About the Artist
Thinking Surrenders to Feeling
On the work of Mariana Vassileva
by Michael Stoeber
No one in philosophy so eloquently invoked the duality of human nature of feeling and thinking like Blaise Pascal. The often dramatic tension between reason and feeling produces, in his understanding, ”a civil war within oneself.” To escape this conflict, humans usually
choose either one side or the other without this leading to a solution. It is necessary however to pacify and balance reason and feeling. What Pascal writes in his ”Pensées” on the ambivalent human nature, Mariana Vassileva shows through powerful images in her art.
Pascal’s philosophy is not only apparent when one looks at the artist’s works, but also when one has the privilege of getting to know the artist herself. Vassileva, born in Bulgaria, lives and works in Berlin. She is an equally intelligent and sensitive woman, who draws her multimedia works from both mind and emotion. To her, precise analysis and compassionate empathy are not opposites. On the contrary, they formally condition one another in the artist’s view of the
human being.
This is evident from the title of the catalogue in which she collects her objects, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs and videos: ”Fragile Power”. Being fragile and vulnerable are not necessarily the connotations we commonly associate with power. If however, one
thinks of human beings as power-holders, and this concerns Vassileva’s entire interest, then we become aware of the instability of all man-made conditions. The ancient Greeks saw danger in glory, in a bright moment already the grey transience and their tragedies warned the spectators against any hubris.
In the following an attempt is made to look more closely at some of Mariana Vassileva’s works against this background. Their selection is entirely according to the author’s preference, and their discussion follows a more medial and thematic than a chronological order. What is striking about the artist’s work at first glance is the returning of light as both a subject and medium. A major theme! From Genesis to Enlightenment, not to mention the nineteenth-century electrification, light is associated with a treasury of cultural metaphors. Vassileva
takes this to another level in her works. In doing so, she finds shapes that let us see light in completely new contexts.
Particularly impressive is the archaic ritual performed by a young man in the video ”Turnono” (2013). Like Prometheus once, who stole the fire from the gods, he illuminates the darkness of the night by sweeping a mighty ball of fire. He turns in a raging whirl around his own axis. Light and dark, fire and night become twin accomplices who, like good and evil, are tensely related to each other. The same happens in the installation ”Break In / Out: Breathing Light” (2013). A lonely lightbulb is locked up in a dark prison of wire mesh, from which its rays of light escape. The light becomes the index of the thinking human and the rays of light symbolically become his thoughts. They are, as Friedrich Schiller has emphatically written, ”free” and cannot be imprisoned.
Vassileva’s other works with light concretely address a specific situation. For example, her touching installation, which shows an armada of shoes that seek their way across the broad, white surface of a wall, reminds us of the human migration flows of our time. By furnishing each of these shoes with a light that evokes the aura of Christian iconography, the artist gives back dignity to the people becoming visible through this installation. A dignity often denied by the reality of political practice. Moving poetry is also found in the choreography of her video ”Reflections” (2006), in which people in a park reflect the light of the sun through small mirrors in the direction of the camera, in this way providing an Arcadian group image illuminated by starry flashes.
Especially in that last, but also in the works mentioned earlier, the production strategy is quite simple. Yet a simplicity that’s difficult to enact. Because Vassileva always uses it to develop a complex semantic echo chamber of thinking and feeling.
Like in the wonderful ”Highway Dream” (2014), the black and white photograph of a car tire rolling down alone a dusty country road. Here the artist succeeds in creating a melancholic road movie with just one image. It tells of pride and dignity, freedom and independence,
but also of loneliness and vulnerability. Full of militant vigour is also the protagonist of the video ”Toro” (2008), who uses his jacket as a capa to fight like a bullfighter against the overpowering sea.
This marks an experience of powerlessness and finiteness as well as a slapstick attitude. They collaborate as if the perspective of Caspar David Friedrich’s ”Monk by the Sea” had formed an alliance with the defiant punk motto, ”You have no opportunity, but use it”. The
compatibility of the incompatible is captured in many of Vassileva’s works. Her microphone ending in a grenade knows that words can not only love and pacify, but can also be weapons that cause harm and in the worst case kill. Humans are of the same ambivalence as their
language. The beautiful Joey (2007) is no less male than female. The hand in ”Just a Game” (2009) transforms into both a weapon and a blessing gesture. And the charted head, ”Phrenology Head” (2014), with the red clown’s nose testifies how smart and stupid we can be at the same time.
