Antoanetta Marinov

 

 

   
 
Musikalisches Kugellager
wood, paint, gesso, glue, paper, color		    

     
Untitled
various material - drawing

The exhibition title hints at a foundamental characterization of Antoanetta Marinov's
work: a sense of urgency to develop a particular body of work, to release it into a given space as an action, as a result of a process, open for consideration, participation. The situational, often participation-based pieces derive from the artist‘s interest in what the world will make of her work, how they are perceived and how the mechanisms of implied participation function.
The exhibition space, its spatial, architectural, but also cultural or social implication are usually the point of departure for Marinov‘s work. Often they are interventions that only catch the eye at a second glance, that almost imperceptibly encircle given circumstances and subtly alter the space or the context. The little white plastic boxes that contain relics from the exhibition set-up find their natural place on the landing of the stairs, as the large box painted with floral motifs in the hall of the Rococo villa interacts spontaneously with the decoration.

Art not only engages in a dialogue with its surroundings, it formulates itself as an offer, as something to be grasped, utilized, experienced in an explicit handling. For instance “Gärtner”, which is a piece developed especially for the exhibition in Stuttgart, actually a set of instructions, or rather a summons to the visitor to use the available utensils, leave the framework of the exhibition space and garden a bit on the terrace, get some exercise
or just pretend to do so.

 
     
Gärtner - the viewer in the garden do like they were gardeners
installation
     
Was sie mögen mögen
installation
“Was sie mögen mögen” is a series, the concept of which Marinov already developed several years ago, and which has found its fitting location in Institut francais Stuttgart. The stele-like assemblages are reminiscent of the framework, instructions for the construction of narratives that are constructed differently by each viewer, which, depending on the visitor’s point of view, differ. Here a tree stump with a ladle, there a leafy vine winding around rods, at their feet, water splashes in a plastic bowl. What the works have in common is the olfactory aspect and the reference to nature, colors and fragrances are used that attract insects. What does attraction mean and how does it work? That is what these pieces revolve around, the answers or stories which we as visitors formulate wrap themselves up, spin themselves into their own cocoons. You lose the thread, so that the imaginary vision abruptly dissolves again.
The above-mentioned necessity and absoluteness shifts from the artist to the viewer - the moment they meet, the work and the audience set each other in motion, physically or mentally, directly or on a broader level, distinctly in the very action or more quietly in contemplation, in the pursuit of individual associations. And perhaps much of what Antoanetta Marinov triggers or means to cumulates in the realization that through moving even the smallest distance, from one point to another, you change, that you arrive another person, influenced by fleeting impressions, time changes and friction energy, which were gained or lost on the way. That we may ultimately be ‘different’ to the core, at each given moment, whether we are aware of it
or not.
Irene Müller translated by Zoe Miller
 


2003-2011 © Antoanetta Marinov