The self-proclaimed “grandmother of performance art,” Marina Abramović, has been honing her craft for more than 50 years. For her first major show, in 1974, she remained motionless and half nude for six hours beside a table containing 72 objects—from a jar of honey to a gun—while audience members were invited to interact with her. They fed her, kissed her, cut her, and made her aim the loaded gun at her neck. Fiercely unafraid to endure physical or emotional pain for her art, in 2015, Abramović spent a minute in silent confrontation with her ex during her A Minute of Silence performance—both shed tears. Now 78, Abramović reflects on the evolution of her craft in Transforming Energy, published earlier this year. To celebrate its release and her many achievements, Abramović shares her key components to the good life. —Carolina de Armas

Airline: One that still offers first class.
Airport: One that I could live in.
Bag: One that could serve as a suitcase, tent, and bed at the same time.
Bedtime: Sunset to sunrise.
Bike: Tandem.
Birthday: Spent on a faraway island.
Boyfriend/girlfriend: One that comes with trust, humor, and sex.
Car: Bugatti.
Couple: One where there are no lies, where there is trust.
Diet: Meals that you cooked yourself.
Dress: One that looks and feels effortless.
Enemy: One with whom I can fight but can forgive.
Friend
: One to trust and understand for life.
Hotel
: One that has everything included.

Movie: One that makes me cry.
Neighbor: One with whom I can coexist in respectful silence.
Novel: One that is so long that I can never finish it.
Pen or Pencil: Montblanc.
Pet
: Baby panda.

President: Mahatma Gandhi.
Singer: Chavela Vargas.
Television Series: One that never ends.
Vacation: Being at my house and staying there.
View: Of the horizon where the ocean meets the sky.
Work of art: Van Gogh’s The Starry Night.

Marina’s Essentials

Clockwise from top: a baby panda; Mahatma Gandhi; a Montblanc pen; a Bugatti; a multi-purpose North Face backpack.