Balkan Baroque
Title of the Work
Balkan Baroque
Artist's full name
Maria Abramoviç
Date Created
1997
Form of artwork
Performance
Material
Cow bones, folk songs, personal photos, and tubs of black water.
Dimensions
6 hours a day for 4 days
Description
Artist Marina Abramoviç performed Balkan Baroque in 1997 at the La Biennale di Venezia. For 6 hours a day over 4 days, she sat on a pile of 1,500 cow bones as she painstakingly scrubbed them clean of blood. Abramoviç explained that this was a metaphor for “cleaning the conscience” of a people after the bloodshed of war. She believed that only by personally handling the bones and tenderly scrubbing the filth away could we realize the value of the lives lost, and that one could never truly be clean after such a tragedy. Specifically, the performance alluded to the wars in her native Yugoslavia which ultimately led to its dissolution. To show this, she included photos of her family and Yugoslavian folk songs in the background while she scrubbed. However, she also stated that her personal story could be applied universally to the atrocities of any war.
Collection/Repository
La Biennale di Venezia, through Gallerist Sean Kelley
Unique number or accession number
N/A
Source for image
http://www.lissongallery.com/artists/marina-abramovic/gallery/882
Digital file name
MAbraBalkan2
Information about rights
N/A
Contributor
Marina Abramoviç
Purdue University College of Liberal Arts