monsol Foundation Image: Marina AbramovićMarina Abramović’s THE BUS emerges as a counterpoint to this culture of acceleration, an embodied invitation to decelerate, to disconnect and to return to the immediacy of human experience. Reimagined from a former school bus into a mobile sanctuary, THE BUS exists as both sculpture and space for contemplation: a vessel of slowness travelling through a world entranced by speed. Participants are invited to step away from the digital grid and enter a state of heightened awareness, to listen, to breathe, to simply be. By situating art beyond institutional walls and within the rhythms of daily life, THE BUS reconfigures how and where we encounter creativity. It becomes not an object to be consumed but a living environment of presence and empathy, a communal threshold between inner reflection and shared humanity. Digital Age Arts and Culture Programme Arts and Culture Programme Annual Meeting 2026 Annual Meeting 202614 15