The Arrangement(s) Marine Marković: beleške o (de)konstruisanju
The Arrangement(s), trenutno izložen u Salonu Muzeja grada Beograda u okviru 60. Oktobarskog salona, predstavlja projekat Marine Marković koji istražuje odnose između tela, identiteta i društvenih konvencija, sa posebnim akcentom na pitanja kontrole i umetničke/ženske/lične/telesne autonomije. Kroz niz performansa i intervencija, umetnica koristi sopstveno telo kao medijum, postavljajući ga u centar istraživanja granica između javnog i privatnog, bola i zadovoljstva, kao i umetničke i društvene funkcije tela. The Arrangement(s) se bavi pitanjem ličnog i društvenog izbora sukobljavajući percepcije identiteta i kontrole nad sopstvenim telom sa subverzijom njihovih granica.
Napomena autorke uz tekst:
Ovaj tekst je nastao iz razgovora sa Marinom Marković i bezbrojnih Notes na telefonu napisanih povodom tih razgovora; iz razmišljanja o telu kao umetničkom radu, iz sopstvene perspektive žene i istoričarke umetnosti izazvane gledanjem performansa The Arrangement(s) i interakcije sa publikom, u svojstvu muzejske saradnice, prilikom vođenja kroz istoimenu izložbu u Salonu Muzeja savremene umetnosti. Stoga, tekst više nosi karakter lične beleške, ne težeći sveobuhvatnim opisu i analizi svih aspekata projekta.
(De)kostruisanje institucija
Prvobitna ideja projekta The Arrangement(s) podrazumevala je potpisivanje sporazuma između umetnice i institucije (izložbenog prostora, muzeja, galerije). Sporazum određuje mesto na telu umetnice na kojem će biti tetoviran logo institucije. Logo je štampa – pravo na korišćenje, pravo na pripadnost, pravo na autorstvo, pravo na vlasništvo. Zanimljiva je činjenica da je Marina preuzela sam model (ne)fiktivnog ugovora iz BDSM praksi, što nas odmah upućuje na jednu, na prvi pogled nevidljivu konotaciju: The Arrangement(s) je zamišljen kao složena metafora koja prevazilazi granice percepcije ovog projekta kao dihotomija institucija–umetnik i dominantno–potisnuto. Osoba nad kojom se sprovodi čin koji preti suverenosti tela ujedno je i naručilac tog čina. The Arrangement(s) predstavlja „nasilje po dogovoru“ i „nasilje po pravilima“ koje postavlja sama umetnica.
Obično, na ovaj ili onaj način, sam akt performansa zahteva institucionalni prostor (izuzev nezavisnih umetnika, hepeninga u izvangalerijskom prostoru i sl.). Tako, umetnički čin prilikom izvođenja odmah dobija određenu kontekstualizaciju. Institucija je proizvođač konteksta, institucija teži da nosi svoje u sebi. Dajući pravo na korišćenje sopstvenog tela prilikom „aranžmana“, Marina Marković, u suštini, na jedan vrlo originalan način vara uspostavljene institucionalne hijerarhije: telo postaje kontekst za instituciju, sama umetnica postaje kontekst za instituciju; koža – umetničko delo – nosi instituciju na sebi i u sebi, a ne obrnuto.
U performansu, svaka tendencija ka samopovređivanju i fizičkom nasilju jasan je pokazatelj premeštanja paradigme javnog/društvenog/institucionalnog i ličnog osećaja tela. Izlazak van konvencionalnog predstavlja određivanje granica sopstvenog tela, a ne tela kao pojavnog entiteta. Marina Marković se u svom stvaralaštvu obraća konvencionalno „lepim“ i „ženskim“ markerima poput roze boje i prikazivanja samog ženskog tela. Međutim, umetnica namerno dovodi ove faktore do apogeja, kada se telo izlaže kao predmet na „hirurškom“ stolu, a roze boja postaje simbol nasilja. Radikalizacija je, bilo direktno ili indirektno, povezana sa nizom socijalno prihvatljivih i socijalno odobrenih stavova koji su bili nametnuti telu i osećanju tela. Izlazak van konvencionalnog ne može biti ostvaren konvencionalnim putem, zbog čega nastaje potreba da umetnica postavi sopstvena pravila igre. Fizičko povređivanje u tom kontekstu postaje oslobađajući gest i čin otpora, a svaka nanesena rana (u ovom slučaju tetovaža) – iseca konturu tela ličnog iz platna tela javnog.
