Marina Abramović (Serbian Cyrillic: Марина Абрамовић, pronounced [marǐːna abrǎːmoʋitɕ]; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist, philanthropist,[1] writer, and filmmaker.[2] Her work explores body art, endurance art and feminist art, the relationship between the performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind.[3] Being active for over four decades, Abramović refers to herself as the "grandmother of performance art".[4] She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of observers, focusing on "confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body".[5] In 2007, she founded the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), a non-profit foundation for performance art.[6][7]