The performance of Nike Rukavina (1980) is based on long duration, endurance, and persistent concentration. The human body is emphasized as the basic medium, vulnerable and powerful at the same time. Performance is a game of building a card tower instead of playing cards by using credit cards. The card deck is visually representing different solutions of abstract images, numerical codes and brand names of foreign banks operating in Croatia. The game determines the construction of architecture that requires patience and perseverance as the structure itself is labile, under the constant threat of collapse. The so-called airy construction, at the same time, has a clear hierarchical (pyramidal) scheme and the interdependence of parts in relation to the whole. Visitors are invited to participate in performance, training perseverance and persistence. The uncertain group dynamics is furthermore aggravated by turning of the fan whose airflow is constantly changing the course of events and postponing a potentially successful outcome.
Text: Ksenija Orelj
NIKA RUKAVINA 