(De)konstruisanje prava na nasleđe
„Nije tvoje da biraš“ glasi jedna od tetovaža na Marininom telu. Poruka koja se prenosi iz jedne generacije u drugu. Poruka koja je per defaltam namenjena da odredi mesto žene u heteropatrijarhalnom društvu. Žig generacijskog prokletstva koji niko od nas ne bira, koji nam pripada po samom rođenju, nasleđe koje nismo birale.
U okviru The Arrangement(s), Marina Marković poziva istoričare i istoričarku umetnosti (Lucrezia Nardi, Matthieu Lelievre, Daniele Capra, Ješa Denegri) različitih generacija, metodoloških pogleda i profesionalnih stavova, da protumače u jednom kratkom eseju njeno stvaralaštvo, njen pristup sopstvenom telu kao umetničkom delu i sam projekat. Pošto se delovi tih tekstova kasnije tetoviraju na telu umetnice, prvi i najlogičniji zaključak posmatrača je otprilike sledeći: „umetnica u rukama teoretičara kao metafora dominantnih i potisnutih uloga u svetu umetnosti“, što jeste istina, ali nije jedina istina.
Kada sam upoznala Marinu Marković u Salonu Muzeja savremene umetnosti, prvo što je ona primetila bila je tetovaža na mojoj ruci sa natpisom body text. Marina je, naravno, odmah uočila tu ironičnu igru značenja i rekla da se sigurno razumemo. Tek tada sam postala svesna da su deo mojih tetovaža tekstovi ili tekstovi pretvoreni u slike, povezani sa istoričarkama umetnosti, ženama iz mog profesionalnog života, kojima sam verovala i verujem toliko da sam izabrala da ono što su napisale za mene svojom rukom zauvek ostane na mom telu. Da ostane ono što sam izabrala da nasledim. To me je navelo na razmišljanje o tome zašto umetnica, čiji je osnovni alat njeno telo, odlučuje da na svojoj koži (=umetničkom delu) zauvek ostavi teoretizaciju i tumačenje tog dela.
Pravo na nasleđe. Pravo na izbor nasleđa koje dobiješ i koje ćeš ostaviti iza sebe.
Kulminacioni trenutak „izbora nasleđa“ postaje poziv umetnice ORLAN na završni performans The Arrangement(s). ORLAN, za razliku od istoričara umetnosti, ostavlja Marini samo jednu rečenicu: „ovlašćujem tebe da budeš ja, ovlašćujem sebe da budem ti“. Umetnica, poznata po svojim ekstravagantnim manipulacijama sa telom i performansima, potpisuje se na Marininom telu, dajući joj pravo da bude ORLAN, da bude Marina, da bude… Ovo je mogućnost da se prevari predodređenost, ovo je mogućnost izbora.
Budući da iza skoro svakog velikog umetnika stoji ne manje veliki teoretičar, u slučaju sa The Arrangement(s) umetnica se zapravo nalazi u jedinstvenom položaju gde sama bira svoju „teorijsku ćeliju“. Na njenoj koži se sudaraju dva susedna sveta, a bezbrojni meridijani tekstova koji ocrtavaju njeno telo, putem tetovaža, sami postaju umetničko delo, njegovo tumačenje, njegova kontektualizacija. Marina bira teorijske okvire koji će ostati u i na njoj zauvek. Nasleđe koje može da se bira, od ljudi koje je sama izabrala.
Jer jeste njeno da bira.
(De)konstruisanje tela
Kao što umetnica sama ističe, koža je za nju poslednja granica sopstvenog fizičkog postojanja i prva granica sa kojom se suočava spoljni svet. Koža je prelaz. Tetoviranje uključuje ne samo sliku kao rezultat, već i interakciju sa kožom i njeno oštećenje, kršenje granice između ja i oni. Sa čisto fiziološke strane, tetovaža je zabijanje boje u kožu putem nanošenja rana iglom. Intimni proces koji, u idealnim uslovima, podrazumeva medicinsku sterilnost. Proces koji umetnica deli sa posmatračem, zarobivši ga između njegovog svesnog i nesvesnog: između odbojnosti prema svemu što je na neki način povezano sa bolom, krvlju, povredama i fiziologijom i divlje, „životinjske“ radoznalosti prema destrukciji.
Koliko god čudno bilo, ljudskoj svesti (upravo zbog samog postojanja te svesti) jeste svojstvena određena vrsta straha usmerenog prema sopstvenom i tuđem telu kao isključivo fiziološkom fenomenu. Strah od fiziologije je strah od toga što (ne) može da se vidi. Svesno se, pritom, u kontekstu interakcija sa spoljašnjim svetom, oslanja i na projekcije društvenih uloga.
Ona je žena–prijateljica–umetnica–sestra–predavačica–tetka.
Ona je njena društvena uloga.
