As humans, we have a tendency to laugh at things we do not understand. Top of that list is performance art. So, it is a good thing that the documentary "Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present" has come along to make sense of it in general. The subject is Marina Abramovic, the so-called 'grandmother of performance art' as she is receiving a career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art where young artists after participating in a three day artists' boot camp at her home in the Hudson Valley recreate some of her pieces. As far as Ms. Abramovic goes, she sits still in a chair for hours, allowing herself to be a 'mirror' to those sitting across from her, including one possibly recognizable actor looking for tips. That same sense of reflection can be extended to Fox News commentators who seem to be in serious need of smelling salts when discussing the nudity in her work. Throughout her career, Abramovic has used her body as a canvas which might possibly shock some. Otherwise, her work reminds me a little of the work of Pina Bausch in being about the relationship between the genders which unlike the cheorographer is more about moving as little as possible. Well, except for the epic piece she did that involved the Great Wall of China. Who knows what the Chinese authorities thought of that?