The Marina Abramović Institute has apologised to Jay Z after Marina Abramović gave an interview claiming that the rapper had "totally used" her during the filming of his "Picasso Baby" music video.
According to Abramović, Hov had promised to donate an undisclosed sum of money to her organisation in exchange for her collaboration on the clip, which is a 2010 adaptation of her work The Artist Is Present. The problem: Jay didn't pay, and Abramovic was left incensed by the "cruel" experience.
"He adapted my work only under one condition: that he would help my institute. Which he didn't. Then he just completely used me. And that wasn’t fair," she told Spike.
A statement issued by the Institute confirms that Jay Z did indeed make a donation, but Abramović was not told of the payment prior to her interview with Spike. The organisation writes: "We are sincerely sorry to both Marina Abramović and Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter for this, and since then we have taken appropriate actions to reconcile this matter."
"Picasso Baby" video producer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn told artnet earlier on Wednesday that she actually had a receipt for Jay Z's donation to the Marina Abramović Institute (complete with thank you note). Oops. Let this be a lesson to us all: if in doubt, always ask Hov for the receipts.
Watch "Picasso Baby" below:
