Step inside the factory in Madrid where superstars make their art

Marina Abramovic is most famous for her feats of endurance. In 2002 she lived in a gallery without food for 12 days

On a sunny February afternoon in Madrid, the performance artist Marina Abramovic is going over a list of things she wants to create for her coming solo show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. For starters, there’s something she calls a “fountain.”

“The fountain is me, made out of glass,” she explains, speaking in a Slavic-accented English that’s delivered in a soft near-monotone. “But out of everything—my nose, mouth, eyes, breasts, fingertips—comes blood.”

Abramovic is most famous for her feats of endurance. In 2002 she lived in a gallery without food for 12 days. In 2010, for a piece titled