Njena društvena uloga je moja projekcija–moje viđenje–moje lično uverenje da je poznajem.
Njena fiziologija je njena stvar.
Kada njena fiziologija prilikom performansa postaje i moja i vaša stvar, za ljudsku svest, u određenom smislu, to je jednako slomu društvene uloge. Slomu moje sebične projekcije. Slomu uverenja da je čovek spoj strasti, sloboda i nesloboda, ljubavi, mržnje, nežnosti, strahova, a ne samo živo biće. Slomu uverenja da ja zaista poznajem nju. Slomu uverenja da ja zaista poznajem sebe.
Iz istog razloga se bojimo smrti. Svaki istraživač iz oblasti studija smrti (Death Studies) potvrdio bi da je čovek po svojoj suštini izrazito sebično biće, što nam je uvek teško priznati, jer sebičnost nije društveno prihvatljiva osobina. Mi se ne bojimo smrti čoveka–kao–takvog; bojimo se nestanka njegove društvene uloge iz našeg života. Smrt izaziva strah i gađenje, jer nas u trenutku ostavlja samima sa isključivo fiziološkim faktorom ljudskog (ne)postojanja i probija granicu između doživljaja ljudskog bića kao svesnog i kao biološkog.
Prilikom izvođenja performansa The Arrangement(s), umetnica preispituje spoj kategorija fizičkog, mentalnog, unutrašnjeg i spoljašneg, dovodeći pojmove fizičkog i fiziološkog do apsolutne bukvalizacije putem uključivanja u proces različitih medicinskih aparata koji registruju nekontrolisane procese – reakcije njenog organizma. Dok, obično, praksa umetničkog performansa ispituje koliko daleko umetnik može da izađe van granica sopstvenog tela (na primer, putem prevazilaženja bola), Marina Marković postavlja pitanje koliko duboko ona može prodreti u telo. U okviru instalacije The Arrangement(s) izložene na 60. Oktobarskom salonu, umetnica pretvara projekat u gotovo fantomsku, imaginarnu medicinsku laboratoriju i, istražujući potkožne procese, uključuje snimke poput ultrasonografija i angiografije krvnih sudova mozga.
Ispitujući granice ne samo svog tela, već i, očigledno, granice mašte posmatrača, Marina Marković naglašava zanimljivu tendenciju u preispitivanju interesovanja za telo–kao–takvo. Iako svaki performativni akt ispituje mogućnosti tela, prelazak na fiziološke i, čak, biološke konotacije ističe fetišizaciju tela ne kao objekta divljenja, već kao biološkog bića kome su imanentna izvesna subjektivna i objektivna ograničenja. Pretpostavku koliko se duboko može upustiti u to biće kroz čin određuje samo granica ličnog straha. U trenutku kada dođe do spoznaje da je taj strah zapravo sopstvena projekcija, diktirana mentalnim ili fizičkim ograničenjima, dolazi i do spoznaje sopstvene moći nad njim, a samim tim i mogućnosti da se taj strah prevaziđe. Sledeći ideju metaforičkog ili bukvalnog (de)konstruisanja sopstvenog tela, a kao posledicu i njemu namenjenih (ili nametnutih) društvenih uloga, Marina Marković u okviru svoje lične eksperimentalne laboratorije izvrće sebe naopačke pred gledaocem: sva sam vaša, iznutra i spolja, ali sam vaša, jer sam ja tako odlučila, a ne zato što ste me vi na to naterali.
Instalacija projekta The Arrangement(s) je dostupna javnosti do 1. 12. 2024. u okviru 60. Oktobarskog salona u Salonu Muzeja grada Beograda.
Marina Marković (Beograd, 1983), osnovne i master studije završila je na Fakultetu likovnih umetnosti u Beogradu, na odseku slikarstvo, trenutno pohađa doktorske studije na odseku Novih medija. Učesnica je brojnih grupnih i samostalnih izložbi, festivala, sajama umetnosti, umetničkih rezidencija u Srbiji i inostranstvu. Živi i radi u Beogradu.
***
The Arrangement(s), currently on display at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade as part of the 60th October Salon, is a project by Marina Marković that explores the intersections of body, identity, and societal conventions, with a particular focus on issues of control and artistic/female/personal/corporeal autonomy. Through a series of performances and interventions, the artist employs her own body as a medium, placing it at the center of an inquiry into the boundaries between public and private, pain and pleasure, and the artistic and social functions of the body. The Arrangement(s) examines personal and societal choices by confronting perceptions of identity and bodily autonomy with a subversion of their boundaries.
