MARIANNA NARDINI: FROM DUST ‘TILL DAWN

11 / 10 / 2024

As part of the 12th Platformat – Festival of Independent Culture and Art, organized by the association Mavena – 36 Wonders, a performance opened the interdisciplinary exhibition of artist Marianna Nardini titled From Dust ‘Till Dawn on Friday, October 11, 2024.

On the western staircase near the technical entrance of the Youth Home in Split, Marianna Nardini, a young generation artist, performed a half-hour performance, officially opening the site-specific exhibition From Dust ‘Till Dawn. The work is the result of a residency organized by the Mavena association, where the artist had the opportunity to conduct artistic research. The space of the Youth Home was chosen as the central theme, and under the guidance of the association’s curator Jelena Šimundić Bendić, a multi-day mapping of the unfinished complex of the Youth Home, which spans over ten thousand square meters, was conducted.

The research included all spaces within the complex, regardless of their utility—ranging from basement nightclub areas, offices, unfinished capacities, to rarely accessible terraces. During this process, various discarded objects were collected, whether it was waste found within the complex, items once exposed to artistic works, or organic waste, including bone fragments found by the artist and curator on terraces, remnants left after seagulls that nest there. These collected objects were used as building elements for the spatial installation and as props in the performance. Additionally, during the space mapping, the artist documented sounds and created video documentation.

The neglected yet monumental staircase of damp walls, which has lost its purpose within the complex, temporarily became a gallery space during the performance and exhibition of Marianna Nardini. The staircase, covered in dust and waste, was used in its existing state, which also involved the use of a rope – a circus prop from the set of the interdisciplinary project Memento by Antonija Cvitan Vuletić and Darko Škrobonja, produced by the Cirkus Collective, which also operates in the Youth Home.

With her ambient multimedia spatial installation From Dust ‘Till Dawn, Marianne Nardini, which includes the display of collected objects, video projection, soundscape reproduction, and the performance itself, presents an authorial interpretation of the Youth Home complex and its users, focusing on the autonomy of action within the independent cultural scene and its always free and inclusive aspirations. The interior of the Youth Home is perceived as a maternal space that nurtures and raises generations of users, which is why the artist swings and sways on a circus rope. Themes such as the invisible, precarious work in culture, and the absurd of uncertain futures for associations and their long-term initiatives are touched upon through acts such as collecting bones in cages and gestures like sweeping raw concrete staircases that continually crumble due to unfinished final processing.

In a collaborative decision made by the artist and the curator, the production of a traditional preface or curatorial text was set aside. In its place, a shared poetry composition was developed, offering an immersive experience accessible to all visitors:

Bone Collection. Bones. Structure.

Collection of Dust.

Space as a cradle. Rocking the cradle. Floating of a child in the womb.

Hanging as an act of care.

Grasping. Holding. Letting go. Giving birth and perishing.

Rocking as an act of concern. Holding as an act of concern.

Dance of Death.

Collapse as an expression of love.

Performance as an act of love.

Marianna Nardini (1994, Italy) is an interdisciplinary artist actively engaged in performance, video, and sound installations. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. Her work employs a research-based, interdisciplinary, and new media approach to ontological, metaphysical, and other marginal and grotesque themes. She has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows, including Oedipus’ Skin, Matica Hrvatska Gallery, Zagreb, 2021; Spasmus Humanus, Kamba Garage, Zagreb, 2021; Pickled Tales – Inside the Eyelid, Beneath the Dream with Mirjana Vodopija, LEXART Zagreb, 2022; and Don’t Kill the Grasshopper, Apoteka, Vodnjan, 2022. In 2022, she participated in the experimental residency program Living Room, organized by the curatorial collective KUĆĆA.