Colecciones de arte

Pietà, 1993

DESCRIPTION

This large-scale format photograph shows us another pivotal moment from one of the young Yugoslavian artist's performances. On this occasion, the piece in question is Anima Mundi, performed in two parts, and which could be staged in diverse spaces. Marina is not alone in the picture; she appears together with her long-standing companion, the German artist Ulay.
The image reinterprets one of the great iconographic motifs of Christianity, connected, in turn, with art history. In the photograph, pertaining to the "second act" of the performance, the artist is presented leaning on a stairway-platform, dressed in a red suit that reveals her shoulders. She is embracing Ulay, who is all dressed in white and who lets himself fall onto Abramovi´c's lap, drawing an "M". In the first part of the performance, however, the artists had refrained from making physical contact, remaining face to face one in front of the other with open arms.

Marina Abramovi´c assimilates and inwardly mingles universal symbols in her particular reading of the world. Here, alongside Ulay, resorting to a visual scheme inherited from the Christian tradition, the artist orchestrates an impressive visual choreography about human feelings. A. S.