Author’s Note: This text was born out of conversations with Marina Marković and countless notes jotted on my phone during these exchanges; it also stems from reflections on the body as an artistic work, viewed through my perspective as a woman and art historian, and influenced by witnessing The Arrangement(s) performances and interactions with the audience as a museum collaborator during guided tours of the exhibition at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art. As such, this text is more of a personal note, not aiming to provide a comprehensive description or analysis of all aspects of the project.
(De)constructing Institutions
The initial concept of The Arrangement(s) revolved around the signing of an agreement between the artist and an institution (exhibition space, museum, or gallery). This agreement specified the location on the artist’s body where the institution’s logo would be tattooed. The logo symbolizes a stamp—signifying rights of use, affiliation, authorship, and ownership. Notably, Marina borrowed the model of this (non-)fictional contract from BDSM practices, immediately invoking a subtle but significant connotation: The Arrangement(s) is conceived as a complex metaphor that transcends the simplistic perception of this project as a dichotomy of institution–artist or dominant–submissive. The person undergoing an act that ostensibly threatens bodily sovereignty is simultaneously its commissioner. The Arrangement(s) embodies “violence by consent” and “violence by rules” established by the artist herself.
Typically, a performance act requires an institutional space for its realization (except in cases involving independent artists, happenings in non-gallery spaces, etc.). This inherently contextualizes the artistic act within the institution’s framework. Institutions generate context, carrying their narratives with them. By granting the right to use her own body within this “arrangement,” Marina Marković subverts established institutional hierarchies in a profoundly original way: the body becomes the context for the institution. The artist herself becomes the context; the skin—the artwork—carries the institution on and within itself, rather than the other way around.
In performance art, any inclination toward self-harm or physical violence serves as a clear indicator of shifting paradigms between the public/social/institutional and personal perceptions of the body. Transgressing conventional norms defines the boundaries of one’s own body, rather than the body as a mere physical entity. Marina Marković’s work often engages with conventionally “feminine” and “beautiful” markers, such as the color pink and the depiction of the female body. However, the artist intentionally takes these elements to their extreme, transforming the body into an object displayed on a “surgical” table, and turning the color pink into a symbol of violence. This radicalization, whether direct or indirect, is linked to a series of socially accepted and sanctioned attitudes historically imposed on the body and its perception. Breaking free from conventional norms cannot be achieved through conventional means, necessitating the artist to establish her own rules of engagement. In this context, physical self-infliction becomes a liberating act of resistance, where each inflicted mark (in this case, a tattoo) carves out the contours of the personal body from the canvas of the public body.
(De)constructing the Right to Inherit
“It’s not yours to choose” reads one of the tattoos on Marina Marković’s body—a message handed down from one generation to the next, a directive aimed at cementing a woman’s place within a heteropatriarchal society. It is the mark of a generational curse, one that no one chooses but is inherited by birth—a legacy imposed rather than elected.
Within The Arrangement(s), Marina Marković invites art historians (Lucrezia Nardi, Matthieu Lelièvre, Daniele Capra, Ješa Denegri) of various generations, methodological perspectives, and professional stances to interpret her work in short essays. These texts explore her approach to using her body as an artistic medium and the essence of the project itself. Later, fragments of these essays are tattooed onto the artist’s body. At first glance, the viewer might conclude: “The artist in the hands of theorists is a metaphor for the dominant and suppressed roles in the art world.” While true, this interpretation is not exhaustive.
When I met Marina Marković at the Salon of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the first thing she noticed was the tattoo on my arm that read body text. Marina immediately recognized the ironic play of meaning and commented that we clearly understood each other. It was only then that I realized part of my tattoos include texts—or text transformed into imagery—connected to art historians, women in my professional life whom I trust deeply and who have profoundly influenced me. These are people whose writings I’ve chosen to make permanent on my body, as part of what I elect to inherit. This led me to reflect on why an artist, whose primary medium is her own body, would choose to forever inscribe on her skin (=her artwork) the theoretical and interpretative writings about her work.
The right to choose the legacy one receives and the one they leave behind.
The culminating moment of this “choice of inheritance” is the artist’s invitation to ORLAN for the final performance of The Arrangement(s). Unlike the art historians, ORLAN leaves Marina with just one sentence: “I authorize you to be me, I authorize myself to be you.” The artist, well known for her extravagant body manipulations and performances, signs her name on Marina’s body, granting her the right to be ORLAN, to be Marina, to simply be… This act transcends predetermined roles and offers a possibility for choice, a chance to subvert the inevitability of inherited narratives.
