Marina Abramovic
Balkan Baroque 1997
Object & video & performances Balkan Baroque (Venice Biennale Venice Italy)
Special note; Marina Abramovic winning Golden Lion for best artist
I met Marina when I was working for a film & theatre production company and there was an immediate click between us. Fortunately I was asked by the company whether I would work for her, collaborating on a few performance projects with her. And so we started to work with each other on the Biography and later on with Delusional. She was and is an extraordinary performer and she influenced & moved a large number of people but she was also influenced herself by performing artists. It was during the theatre production with Marina Abramovic (The Biography) that I also had the chance to again extend my personal interest by starting to produce contemporary art projects for her. It was the beginning of a long working relationship that lasted for nearly 8 years, the realization of a large number of projects spread out all over the world, and lead to her winning (the only award in her life till that moment), namely the Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale in 1997. However when you work for one person only and however pleasant and challenging this can be, you still live, work and operate in a kind of tunnel, which creates a kind of a double feeling; the warm blanket feeling of the work & life of collaborating with Marina Abramovic on one side and on the other side the desire to explore new or different aspects of contemporary art by working with other artists. At the end of year 2000, it was a good moment for me to change my personal ambition again and decided to end our colourful collaboration. When working for only one particular & exiting person who is an artist above all, it also limits yourself in different ways. It was therefore that I decided to follow a different route by starting to work for different artists as well as organizations. Of all the projects that I realized for Marina Abramovic as her production producer you will find only one (or a few) back, listed as special project, namely the Venice Biennale Victory, titled Balkan Baroque. It is brief, short and compact video compilation but it expresses it all what our collaboration stood for; intensity, drive, determination and success ! I decided not to add materials (other than Balkan Baroque) as the number of realized projects is so substantial, that it would bring my website out of balance and would not do justice to all other people I have worked with.
Video compilation Balkan Baroque