Sarajevo... Sarajevo... Sarajevo...
sound sculpture composed of dried trees, lead, and voice-over performance by Marina Temkina
1994, summer
Delphi, Greece
Sarajevo... Sarajevo... Sarajevo..., realized in Delphi, Greece, was not far from the former Yugoslavia. I took three dry trees that had been cut on site and put them, as if replanting, in concrete bases. I wrapped these trees with ribbons made of lead, so that they looked like a minority among the other trees in the sculpture park. Each concrete base held a tape recorder that turned on when it detected a viewer approaching the tree. Breathing hard, as if in agony, the trees repeated the words "Sarajevo... Sarajevo... Sarajevo..." Marina's voice was recorded, and these "talking trees" echoed the myth about the pythia in Delphi and uttered oracles near a bronze tree. The site-specificity of this project dealt with the myths of Delphi, of both the archaic background of the Greek landscape and the tragedy of the current war of Sarajevo.
Collection:
Sculpture Park of Eurocultural Center, Delphi, Greece
Press:
Art in America, May 1995. “Contemporary Oracles,” by Heartney, Eleanor: p. 61
Bibliography:
Michel Gérard, The American Decade: 1989-1999, Neuberger Museum of Art (2002) with texts by Heartney, Gedeon, and Danto: p. 16-17
Public Art: Realized and Unrealized, Models, Drawings, and Photographs, The Gallery of Contemporary Art, Sacred Heart University (2002)
Michel Gérard: Signature Transformations 2009–1972, Christian Pirot (2009): p. 49