Olive Press News Spain Serbian, Marina Abramovic, wins the prestigious Princess of Asturias award Share \n');document.write('\n \n\n');} AN acclaimed 74-year-old Serbian performance artist, who once sat in total silence for 716 hours as people took turns to stare at her, has won Spain’s top arts award. Marina Abramovic took the arts prize in the Princess of Asturias awards yesterday(May 12). The awards hand out â¬50,000 prizes in eight categories which also include fields like the social sciences and sport. The jury said that the work of Abramovic revealed a hitherto unknown ‘sensorial and spiritual component’. She was born in Belgrade in 1946 and her father was a member of the elite guard belonging to the Yugoslav leader, Tito.