In fact, all of Vassileva’s works are about us. The dictum of Aristotle in his ”Poetics” that art should be concerned with the human cause, what the ancient Romans called the ”mea reas agitur”, is masterfully observed by the artist. In her work we often see artistic, seemingly
gravity-relieved tricks like the tower of school chairs in “Denkpause” (2016). Even its title opens up a perspective through which Shakespeare’s ”Hamlet” also tries make his friend aware of the reality of ”miracles and consecrations” (Gottfried Benn) beyond rational
argument: ”There are more things in heaven and on earth than your book learning could ever imagine, Horatio.”
A similar artistry is also featured in Vassileva’s wonderful work “Flying and Other Daily Necessities” (2016), in which a human becomes an aviator. A rope that stretches out to the skies like a snake summoned by an Indian dressage master, takes him into the air. It is as if
they are bound by a powerful, ever faster unwinding umbilical cord. It also emphasises that our longing to fly is in our DNA. Accompanied here by the illuminating paradox, that in order to find oneself and become a unique individual, and thus to fly through our lives, we have
to cast off this umbilical cord. The fact that the desire to fly, to rise above gravity and the monotony of our existence is recognised by the artist as a ”daily necessity” has a fairytale-like as well as a moral dimension. Once again it is depicted what Oscar Wilde captivated in the beautiful aphorism: ”Only the realist knows how to dream.”
Immanuel Kant has written about humans that they are made of such “wry wood” that it “cannot be straightened”. This sentence occurred to me when looking at Mariana Vassileva’s installation, consisting of an old, crooked, rusty and a new, straight, golden nail. It is accompanied by the question ”Will They Be Friends One Day?” (2011).
MARIANA VASSILEVA
born 1964 in Antonovo, Bulgaria 1994-2000 studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin
Since 1990 lives and works in Berlin
Residencies in:
Sydney, Istanbul, Petersburg, Sao Paolo, Auckland NZ, Bogota, Hong Kong, Mexiko
Museums presences:
ARTER, Istanbul,
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (Canada),
Tate Britain (UK), Centre Pompidou / Paris,
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Spain).
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA,
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem,
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg,
Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst,
Kunsthalle zu Kiel,
Edition Block, Berlin,
The Stenersen Museum, Oslo,
Total Museum, Seoul,
Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong,
Participation in Biennials:
17th Biennale of Sydney – The Beauty and the Distance – Biennale of NSW, Art – Rewriting Worlds – 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary art, Moscow,
Biennale Vento Sul in Curitiba, Brasil,
1° Bienal del Fin del Mundo – Ushuaia 2007
Solo shows:
2025 FLYING AND OTHER DAILY NECESSITIES – Museum of Contemporary Art, Arsenal, Sofia 2023 The Gentle Brutality of Simultaneity, Künstlerhaus Göttingen 2022 Be myself.. but with You – window 155, BERLIN-WEEKLY, Berlin Verweile doch, Du bist so schön! Space_Out, Kerkow, Deutschland 2020 WIN / LOUSE – Goethe Institut, Sofia / Berlin 2015 Balance – Sofia Art Gallery, Sofia TORO – Casal Solleric, Palma de Mallorca The Gentle Brutality Of Simultaneity – Starkwhite, Auckland 2010 Because I dream, I Am ..– Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, NSW 2009 Just a Game – DNA, Berlin Mariana Vassileva – Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto, ON 2008 ÉVÉNEMENT, Mariana Vassileva, 2008-10-242009-01-11 Musée d´art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal, QC INDEX GLAS – Galleri Image, Aarhus, Denmark 2007 Mariana Vassileva – Blackbox Art Foundation, San Juan Reflections – Städtische Galerie Bremen im Buntentor, Bremen 2006 Mariana Vassileva – Gallery Art & Food, Gijón Mirrorlight – Goethe-Institut Sofia, Sofia 2005 Mirrorlight – DNA, Berlin 2000 Rasender Stillstand – Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin
Group shows 2025 Under Pressure above Water, ARTER Museum, Istanbul 2024 Welten in Bewegung, 30 Jahre Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg SCHÖNE NEUE WELT, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt Drei Hubwagen und ein Blatt Papier: Die Edition Block 1966–2022, Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland, 2023 Drei Hubwagen und ein Blatt Papier, Neues Museum Nürnberg 2022 POWER / LIGHT – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg ThisPlay – ARTER Museum, Istanbul Locus Solus – ARTER Museum, Istanbul 2021 BRITTLE POWER – Kunsthal 44Møen, Organisation für Kunst in Dänemark SCOPE BLN , Berlin A FUTURE OF MANY FUTURES – WE ARE AIA I AWARENESS IN ART, Löwenbräukunst, Zürich PRO HOMINE – Sariev Gallery, Plovdiv 2020 … aber nur zuschauen tut richtig weh, Edition Block, Berlin On Celestial Bodies – ARTER Museum, Istanbul Turning Points, Works from the Collection von Kelterborn, Kunsthalle Gieses 2019 NOW IS THE TIME, 25 years collection Wolfsburg Museum, Wolfsburg SO WIE WIR SIND, from the Collection Mario von Kerterborn, Weserburg Museum, Bremen en 2018 OTHER STORIS, Tottal Museum, Seoul 2017 New permanent exhibition of the Lidice Collection, curator Rene Block, Czech Republic Video Artportrait, Total Museum, Seoul 2016 Love Actually… – Momentum, Berlin The 56th October Salon – The Pleasure of Love – Belgrade Cultural Center, Belgrade Self Portrait – Group Show – DNA, Berlin From the Shores of the Black Sea – Georgian National Museum Amiranashvili , Tbilisi Beyond Balagan, Hero Mother, Contemporary Art by Post – Communist Women Rethinking Heroism – MOMENTUM, Berlin Ich kenne kein Weekend – René Blocks Archiv und Sammlung – Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz, Linz Remember Lidice – Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn My Father Avoids the Sirens’ Song – Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York City, NY 2015 Evidence – DNA, Berlin Ich kenne kein Weekend. Aus René Blocks Archiv und Sammlung. NBK, Berlin Remember Lidice – Edition Block, Berlin Walk The Line – Neue Wege der Zeichnung – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg Texturas y color – Museo Fernando García Ponce (MACAY), Mérida, Mexiko Walk The Line – Neue Wege der Zeichnung – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg 2014 Fluchten – Fotografien und Videos – GEDOK Berlin, Berlin Komm und sieh – Sammlung von Kelterborn – Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen Busan Biennale 2014 – Inhabiting the World – Busan Museum of Art, Busan Domenik Mersch Gallery at Galerie Patrick Ebensperger – Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin What is the smell of an exhibition? – Laboral – Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón The Collection. New Acquisitions 2012-2013 – Sofia Art Gallery, Sofia Topological Constellation – Art and Architecture I – DNA, Berlin Human Landscape – Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, NSW 2013 Thresholds – Trafo – TRAFO, Szczecin In Process: The Momentum – Trafo Residency Exchange – MOMENTUM, Berlin I SEE YOU – Kunsthalle Detroit, Detroit, MI Thresholds – Ungarisches Kulturinstitut, Berlin Momentum Collection – hayaka artı, Istanbul Fuso 2013 – Anual De Vídeo Arte Internacional De Lisboa, – FUSO – Anual de Vídeo Arte Internacional Fluid Motion – MFA – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA DESIGNED TO FAIL – Graffitt Gallery, Varna Trienal no Alentejo – Trienal no Alentejo, Lisbon Inner Journeys – Maison Particulière Art Center, Brussels Still em movimento: lição de pintura – Paço das Artes, São Paulo The Momentum Collection – MOMENTUM, Berlin Res(v)olution – DNA, Berlin 2012 Berliner Zimmer – HDLU – Croatian Association of Artists, Zagreb Expanded Drawing 012 – Casal Solleric, Palma de Mallorca Good Night – The Israel Museum, Jerusalem lichtsicht – 3. Projektions – Biennale Bad Rothenfelde – 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art – Rewriting Worlds – Berliner Zimmer – National Museum of drawing in relation, Contemporary Art (MNAC), Bucharest drawing in relation – DNA, Berlin XVIII.Rohkunstbau – Projekt Rohkunstbau, Berlin Private 1. Floor – DNA, Berlin Menos Tiempo que Lugar – Museo de Arte Raúl Anguiano, Guadalajara Berliner Zimmer – MMCA Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki ESPIRITU DE EPOCA (AGE SPIRIT) – Una decada de pintura en la coleccion de Ofelia Martin y Javier Nuñez – International museum of contemporary art (MIAC), Arrecife ARTES VISUAIS – A CARTA DA JAMAICA – Oi Futuro, Belo Horizonte, MG Alles wandelt sich – DNA, Berlin M o m e n t u m / Berlin Inaugural Exhibition – Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin When a Painting Moves…Something Must be Rotten – The Stenersen Museum, Oslo 2010 WHAT SURROUNDS ME – Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, NSW Menos Tiempo que lugar – MNBA – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Santiago Chile, Santiago Transitland in Trieste – Studio Tommaseo – Istituto per la documentazione e diffusione delle Arti, Trieste Weniger Zeit als Raum – Die Kunst der Unabhängigkeit – Goethe-Institut Lima, Lima August in Art Biennial 2010 – August in Art Biennial Varna, Varna Picnic Festival – Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander STILL/moving – The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Menos Tiempo Que Lugar – El Arte de la Independencia – Centro de Exposiciones Subte, Montevideo Der Brief aus Jamaika – Oi Futuro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ Transitland – Space (former Galéria Priestor for Contemporary Arts), Bratislava Transitland – Moscow museum of modern art – MMOMA, Moscow El cuadro inquieto. La imagen como pintura en movimiento y el retorno de los géneros – Fundación Francisco Godia, Barcelona 17th Biennale of Sydney – The Beauty and the Distance – Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Menos Tiempo Que Lugar – Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná, Curitiba Perspectivas del dibujo actual – Galeria Isabel Hurley, Málaga Expanded Drawing – Galeria Isabel Hurley, Málaga Menos tiempo que lugar – Palacio Nacional de las Artes – Palais de Glace, Buenos Aires Transitland – Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Reflection – DNA, Berlin …on the eastern front │video art from central and eastern europe 1989–2009 – Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art – Budapest, Budapest 2009 Indomitable Women at BAC 10.0 – CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona Mostra de Videos – Bienal Vento Sul – Museu de Arte de Londrina, Londrina, PR Best of Loop – MOCA Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, CA Mostra de Video – CDMAC – Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, Fortaleza, CE When painting moves…something must be rotten! – Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Santurce Die Kunst der Unabhängigkeit: der zeitgenössische Pulsschlag – Antiguo Hospital de San Juan, Quito Portrait Berlin – Palacio Nacional de las Artes – Palais de Glace, Buenos Aires Retrato : Berlin – MNBA – Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Santiago Chile, Santiago Transitland – The Red House – Centre for Culture and Debate, Sofia Transmediale – Transitland Destination Berlin (TCP) – Ungarisches Kulturinstitut, Berlin 5a Bienal VentoSul – o mundo todo aqui, vai mexer com voce – Instituto Paranaense de Arte, Curitiba Expanded Drawing – DNA, Berlin Impressions: Contemporary Art from Berlin – Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje Menos Tiempo que lugar – Museo Nacional de Arte, La Paz SOME POLITICS OF APPROPRIATION – LAZNIA – Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk Hängung #4 – Querschnitt – Sammlung Alison & Peter W. Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf Vidéos Europa – Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains, Tourcoing 2008 Portrait: Berlin – Photon – Centre for Contemporary Photography, Ljubljana VIDEO PERFORMANCE – Methoden der Selbstbetrachtung – Kunsthalle Münster, Münster Mediation Biennale 08 – Biennale Office: Centrum Kultury Zamek, Poznan Live Originality – Berlin – Unc Gallery, Seoul „Don’t leave your marks behind you!“ – MACAY, Mérida Portrait: Berlin – Goethe-Institut Krakow, Krakow Revolutions – University Art Gallery, UCSD, La Jolla, CA The canvas is the screen – CaixaForum Palma, Palma de Mallorca For the People, Of the People, By the People – Unc Gallery, Seoul Beyond Stereotypes – Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen Video salon 3, Curatorial Rebound Project – Duplex/10m2, Sarajevo Collection Videos & Films Jean-Conrad & Isabelle Lemaitre – Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel 2007 El lienzo es la pantalla – CaixaForum Barcelona, Barcelona Garten Eden. Der Garten in der Kunst seit 1900 – Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden BAC! – CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona Cine y casi cine – Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Bulgaria? …Oh, yes, Bucharest! – Art Today Association – Center for Contemporary Art, Plovdiv PORTRAIT : BERLIN – Contemporary Photography and Video Art from Berlin – Nuovo Polo Natatorio „Bruno Bianchi“, Trieste Wunder der Prärie – zeitraum_exit Büro für Kunst e.V., Mannheim Portrait: Berlin – Contemporary Photography and Video Art from Berlin – Goethe-Institut Washington leibhaftig – die Erfahrung des Körpers in