Since behind almost every great artist stands an equally great theorist, The Arrangement(s) places Marina Marković in a unique position—one where she chooses her own “theoretical cell.” On her skin, two adjacent worlds collide, and the myriad meridians of texts etched onto her body through tattoos transform into the artwork itself, its interpretation, and its contextualization. Marina selects the theoretical frameworks that will remain within and upon her, permanently. A legacy that can be chosen, shaped by individuals she has consciously selected.
Because it is hers to choose.
(De)Constructing the Body
As the artist herself emphasizes, the skin represents both the ultimate boundary of her physical existence and the first threshold encountered by the external world. Skin is a transition. Tattooing involves not only the creation of an image but also an interaction with the skin—violating the boundary between self and other. From a purely physiological perspective, tattooing is the injection of pigment into the skin through the infliction of wounds with a needle. This intimate process, ideally conducted under sterile conditions, is one the artist shares with the viewer, trapping them between their conscious and subconscious responses: the aversion to pain, blood, and bodily injury, and an innate, animalistic curiosity about destruction.
Strangely enough, human consciousness—precisely because of its self-awareness—is inherently drawn to a particular kind of fear related to its own and others’ bodies as purely physiological phenomena. The fear of physiology is the fear of what can (or cannot) be seen. In the context of interactions with the external world, the conscious mind relies on the projection of societal roles.
She is a woman—a friend—an artist—a sister—a teacher—an aunt.
She is her societal role.
Her societal role is my projection—my perception—my personal belief that I know her.
Her physiology is her own.
When her physiology becomes part of my perception during a performance, for human consciousness, this is akin to the collapse of a social role. A collapse of my selfish projection. A collapse of the belief that a human is merely a composite of passion, freedom and lack of freedom, love, hate, tenderness, fears—not just a living being. A collapse of the belief that I truly know her. A collapse of the belief that I truly know myself.
For the same reason, we fear death. Any researcher in the field of Death Studies would affirm that humans are fundamentally selfish beings—a truth we find hard to accept, as selfishness is not a socially acceptable trait. We do not fear the death of a person-as-such; we fear the disappearance of their social role from our lives. Death provokes fear and disgust because it abruptly leaves us alone with the purely physiological aspect of human (non)existence, breaking the boundary between perceiving a human being as conscious and as biological.
In the performance The Arrangement(s), the artist interrogates the interplay of physical, mental, internal, and external categories, taking the concepts of the physical and physiological to their most literal extremes by incorporating various medical devices that record her body’s involuntary responses. While performance art often explores how far an artist can transcend the boundaries of their own body (e.g., through overcoming pain), Marina Marković instead asks how deeply she can penetrate into the body itself. In the installation of The Arrangement(s) presented at the 60th October Salon, the artist transforms the project into a near-phantasmagorical, imaginary medical laboratory. Delving into subcutaneous processes, she incorporates visual materials such as ultrasound scans and cerebral blood vessel angiographies. This approach not only magnifies the intersection of art and science but also confronts viewers with the reality of the body’s inner workings, challenging them to confront the fragile boundary between life as an embodied experience and its reduction to biological mechanisms. Through this, Marković brings to the surface the tensions between individuality and universality, the personal and the clinical, and the conscious and the corporeal.
By exploring not only the boundaries of her own body but also, evidently, the limits of the observer’s imagination, Marina Marković highlights an intriguing tendency to question the fascination with the body-as-such. While every performative act examines the possibilities of the body, the shift to physiological and even biological connotations underscores a fetishization of the body—not as an object of admiration, but as a biological entity inherently defined by certain subjective and objective limitations. The depth to which one can venture into this being is dictated only by the boundary of personal fear.
The moment one realizes that this fear is, in fact, a self-projection, dictated by mental or physical constraints, is the moment one recognizes their power over it—and, consequently, the ability to overcome it. Following the idea of the metaphorical or literal (de)construction of her own body, and, as a result, the social roles assigned or imposed upon it, Marina Marković, within her personal experimental laboratory, turns herself inside out before the viewer: I am entirely yours, inside and out, but I am yours because I chose to be, not because you compelled me.
The installation of the project The Arrangement(s) is open to the public until December 1, 2024, as part of the 60th October Salon at the Salon of the Museum of the City of Belgrade.
Marina Marković (Belgrade, 1983) completed her undergraduate and master’s studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Belgrade, in the Department of Painting. She is currently pursuing doctoral studies in the Department of New Media. Marković has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, festivals, art fairs, and artistic residencies in Serbia and abroad. She lives and works in Belgrade.
, trenutno izložen u Salonu Muzeja grada Beograda u okviru 60. Oktobarskog salona, predstavlja projekat Marine Marković koji istražuje odnose između tela, identiteta i društvenih konvencija, sa posebnim akce){kind=link}