Marina Abramovic by Elizabeth Chapska

1. Balkan Baroque

6232426 — 2023-11-15 01:41:36 UTC

What is it? "Balkan Baroque" is a four day long live performance exhibit where Marina sits amongst 1500 bloody cow bones while singing folk songs and tries to wash them one by one. This whole performance was made as a personal response to the war that affected her country, previously known as Yugoslavia. Three video projections are a part of the whole installation in order to communicate themes such as extreme violence and psychological damage to the viewers. As the performance continues, her dress becomes more and more soaked in blood and she continues to scrub them, eventually seeing no result, which reflects on all the induced trauma that just like the bones, can't be wiped away.

Connection to the course? The overall view of the performance resembles a romantic painting. Romanticism originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century up until mid 19th century. A Romantic-like painting in this performance can be seen by a very strong display of emotion (in her case sadness and remorse), vivid colours (red), a dramatic contrast between light and dark, explored themes of death/mortality, etc. It overall evokes the very particular feeling that Romantic paintings convey (a very "wow" factor, nature is so powerful and can't be expressed using words).

Pereira, Lorenzo. “Marina Abramovic Art Pieces You Should Know.” Widewalls, 7 December 2015, https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/marina-abramovic-art/balkan-baroque. Accessed 15 November 2023.

2. Golden Mask

6232426 — 2023-11-15 01:43:02 UTC

What is it? "Golden Mask" a 30 minute video performance by Marina Abramovic, features her as the central character. She can be seen from just below her shoulders all the way to her head, gazing into the camera with ought moving at all. In the video, she stands completely still for its whole duration, meanwhile the light that is projected onto the gold leaves keeps changing, therefore making the rendition somewhat interactive. A few different aspects make this piece particular, its has features of still-life (pose) as well as a classical portrait and finally the gold leaves resemble paintbrush strokes, giving it a painting form. The whole piece had a main focus on light play.

Connection to the course? Marina's specific intent with this artwork was to "explore the artist as icon, sidled alongside ancient civilization's use of mask and gold." As we saw many ancient civilizations, such as Egyptians, used gold in most of their art pieces, ranging from statues to religious artefacts. The most common example would be Tutankhamen's tomb, where gold, among many other precious materials, was found to be present.

Fairley, Gina. “Abramović v Walsh, believer v sceptic.” ArtsHub, 16 June 2015, https://www.artshub.com.au/news/news/abramovic-v-walsh-believer-v-sceptic-248425-2348769/. Accessed 15 November 2023.

“Golden Mask Marina Abramovic, 2010, 30'05.'” li-ma.nl, https://www.li-ma.nl/lima/catalogue/art/marina-abramovic/golden-mask/17557#. Accessed 15 November 2023.‌

3. Portrait With Scorpion (Homage to Frida Kahlo)

6232426 — 2023-11-15 23:39:03 UTC

What is it? Created in 2005 "Portrait with a Scorpion" is a performance photograph which captures Marina Abramovic's play with fear and extreme danger notably seen in the majority of her artworks. In the photograph, Marina can be seen motionless with a live scorpion on her head, a dangerous and venomous creature. Creating tension with her stoic demeanor, the photograph explores notions of intimacy and establishes a parallel between the two beings. As mentioned by Marina herself, she was inspired by Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait with Monkeys" for the making of her own piece.

Relation to the course? Frida Kahlo is a notable artist from the 20th century known for her unique self-portraits. Classified as Outsider Art, artists from the movement didn't comply with the conventions of the art worlds, they were their own inspiration. Another relation to the course could simply be the matter of photography, in which her photograph could be classified into a few possible categories such as surrealism, portraiture or fit within "Pictorialism"

Lenander, Johanna. “Marina Abramović: The Artist Will Be Present.” MoMA, 18 November 2014, http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2014/11/18/marina-abramovic-the-artist-will-be-present/. Accessed 15 November 2023.

Patrick, Joseph John. “Marina Abramović's "Portrait with Scorpion (Closed Eyes)."” Studio Art 2014, 2 April 2014, http://studioart2014.blogspot.com/2014/04/marina-abramovic-portrait-with-scorpion.html. Accessed 15 November 2023.

Balkan Baroque Performance snippet

6232426 — 2023-11-16 01:39:10 UTC