NEW YORK, NY.- In “130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović” Matthu Placek sets Abramović in the center of an expansive, crumbling building that will become the Marina Abramović Institute, a space serving as the performance artist’s legacy and marked with history. As the camera pans out, figure and environment fuse, invoking the arc of the artist’s life, her transitional state, and the promise of renewal. Placek commissioned an original score based on an ancient Greek song, translated and recorded by Serbian singer Svetlana Spajic and arranged by music producer Thomas Bartlett that recalls the cycle of birth, maturity, decay, and rebirth.
“130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović” is Placek’s debut work in his series of 3D video portraits. The moving portraits extend Placek’s ongoing pursuit to immortalize his subjects’ past, present, and future in a single composition. Shot in one take and without dialogue, these short films offer rare, uninterrupted moments with artists as they interact with surroundings meaningful to each of them. 3D cinematography enhances the intimacy of the vignettes, further collapsing the space between the viewer and the subjects’ essential natures.
Director MATTHU PLACEK moved to New York City from Ohio in 1997 to study photography. Since then, he has cultivated his interests in the performing and fine arts through collaborating with notable contemporary artists such as Marina Abramović, Vanessa Beecroft, Jonah Bokaer, Terence Koh, Brice Marden, Yoko Ono, Richard Prince, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, and Dana Shutz. Placek’s individual and collaborative work has been exhibited in the U.S. and abroad at The Museum of Modern Art in NYC, The Kitchen, Deitch Projects, Mary Boone Gallery, and Galleria Lia Rumma. “130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović” marks the international premiere of Matthu Placek’s first major work.
Subject MARINA ABRAMOVIĆ is the internationally celebrated pioneer of performance art who was the subject of a blockbuster retrospective in 2010 at The Museum of Modern Art in NYC. She is best known for works that explore the physical limitations of the body, as well as the body’s potential to be a vehicle for spiritual transformation.
Executive Producers VisionaireFILM (Cecilia Dean, James Kaliardos, and Adam Whitney Nichols) is a new venture of Visionaire, the “creative think tank” behind the collectible limited-edition art and fashion publication that features internationally renowned artists, photographers, filmmakers, and cultural icons. Since 1991, Visionaire has been working with the highest caliber of talent across every medium, breaking the rules for over 20 years. With “130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović”, Visionaire launches its film division, taking what they have done in print to the moving image. VisionaireFILM presents “130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović” in association with Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the National YoungArts Foundation.
