Elite Cannibalism and Spirit Cooking — Marina Abramovic, Podesta and Alleged Rituals

THE 'SPIRIT COOKING' WORK (1996)

Marina Abramovic is a Serbian artist born in 1946, a pioneer of performance art since the 1970s. She is internationally recognized as one of the most important artists of the 20th and 21st centuries (retrospective MoMA ‘The Artist Is Present’, 2010, 850,000 visitors). Her work explores the limits of the body, pain, endurance, and the artist/public relationship.

'Spirit Cooking' is a series of works created between 1996 and 1997:

1. THE BOOK (1996): ‘Spirit Cooking with Essential Aphrodisiac Recipes’ is an artist's book presenting ‘recipes’ written in visual poetry, including ingredients such as 'fresh breast milk with fresh sperm milk', 'fresh morning urine', 'painless cuts on your fingers by a razor'. These ‘recipes’ are visual poems inspired by the traditions of alchemy, Tantrism, and the thought of Nikola Tesla (whom Abramovic’s parents admired).

2. THE INSTALLATION (1997): Abramovic paints these ‘recipes’ with pork blood on the walls of a gallery in Italy. The installation is part of the body art tradition and Viennese Actionism (Hermann Nitsch, Gunter Brus, Otto Muhl) — an Austrian art movement of the 1960s using blood, meat, and bodily fluids as artistic materials.

3. THE PERFORMANCE: Performative versions include the preparation of ingredients in front of a public audience in a gallery setting.

Abramovic has stated in numerous interviews: “When I do Spirit Cooking in a gallery context, it’s art. If it’s in a private context, it’s a dinner. It’s not a ritual.”

THE PODESTA EMAIL (JUNE 28, 2015)

On June 28, 2015, Marina Abramovic sent an email to Tony Podesta via his brother John Podesta (the two are contemporary art collectors): ‘Dear Tony, I am so looking forward to the Spirit Cooking dinner at my place. Do you think you will be able to let me know if your brother is joining? All my love, Marina.’ This email was published by WikiLeaks in October 2016 as part of the Podesta hack.

The 'Spirit Cooking dinner' in question was a fundraising dinner for the Watermill Center, an art center founded by Robert Wilson. It is a standard social event in the New York art world. There is no evidence that the dinner involved rituals, blood, cannibalism, or anything similar.

VIRAL EXPLOSION (NOVEMBER 2016)

November 3-4, 2016, four days before the American presidential election:

1. The forums 4chan (/pol/) and Reddit (r/The_Donald, r/pizzagate) identify the email and link it to images of the 1997 'Spirit Cooking' performance art piece.

2. The montage decontextualizes the artistic images (pork blood on white walls) to present them as ‘proof of satanic rituals’.

3. Matt Drudge (Drudge Report) publishes a headline: ‘WIKI LEAKS: PODESTA PRACTICES OCCULT RITUALS.’ The tweet is viewed by millions of people.

4. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted an article linking the Podestas to Spirit Cooking with the comment ‘I guess that makes it pretty clear...’.

5. The theory integrates into the pre-existing Pizzagate narrative (the Podestas are already accused of pedocriminality via ‘food codes’).

‘CANNIBALISTIC’ GALAS AND MACABRE DECORATIONS

Other ‘proofs’ are cited by conspiracy theorists:

1. MUSEUM OF OLD AND NEW ART (MONA), TASMANIA GALA: An art dinner where guests eat on silicone mannequin representing human bodies laid out on tables. It is an artwork by artist Leandro Erlich for the Dark Mofo festival.

2. ANATOMICAL CAKES: Photos show galas where elites eat cakes representing human bodies. These are works by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reutersward and other artists using pastry as an artistic medium (cake art).

3. EXHIBITION ‘CANNIBALISM?’ AT THE MAN RAY RESTAURANT, PARIS: An artistic event where dishes are presented in provocative visual contexts.

4. ROTHSCHILD SURREALIST BALL (1972): A masked ball organized by Marie-Helene de Rothschild at the Château de Ferrières with surrealist decorations (mannequins, doll heads, tables evoking cannibalism). Black and white photos of this event regularly circulate as ‘proof’ of elite satanic rituals. It was an artistic event inspired by Surrealism (Dali, Man Ray, Max Ernst were guests).

ANALYSIS: Provocative Art vs. Ritual

The confusion between provocative art and ritual is a disinformation mechanism that exploits:

1. ARTISTIC ILLITERACY: The general public is unfamiliar with the traditions of body art, Viennese Actionism, Fluxus, and Surrealism. Deliberately provocative works are interpreted literally.

2. DECONTEXTUALIZATION: Extracting an image from a gallery and presenting it as a ‘crime scene’ is a classic manipulation.

3. CONFIRMATION BIAS: Those who already believe in a satanic cabal see in these images ‘confirmation’ of their beliefs.

4. AMALGAMATION: Associating contemporary art collectors (the Podestas) with a provocative artist (Abramovic) and then concluding that there is ‘ritual cannibalism’ is an unjustified logical leap.

5. ELECTORAL TIMING: The discovery of the email four days before the 2016 presidential election suggests a deliberate political instrumentalization.

ABRAMOVIC'S RESPONSE

Abramovic stated in an interview with ArtNews (November 2016): ‘I'm outraged, because this is taken completely out of context. [...] It was just a normal dinner. It was actually a fundraiser dinner. [...] These people who are spreading this kind of BS are only hurting our children. They are spreading hate and fear for no reason.’

In 2020, Abramovic's video collaboration with Microsoft (for the HoloLens headset) sparked a new wave of conspiracy theories (Microsoft-Gates-satanism association). The video was withdrawn by Microsoft after online pressure.

CORE TRUTHS

1. ELITES ATTEND provocative art events: FACT, but provocative ≠ satanic.
2. Contemporary art uses transgressive materials (blood, fluids, nudity): FACT, a documented tradition since the 1960s.
3. The Podestas are collectors of contemporary art including provocative works: FACT, but collecting provocative art ≠ practicing cannibalism.