Greatness, loneliness, myth, frailty of human beings. Gres art 671 presents a new exhibition in Bergamo dedicated to Marina Abramović, one of the most influential artists of our time.

This exhibition is unique. In fact, not only does it encapsulate my performance, but also my latest research on the use of new materials and different formats, as in my most recent work, Seven Deaths, an opera that I initially created and later transformed into a video installation.

(Marina Abramović)

Titled between breath and fire, this project investigates some key themes that characterized the artist’s fifty-year long career: breath, body, the relationship with the Other and death. 30 of her recent and iconic works, displayed both indoors and outdoors, create an osmotic relationship with the exhibition space and, for the first time, also the garden featuring the Tree soundscape. Here, the sound of birds resonating among the trees, blurs the lines between nature and artifice, reality and fiction, mortality and transcendence.

A complete yet complex path which revolves around Seven deaths, the cinematic installation that Marina Abramović dedicated to Maria Callas, of whom she becomes a kind of alter ego. The love for the singer has blossomed since the teenage years of the Serbian artist, when she recalls hearing Callas’ voice in her grandmother’s kitchen in Belgrade and being moved to tears by its emotional power.

I didn’t understand the words - it was in Italian - and I remember that I stood up, feeling the electricity going through my body, and with this incredible sensation of emotions passing through me. I started to cry uncontrollably, and it was such an emotional effect that I have never forgotten it.

(MA)

A series of analogies and references between the lives of the two artists find fulfillment in the operatic film. An immersive experience that commemorates and enacts the tragic and untimely demise of the seven heroines portrayed by Maria Callas and played by Marina Abramović, accompanied by the soundtrack of seven solos by the soprano.

She was so strong on stage, but so unhappy in her life. Also, she really died for love. Once I was also so much in love in my life, I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t even think, and then my work saved me.

(MA)

Seven Deaths is an immersive cinematographic experience based on seven untimely demises that Marina Abramović brings to life on the screen, accompanied by the soundtrack of seven solos by Maria Callas. The installation conveys the artist’s passion for the opera, and in particular for Maria Callas; a passion that blossomed during her teenage years in Belgrade.
An engaging journey through the life of one of the most influential artists of our time, coupled with the most famous arias by Maria Callas, also known as ‘La Divina’. A cathartic experience that leads to deep personal reflection.

(Karol Winiarczyk, curator)

Between breath and fire collects and recounts Marina Abramovic’s entire artistic journey starting from her very first famous performances, such as Lips of Thomas (1975) - during which the artist cut a five-pointed star into her abdomen and laid down on ice blocks until the audience decisively took action - or Art must be beautiful, The artist must be beautiful, a video in which the artist aggressively combs her hair while obsessively repeating the titular phrase. These interpretations all went down in history and consecrated Marina Abramović as master of performances.

Besides her most iconic performances, the exhibition comprises works that the artist chose to revamp and re-enact by actively engaging the audience. In Mambo in Marienbad, for instance, the artist is seen dancing in magnetic shoes atop a pedestal. In front of the video, a space is marked on the floor for the audience to join the dance, blurring the lines between participation and presence.

We’re delighted to inaugurate gres art 671 in its final form with Marina Abramović, a world renowned artist who has always put the audience at the centre of her works and art. Our cultural hub was created with the very ambition to engage our visitors as much as possible by making them interact with spaces and artworks and have an active role in the journey. After a preview during the year of the Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023, hosting breath and fire for us means wishing for the vision of an extraordinary artist and the mission of a cultural hub combined. We’re proud of this perfect combination and we’re sure it will arouse great emotions.

(Roberto Pesenti, President gres art 671)