Marina Abramovic, Fan of the Oscars and the Oscar Bathrooms The performance artist Marina Abramovic made an appearance at the Gothams on Monday, in her trademark long black gown, because her film "The Artist Is Present" was nominated for best documentary. It lost, to "How to Survive a Plague," but may still be in the running for the Oscars; the documentary shortlist is expected to be announced soon. But Ms. Abramovic, who conquered the art world - the documentary chronicles her 2010 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art - is learning that finding her footing in the film world is a different beast. "There's this incredible infrastructure that I don't know anything about, in order to be on the shortlist," she said. It's just an enormous amount of work. "It's different scene, it's very different," she added. The art world has its own rules, the film world has its own rules. It's like you're really crossing different worlds, going backwards and forwards. But she is game. Ms. Abramovic, whose work often deals with bodily depravations, extremes and pain, is just as much a fan of the cheesy opening montage and the scripted patter as anybody else watching in their pajamas at home. "I love watching Oscars," she said, "because it says so much about society, about everything, what matters, what doesn't matter. What movies win, what they're going to tell, different stories. You know, it's total entertainment. "So much in my work is so serious," she added, "that I need this kind of outlet, to have the fun, and this is what Oscars are. I even went to the Oscars once in my life. James Franco invited me, together with Klaus Biesenbach," the crusading director of MoMA PS1 This was 2011, when Mr. Franco was the host with Anne Hathaway; they sat in the fourth row, with his mother and grandmother. "My seats were pretty good," Ms. Abramovic said, "because Donald Trump was 10 rows behind me, so I thought, pretty good seats! But the most fun for me at Oscars was the doubles" -- she was referring to the seat fillers -- "because the moment you going to the bathroom, they come, the guys who look exactly like you. The toilets of Oscars are big fun. The toilets, definitely! And the fillers, and all this kind of insanity together.