OPHELIA

Feb 10–Jun 30, 2019
SCHAUWERK Sindelfingen

OPHELIA is an interdisciplinary performance that premieres as a live performance on 10 February 2019 at SCHAUWERK and continues as a video installation inside the solo museum show until 30 June. The work reflects on humanity’s destructive impact on nature while forging connections between art, literature, and science. Marcin, wearing a saltwater solution, a breathing mask, and a white gown, attempts to recite Daniil Kharms’ text The Werld under water, exploring human perception. Since December 2017, OPHELIA has been performed at various international locations, including San Francisco, Santa Cruz (Bolivia), and Cologne.

Alongside OPHELIA, the exhibition presents two additional video performances and four photographic works. In How to Undress in Front of Your Husband (2016), Marcin remakes Dwain Esper’s 1937 short film, performing a series of “Dos” and “Don’ts” for women removing their clothing in front of their husbands. She assumes multiple roles, shedding her clothes in ways that are exemplary, clumsy, or stumbling, subverting traditional gender expectations with humor and critique.

In Zero Gravity (2013), Marcin, dressed like a space agency employee, floats seemingly weightless in an airplane while reciting Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1882 text Der tolle Mensch, merging physicality with philosophical inquiry.

Marcin primarily works with performance, video, and photography. Using her own identity and body as instruments, she investigates and deconstructs social roles, addressing themes such as gender, history, morality, and politics. Her work challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries between self, society, and the environment.

The first solo museum show of Nadja Verena Marcin is accompanied by the monograph OPHELIA, published by Sandstein.