der Kunst der Gegenwart – Kunstverein Konstanz e.V leibhaftig – die Erfahrung des Körpers in der Kunst der Gegenwart – Städtische Galerie Ravensburg Fair Play 2007 – Play – Gallery for still and motion pictures, Berlin Faccia Lei – Arsenale Novissimo – Spazio Thetis, Venice Faccia Lei – Museum Arterra Contemporary, Berndorf Video Killed The Painting Star – DA2 – Domus Artium 2002, Salamanca 1° Bienal del Fin del Mundo – Ushuaia 2007 – Bienal al Fin del Mundo, Ushuaia Visual Immortality VI – Projektraum M54, Basel VISÕES BERLINENSES – Paço das Artes, São Paulo PORTRAIT : BERLIN – Contemporary Photography and Video Art from Berlin – Moving Gallery, Omaha, NE The canvas is the screen – CaixaForum Barcelona, Barcelona 2006 Videart una visión actual – Caixa de Manlleu (Vic), Manlleu VoKuHiLa – Fragen der Form – Deck – Galerie für aktuelle Kunst, Stuttgart Babylon´s Shade – ARTos foundation, Nicosia Rivka Rinn + Mariana Vassileva – DNA, Berlin Paradise: A Step to the Left – tactileBOSCH, Cardiff, Wales 2nd international Biennale Bulgaria – Association of the International Biennial, Shumen 2005 VideoNow! – White Trash Contemporary, Hamburg Reflexionen – Eröffnung und Ausstellung – Art Center Berlin Friedrichstraße, Berlin Gruppenausstellung – DNA, Berlin transmediale.05 – Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin 2004 all about…SKULPTUR IN BERLIN – WhiteBox e.V., Munich Neither In the Sky, Nor On the Earth – Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje 2003 ZEITGENÖSSISCH! Kunst in Berlin – KPM Quartier, Berlin Group Show – Keumsan Gallery, Seoul 2002 Insideout – UNDABDIEPOST!, Berlin „Rising Grauzone – Kunst bereichert“ – Kunstbunker – Forum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Nuremberg 2001 Fünf Sterne – Fluchtwege – Galerie Weisser Elefant, Berlin 2000 Festival of Vision – Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong Bibliography: • Peter Friese, Barbara London, Ludwig Seyfahrt (2015) Komm und sieh, von Kelterborn Collection. Published by Hatje Cantz. ISBN 978-3-7357-3941-2 • Ralf Beil, Holger Broeker, Katie Amstrong (2015) Walk The Line: Neue Wege der Zeichnung. Ed. Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg. ISBN 978-3-9804827-9-0 • (2014) Inhabiting the world. Busan biennale Organizing Committee. • Casal Solleric (2012) Mariana Vassileva, Solo vídeo 2000 – 2012. Published by Ajuntament de Palma and Fundación Banco Santander. ISBN 978-84-952667-55-9 • Peter Weibel, Joseph Backstein (2011) 4 Moscow Biennale of contemporary art, rewriting worlds. Ed. Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow. ISBN 978-5-98833-010-3 • Alfons Hug (2010) A carta da Jamaica. Collection “arte e tecnologia”, ed. OI Futuro. ISBN 978-85-7820-048-0 • Maria Vassileva, Roumen Serafimov (2010) The Big Wave: August in art 2010. Ed. Illusion&neoprint. ISBN 978-9549-244267 • Anja Kraus, Mie Buhl, Gerd-Bodo von Carlsburg, (2009) Performativity, Materiality and Time: Tacit Dimensions of Pedagogy. Ed. Waxmann. ISBN 978-3-8309-3116-4 • Katarína Rusnáková (2009) Transitland: Video art from Central and Eastern Europe 1989-2009. Ed. Edit András. ISBN 978-963-9537-21-7 • Pascale Pronnier , Alain Fleischer, Olivier Rignault (2009) Vidéos Europa. Ed. Studio Le Fresnoy national des arts contemporains. ISBN 978-2-917696-01-9 • (2009) Mariana Vassileva, Index glass. Ed. Illusion&neoprint. • (2008) Collection Videos & Films : Isabelle & Jean-Conrad Lemaître. Ed. By Dirk Lukow and Gunda Luyken. ISBN 978-3-937208-18-3 • Garten Eden: Der Garten in der Kunst seit 1900, ed. Kunsthalle Emden, Dumont, 2007 • (2002) Insideout: undabdiepost, fünftes Festival der Neuen Kunst. Aktions Galerie • Holger Broecker, MACHT! LICHT! Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2022- Publisher Walter and Franz König ISBN 978-3-96098-775-8 • NOW IS THE TIME, Kinstmuseum Wolfsburg, Publisher HATJE CANZ ISBN 978-3-7757-4528-4 • HERO MATHER, Contemporary Art by Post-Comunistist Women Rethinking Heroism, ISBN 978-3-9817801-1-6 • Remember Lydice, Steätische Galerie, Notdhorn, ISBN 978-3-922303-91-6 • Moenlight Sonata, Edithion Block, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-00-060462-1 • Komm und Sieh, Weseburg – Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen, ISBN 978-3-7757-3941-2
STATEMENT:
If I have an idea I have a house and a boat. At the same time I am the river and the wind, They rock me, make me crack, move me forward, As well as they bring me closer to destruction… But I have a home. MV
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