The Great Dictator

Video/Film – 2019
4K Video, 4.35 min, Black & White, Sound

By re-enacting Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator (1940), Marcin explores the fine line between truth, lies, threat and fact that is hidden in simulation and recontextualization. In the original, Chaplin talks about the threatening rise of neo-nationalism around the globe and the possibility of exerting influence in a politicized world. Marcin transposes this situation to the present day, poking fun at the gestures but also highlighting the looming threat of authoritarian leadership and neo-nationalism by re-staging the masculine, powerful gestures that bend gender and identity in a Hitlerian costume.

EXHIBITIONS

S: Solo Exhibition | G: Group Exhibition | Sc: Screening 

Tāctus – 17th Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF)​, Bath House of Winds (Museum of Modern Greek Culture Athens), Athens, 2021 (G)
My Love Is Your Love: Every Woman Biennial, Copeland Gallery, London, 2021 (G)
The Great Dictator, zqm, Berlin, 2019 (S)

LECTURES

“Penny Travlou, Nadja Verena Marcin, Eleni Riga, Joulia Strauss and Marc Müller ^^ Ecofeminism”, Room to Bloom – Ecofeminist Workshop, artist talk, Avtonomi Akadimia at Room to Bloom, Athens, 2021
Masterclass – Nadja Verena Marcin, masterclass and Q&A, Festival Internacional Denis Stoklos de Solo Performance, Irati, 2022
Masterclass – Performance, fotografia e cinema: O processo criativo de Nadja Marcin, masterclass and Q&A, Cabíria Festival & Prêmio de Roteiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2020

CREDITS

Producer/ Director/ Main Actor: Nadja Verena Marcin; Producer: Fernando Schrupp; Director of Photography: Yura Marakov;

CREDITS

Assistant Director: Steffany Poveda-Solorio; Gaffer/ PA: Jocelyn Ramirez; Production: Kunstraum LLC; Sound Design: Siara Spreen; Concept, Art Director & Video-Performance: Nadja Verena Marcin

SPONSORS

This project was made possible with the support of Wellesley College.

© 2024 Nadja Verena Marcin