De Marchi, C 2013, MinD/Body, DUCTAC, Dubai | 2021, enhanced rE-print, EdiXion, Dubai.
Videos of the performances between the pages of the book. This volume is the re-print of a fundamental book, now impossible to find. Its publication responds to one of the objectives of EdiXion, the publishing house founded by Marina Pizziolo and Romano Ravasio, namely that of making unique documents available to the international cultural community, which would otherwise have been lost. The book is enriched with videos of performances by some artists who had participated in the project, making accessible a heritage of artistic research that in the printed edition was documented only by static images. The sixteen Emirati artists featured in this book are: Abdullah Al Saadi, Anas Al-Shaikh, Cristiana de Marchi, Ebtisam Abdul Aziz, Hassan Sharif, Manal Al Dowayan, Mohammad Al Mazrouei, Mohammed Kazem, Noor Al-Bastaki, Nujoom AlGhanem, Rabi Georges, Saeide Karimi, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Siavash Yansori, Tarek Al-Ghoussein and Waheeda Malullah.
A book on body art in an Arab country. Paradox or provocation? Among the sixteen artists who make up this collective volume, Cristiana de Marchi, author and curator of the project, emerges as a figure of particular importance for the radicalism of her approach to body art. Her position is unique: she participates simultaneously as a performer artist and as curator, making MinD/Body — where MinD stands for “Made in Dubai” — a hybrid and deeply personal work that represents one of the first critical testimonies on body art in the Gulf.
The representation of the body is banned from Islamic culture, yet Cristiana de Marchi chooses precisely body art to present her work and that of fifteen other artists, including Hassan Sharif, one of the most influential artists in the Arab world, and Abdullah Al Saadi, a central figure in the Emirati conceptual scene and a determining voice in outlining the contours of local artistic thought. A paradox or a provocation? Neither. “The body becomes a tool, an instrument for measuring time and space”, writes Cristiana de Marchi. Performance reveals itself capable of uniting, in a determined place and time, artist and spectator, linked in a dialogue created essentially by the artist’s body and by an action of theirs. It is an intense experience, which fuses art and life, space and body, artist and witnesses.
Cristiana de Marchi’s art: a fascinating bridge between Arab art and Western art. Whilst being a collaborative book, Cristiana de Marchi’s contribution represents the supporting axis of the entire project, for the radicalism of her approach. Her strength is that of a poetry capable of dominating, with its whisper, the roar of things. In the surreal performance Doing & Undoing. Motherhood, Fare & Disfare. Maternità, the stage chosen by the artist is an abattoir. “The performance explores the dichotomy exclusion/inclusion, sacrifice/salvation, through a juxtaposition of presences: the victim and the executioner, the witness and the mother”, explains the artist. The entire scene is in white and red. The white of the abattoir walls, of the butchers’ aprons and boots, the white of Cristiana’s dress. The red is that of blood and of the fabric that Cristiana obstinately embroiders. Slowly the embroidery composes a word: Motherhood, maternità. The patient work of the artist, her doing, is the response to pain, violence and the undoing of death that surround her. Her minute feminine gestures have the power of love, which is the highest form of doing, since it gives origin to life. Reminding us that hope is not a utopia, but an obstinate and courageous work capable of building the future.
Enhanced content of the book. Explore the multimedia materials embedded:
– p. 33: Abdullah Al Saadi, Naked Sweet Potato, performance, 2000-2010
– p. 43: Cristiana de Marchi, Fish Market, performance, 2010
– p. 44: Cristiana de Marchi, Back up, performance, 2015
– p. 45: Cristiana de Marchi, Doing & Undoing. Motherhood, performance, 2014
– p. 73: Noor Al-Bastaki, Paths and Steps, performance, 2005
