Ancient of Days

Bill Viola

1979-81, 12:21 min, color, sound

Ancient of Days is a remarkable series of "canons and fugues
for video" that comprises Viola's most sophisticated structural and
metaphorical explorations of time. Mathematical notations of precise
time-code editing were applied to construct illustrations of temporal
symmetry, duality and transposition — time-based equivalents of musical
compositional principles such as counterpoint and serialism. Astonishing
temporal interventions — a 180-degree pan gazing downward on a New York
City street that progresses from day to night, an image of Mount
Rainier in which the foreground and background unfold in different time
planes — unfold as symbolic transformations of natural and urban
landscapes.

Monday, January 27, 2014

The onion
Marina Abramovic

Date: 1996
Length: 20'00''
Type: Video
Copyrights: All rights reserved (c) LIMA
Genre: body art, portrait, self-portrait
Keywords: artist, body, everyday life, personal history, food

The first shot is a close up of Abramovic looking upward and holding a large onion. Her fingernails are painted bright red, just like her lips. Slowly she brings the onion closer to her mouth, taking a large bite from it and beginning to chew. Her voice-over keeps repeating the following as she devours the onion: 'I'm tired of changing planes so often, waiting in the waiting rooms, bus stations, train stations, airports. I am tired of waiting for endless passport controls. Fast shopping in shopping malls. I am tired of more career decisions: museum and gallery openings, endless receptions, standing around with a glass of plain water, pretending that I am interested in conversation. I am tired of my migraine attacks. Lonely hotel room, room service, long any more.

I want to understand and see clearly what is behind all of us. I want not to want anymore.' As she is complaining, Abramovic is noticeably agitated by eating the raw onion. Her eyes are tearing up, her saliva is dripping out of her mouth as her lipstick is rubbed off and bits of onion layers stick to her face. Her chewing is slowing down, but she continues to take ferocious bites from the onion while the voice-over continues. In certain respects, 'The Onion' shows familiarities with early performances like 'Art must be Beautiful, Artists must be Beautiful', in which Abramovic is violently brushing her hair and face while reciting the title of the piece. As the early performances revolve around mental and physical limits of pain, 'The Onion' resumes Marina's dedication to idea of the inseparability of body and mind by challenging apparent limitations of physical stamina. The video is also part of the 16-channel installation 'Video Portrait Gallery' (Abramovic 1975-2002).