Ophelia
Installation – 2017–2018
HD Video, 4 HD Monitors, PC, Monitor Box, Stainless Steel Frame; Wallpaper, Red Carpet; 2 Chalkboards, 2 Easels
525 x 190 x 600 cm (206.7 × 74.8 × 236.2 in)
Size Variable
Performance – 2017–2018
Artist, White Dress, Weights, Diving Mask, Respirator, Oxygen Tank; 2 Step Stools, Chalk, Ladder; Water Tank, Stainless Steel Frame
25 min
OPHELIA is a performance and video installation that reinterprets Shakespeare’s character as the embodiment of human subjectivity in the context of climate change and gender inequality. During the performance, Marcin delivers a lecture on Ophelia, the destruction of the biosphere and the history of female hysteria, linking the silence of nature with the oppression of women. Clad in a white dress and breathing mask, she climbs into an aquarium, floating underwater as she recites Daniil Kharms’ The Werld (1939), with the distorted words and air bubbles transmitted through hydrophones and surrounding speakers.
In the exhibition, this arrangement is transformed as the steel frame supports video monitors on which the artist’s image floats in the blue water while her recitation of The Werld plays in the background. Both reinterpretations bring Ophelia into the 21st century by incorporating elements from Millais’ iconic painting as a backdrop, while the river is transformed into the installation. This modern, isolated Ophelia, whose livelihood depends on artificial respiration, muses on the preciousness of life and nature, our dependence on technology and the vulnerability of the individual in the face of nature’s powerful response.
Marcin’s 21st-century Ophelia becomes an icon of Ophelia memes, democratizing the figure into broader dimensions. Through historical and cultural references—from Millais’ painting to Koons’ Three Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (1985)—this work connects the devastation of the environment with gender issues, blending art, technology, and history to comment on the democratizing power of the meme.
First unveiled as a video sculpture at Art CONTEXT Miami’s VIP Lounge during Art Basel Miami Beach (Miami, 2017), OPHELIA was highlighted both in Artnet’s Everything You Need to Know About All 23 Artfairs at Art Basel Miami Beach and Hyperallergic’s Your Concise Guide Miami Art Week 2017. Following its debut, the performance premiered at Fridman Gallery (New York, 2018) and was presented at the Minnesota Street Project (San Francisco, 2018) with the support of the Goethe Institute, garnering enthusiastic reception as noted in articles like Cultured Magazine’s Nadja Verena Marcin’s Ophelia Goes on a World Tour and San Francisco Chronicle’s Ophelia returns after 300 years with new message.
The three-year traveling exhibition continued with a presentation at Moltkerei Werkstatt e.V. (Cologne, 2018) as part of DC Open, supported by the Kulturamt of Cologne, before being exhibited as a video installation at Nube Gallery (Santa Cruz, 2018), with backing from the Simón I. Patiño Foundation. In February 2019, it marked its first solo museum show at SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen (Sindelfingen), before traveling to the group show Staring at the Sun during the Ecofutures Festival (London, 2019). OPHELIA featured in a second institutional solo show at Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken, 2019–2020).
EXHIBITIONS
S: Solo Exhibition | G: Group Exhibition | Sc: Screening
POST EDEN, Art Claims Impulse, Berlin, 2025 (G)
OPHELIA, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Saarbrücken, 2019/2020 (S)
OPHELIA, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, 2019 (S)
Every Woman Biennial, La MaMa Galleria, New York, 2019 (G)
Come On In, The Water’s Fine, ARTnews, W Hotel, Miami, 2019 (G)
Staring at the Sun, Mile EndArt Pavilion, London, 2019 (G)
Re: INSITU, The Boiler, Brooklyn, 2019 (G)
OPHELIA’S DOMAIN, Nube Gallery, Santa Cruz, 2018 (S)
OPHELIA’S CEREMONY, Moltkerei e.V. Werkstatt, DC Open, Cologne, 2018 (S)
OPHELIA, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, 2018 (S)
Test Bed, Parsons – New School, Aronson Gallery, New York, 2018 (G)
Dream Machines, Parsons – New School, Kellen Auditorium, 2018 (SC)
OPHELIA, CONTEXT Art Miami, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, Miami, 2017 (S)
WORKSHOPS
OPHELIA PIY (Perform It Yourself), Centro Cultural Simón I. Patiño, Santa Cruz, 2018
Master Class Nadja Verena Marcin – How to Make a Performance, Faculty of Arts, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Santa Cruz, 2018
LECTURES
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
“Deep Artist Talk: Like a Hurricane – Nadja Verena Marcin’s ‘OPHELIA’ and other Disasters”, Down to Earth, artist talk as part of Avtonomi Akadimia, Berliner Festspiele at Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2020
“Repair, Resist, Revitalize: New Synergies in the Anthropocene”, Queer Feminist Ecocriticism in Live Art and Visual Cultures International Conference, lecture-performance, Queen Mary University of London, London, 2019
LECTURES
“‘Like a Hurricane’: John Everett Millais’ Ophelia (1852), Nadja Verena Marcin’s OPHELIA (2017-present), and the Hysteria of Nature,” Climate Change and British Art, discussant with Kimberly Rhodes (Professor at Drew University), College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, 2019
“Re-storying the Female Body,” Contested Site: The Female Body in Contemporary Art, presenter with Susan Silas (Artist/Critic), College Art Association Annual Conference, New York, 2019OPHELIA: REBEL MEME TO SYSTEMS OF POWER & OPPRESSION, artist talk with Dena Beard (Director, The Lab), Dorka Keehn (San Francisco Arts Commissioner and Principal, Keehn on Art), Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco
OPHELIA. Bad Girls, Bad Climate & the Power of Subversion, artist talk with Astrid Bardenheuer (Director, artothek Köln) and Tim Mrosek (Theater Director/Dramaturg), Moltkerei e.V. Werkstatt, DC Open, Cologne, 2018
EDITIONS
COLLECTIONS
SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Schaufler Foundation
Kunststiftung Sparkasse UnnaKamen, Unna
Private collections in Annecy, Berlin, Brooklyn, Chapel Hill, Dothan, Frankfurt, Greensboro, Köln, Lyon, New Jersey, New York, San Francisco
CATALOGS
Uwe Rüth, Kimberly Rhodes, Susan Silas, Liam Gillick, and Kathy Battista, Nadja Verena Marcin – Ophelia, Dresden: Sandstein, 2019.
