130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović
Film Production & Exhibition
2013–2014
- Artist
- Matthew Placek
- Role
- Producer
PRODUCTION
3D film production and installation for 130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović, the debut work in Matthew Placek’s series of 3D video portraits. MSP produced the film, managed the 3D camera and post-production workflow, and designed and installed its presentations, including the premiere at the National YoungArts Foundation in Miami and the 3D film and sound installation at Fort Jay on Governors Island.
THE WORK
130919 • A Portrait of Marina Abramović is the debut work in Matthew Placek’s series of 3D video portraits. The one-take moving portraits extend Placek’s ongoing pursuit to immortalize his subjects’ past, present, and future in a single composition. Shot without dialogue, the films offer rare, uninterrupted moments with artists in surroundings meaningful to each of them, and 3D cinematography deepens the intimacy, collapsing the space between viewer and subject. Placek’s close personal relationships with his sitters inform the authenticity of each portrait.
Placek sets Abramović at the center of an expansive, crumbling room that will become the Marina Abramović Institute, a space serving as the performance artist’s legacy. Both are exposed, strong, and marked with history. As the camera pulls back, figure and environment fuse, invoking the arc of the artist’s life, her transitional state, and the promise of renewal.
Placek commissioned an original score based on an ancient Greek song, translated and recorded by Serbian singer Svetlana Spajić and arranged by producer Thomas Bartlett, recalling the cycle of birth, maturity, decay, and rebirth.
CREDITS
Executive Producers: VISIONAIRE Film
The work and its installation were made possible by the generous support of The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The National YoungArts Foundation, and The Knight Foundation.
PRESENTATIONS
National YoungArts Foundation, Miami, during Art Basel Miami Beach, 2013 (premiere)
Sundance Film Festival, New Frontier, 2014
Fort Jay, Governors Island National Monument, New York, Sep 25 – 26, 2014