DATES: Friday, March 16 to Sunday, March 18, 12-6pm
LOCATION: The Growlery, 235 Broderick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
REGISTRATION: $120
Please email AKArt with any questions at info@AKArt.com
OPHELIA: REBEL MEME TO SYSTEMS OF POWER & OPPRESSION is a workshop with artist Nadja Verena Marcin, exploring performance and video art as ways of reflecting on social and political constructs, human behavior and elemental emotions. Marcin’s work OPHELIA—on view at Minnesota Street Project from Marc 3 - 31—deconstructs the masterpiece 'Ophelia,' de-colonializing the body, the preconceived image, and the mind. Though Ophelia is primarily associated with a particularly feminine form of madness—or hysteria—she has alternately come to represent innocence, corruption, purity, sensuality, weakness, strength, oppression, and resistance. Existing only in relation to Hamlet’s madness, Ophelia is a tabula rasa for the sorrow of others. As a prototype for the rebellion of the silenced and marginalized woman, her image has been copied millions of times by various creators—from hobby artists, millennials, pop culture personalities, fashion icons, artists, and within “high entertainment.” These memes reveal the multitude of femininity, and have the power to subvert representational media stereotypes.
In this three-day workshop, participants will create and explore cultural renderings—in drawing, writing, sculpture, video, photo, and/or performance. The gesture of reproducing culture within the DIY context reflects the urge to make culture relatable, break down the typical audience consumer hierarchies, and further examine the idea of decolonization. The group will present its works on Sunday afternoon.
Marcin’s work has been presented at: ZKM - Museum for Art and Media, Karlsruhe; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Zendai MOMA, Shanghai (Himalajas Museum); Museo National de Arte, La Paz; Veneto Videoart Archive, Verona; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley; ICA Philadelphia; Kunstmuseum, Bonn; 5th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow; Palacio Portales, Cochabamba; Haus der Kunst, Munich, and other venues.
http://www.nadjamarcin.com