INTERVIEWS
Andreas Langen, “Ophelia-Performance – Nadja Verena Marcin feiert die rebellische Frau in Sindelfingen”, SWR Radio, Stuttgart, 8 Feb 2019.
Jana Gührer, “Kunst im Aquarium? – Die Performance Ophelia im Schauwerk Sindelfingen, in: Kunscht!”, SWR Television, Stuttgart, 2 Feb 2019.
Nora Höglinger, “Wie ein Schwarm Bienen um den Wassertank – Über das Abtauchen, Umweltschutz und das Wesen der Performancekunst”, ARTinWORDS, Vienna, 17 Oct 2018.
Mascha Schlubach, “OPHELIA | Die Verletzlichkeit der Welt”, barton mag, Berlin, 3 Sep 2018.
Priscilla Son, “Conversations | Nadja Verena Marcin’s OPHELIA World Tour”, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, 24 May 2018.
PRESS
Melena Ryzik, “An Art Show for Hundreds of Women. And That’s Just the Artists.,” New York Times, New York, 16 May 2019.
Sarah Cascone, “The Every Woman Biennial Is a Supportive, Salon-Style Celebration of the ‘Divine Feminine’,” artnet News, New York, 24 May 2019.
PRESS
Kat, “Künstlerischer Tauchgang der Ophelia – Performance im Schauwerk in Sindelfingen,” Stuttgarter Zeitung / Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Stuttgart, 10 Feb 2019.
Thomas Volkmann, “Taucherbrille und Kaktus-schwert – Nadja Verena Marcin beschäftigt sich mit Frauenbildern / Live-Performance im Schauwerk,” Sindelfinger Zeitung / Böblinger Zeitung, Sindelfingen, 9 Feb 2019.
Charles Desmarais, “Ophelia returns after 400 years with new message,” San Francisco Chronicle / SF Gate / Murack.com / USA, Breaking News, San Francisco, 27 Mar 2018.
Anna Volpicelli, “Nadja Verena Marcin’s Ophelia goes on a World Tour,” Cultured Magazine, New York, 11 Mar 2018.
Sarah Cascone, “Everything You Need to Know about all 23 Artfairs at Art Basel Miami Beach,” artnet News, New York, 5 Dec 2017.
Monica Uszerowicz, “Your Concise Guide to Art Basel Miami 2017,” Hyperallergic, New York, 4 Dec 2017.
CREDITS
OPHELIA is an installation, performance, and video-sculpture by Nadja Verena Marcin with contributions from:
Architectural Design: Fernando Schrupp Rivero; Catalog Editing: Helene Remmel, Sibylle Marcin; Catalog Images: Martha Rosler, United Archives; Cinematography: Marque DeWinter; Costume Design: Keyana Leslie; Curators: Barbara Bergmann, Giulia Casalini, Isabel Collazos, Diana Georgiou, Andrea Jahn, Christian Merscheid, Julian Navarro, Rodrigo Rada, Angela Theisen; Galleries: AKArt, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, Fridman Gallery, Nube Gallery; Gallerists: Iliya Fridman, Christine Jaeckel, Thomas Jaeckel, Rachel Schwartz; Grant Editing: NYFA/ Madeleine Cutrona; Mentoring: Jenny Korns, Martha Wilson; Photography: Juliane Herrmann, Frank Kleinbach, Marie Koehler, Martin Miroschnitschenko, Thomas Sparks, Chris Waggoner; Producers: Amy Kisch (US), Uwe Rüth (DE); Residency SF: Jean Chadbourne; Shipping: Juraj Marcin; Support: Isabel Marcin, Susanne Marcin, Stefan Marcin, Deborah Rappaport, Andy Rappaport, Christiane Schaufler-Münch, Cora von Pape; Concept, Art Director & Video-Performance: Nadja Verena Marcin
SPONSORS
This project was supported by the Franklin Furnace Fund supported by Jerome Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Goethe Institut San Francisco, Puffin Foundation, Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, Centro Cultural Simón I. Patiño Santa Cruz, Nube Gallery, SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen, Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken, Arts Council England, British Association for American Studies, and a Kickstarter Campaign.