For the occasion of her retrospective’s opening dinner party at Garage CCC, Marina Abramovic has devised a special dessert performance: Marina Abramovic’s Nose. Guests are invited to put on their own faces a specially designed Abramovic’s Nose made of molten white sugar. The artist is interested in ritualizing the act of eating a dessert. Additionally, Kreemart worked with the artist to create a unique souvenir – a limited edition of 540 Marina Abramovic’s Silver Noses made of finest dark chocolate designed by the artist with chef Guido Mogni. The artist will invite guests to put the Nose mask in a performative fashion. The nose, cast upon Abramovic’s own nose is the artist’s own evocation of Nicolai Gogol’s eponymous 19 th century short story of the same title.
He stuck in his fingers, and pulled out — a nose! .. His hands dropped to his sides for a moment. Then he rubbed his eyes hard. Then again he probed the thing. A nose! Sure enough a nose!
The nose mask is ephemeral in its nature – it can be eaten after this carnevalesque action. The symbolism of the silver nose is at least twofold. It continues artist’s interest in casting hew own facial features in edible materials — part of Marina set to be ritually consumed by her audience. Marina Abramovic continues to explore the symbolism of gold and silver body parts.
As her nose is rather prominent, she reminds us that Gogol himself also had a prominent nose. In Gogol’s story, a man is in pursuit of his escaped nose. In the reverse action, Abramovic multiplies her own nose and let the whole audience have it.