Theresa, Jeremy, mythopoeia, collusion, 0100101110101101, Darko Maver, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

mythopoeia
One entry found for mythopoeia.

Main Entry: mytho·poe·ia
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin, from Greek mythopoiia,
from mythopoiein to make a myth
from mythos + poiein to make -- : a creating of myth : a giving rise to myths

So has everyone seen the New York Magazine article on Theresa & Jeremy by now?

"Conspiracy of Two: Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake were talented young artists who were deeply in love. Their bizarre suicides have captivated the art world: Was it their brilliant imaginations that did them in? By David Amsden"

Anyway, I went to check in on our old friend Dream's End to see what was happening over at the Theresa Duncan & Jeremy Blake Conspiracy Office; I wanted to see how their new found fame was treating them since the NY Mag article mention; seems its business as usual over there as my head started spinning and I quickly tuned out. My A.D.D. is bad today. Must be the weather.

However I came across D.E.'s mention of Darko Maver.

I remember reading about this story a few years ago and seeing it now revived my interest and D.E. did a great job collecting all this material. Original evidence of Darko Maver online is hard to come by outside of 0100101110101101's spoiler site.

So, here's The Darko Maver Story... but don't scroll ahead, you'll rune it. K?

Uncle Mike, is that you?!

"Darko Maver was undoubtedly one of the most enigmatic figures of the art world in recent years. The rumors about Maver and his work began in 1998 within the circles of underground artists in Europe: an artist wandering in decaying Yugoslavia, living in motels and deserted buildings, creating crushed plastic dolls that remind us of abused tortured people. In Yugoslavia, Maver was accused of anti-patriotism, his work was censured and he was persecuted. Later on, copies of his works were shown in exhibitions around Europe."

In October of 1998 an ambiguous new law is released in Yugoslavia punishing any action or statement considered “anti-patriotic”. As a result of this law Darko Maver is arrested by military police, in the Kosovo area and imprisoned in Podgorica.

Several exhibits of his work follow, but they are not of the actual sculptures themselves as these have been destroyed by the authorities.

Following the imprisonment, in February 1999, an exhibition is organised in Bologna called “Darko Maver - Exhibition of the censored works”. The show is announced with a press conference and advertised in the whole city. Hundreds of alert visitors crowded in a small room, creating a very claustrophobic atmosphere. Not everybody could enter and many visitors do not tolerate the sight of his most cruel works, shocked by the performances images, whose originals had been censored and destroyed; they search for an explanation and comfort in the critical texts.

photos from Darko's sold-out "Exhibition of the censored works"

Darko's works are simulations of violent murders. He'd use mannequins of corpses and then leave them in public places such as hotels, hospitals, houses, public toilets or in the countryside.

Later somebody arriving on the crime scene called the police believing he found a real corpse. The installations were so skillfully made that, at first glance, it was almost impossible to realise they were splatter-movie like reconstructions. The fact used to provoke strong reactions by the media, punctually reviewed for each discovery.

Every work is followed by its own documentation: articles, apparently coming from Yugoslavian newspapers and magazines talking about the discoveries.

Darko Maver's performances are so straight that no critic, with his redundant rhetoric, would be able to translate the traumatic experience, in terms of shock, of whom has lived them.

The goal is to penetrate the crime news of the major national newspapers, art magazines and police archives to build an image of himself that is at the same time one and manifold, capable of producing awareness of the changes that media produce in the censorial perception.

The best artists, as we all know, have always theorised on their own work. Darko is no exception and becomes a poet publishing "The Dimension of Extrabodies" and "Anaforagenetica". Two rare writings scribed in Ljubljana in 1990. It's hard to find a definition for these texts, in which Maver joins poetry and theory in one suffered whole.

The act of showing the works became an important part of the art, a resistance to state censorship. But notoriety was not enough to protect Darko, ironically made more famous by the very censorship and oppression that the gallery showings were protesting.

"Details of his death were murky but Darko Maver was shot while in prison. The early and violent death of the artist only enhanced his fame. Speculation that his death may actually have been a suicide specifically as a final “art work” also surfaces, which reminded me of the Duncan/Blake story."

The artist found dead as a doornail in prison

Naturally, Darko's most successful exhibition was held posthumously:

"Darko Maver is officially invited to participate in the 48th Contemporary Art Biennial of Venice. The invitation represents the final seal on the Serbian artist’s fame. On the 23rd of September, a delegation of several representatives of Maver’s work, creates a spectacular installation presenting a preview of the documentary “Darko Maver. The Art of War”. The documentary is projected endlessly in a dark room, inside the Italian Pavilion, while the floor is covered by thousands of mourning flyers.

The installation is a success, hundreds of people see the documentary and the cruelty of some of the scenes provokes several debates. Darko Maver’s work is finally seen and appreciated by the best of the art world public. His work is inevitably interpreted in many contrasting ways: to some it is the consequence of the actual situation in the Balkans, to others the last possible form of radical body art, to someone else a post modern art form, the heir of historical avant-gardes. The appeal of Maver, to the eyes of this kind of public, lies in the mix between violence, art and
actuality."

"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

Darko Maver never existed!!!!!!!!!!!!

His gruesome sculptures were seen only in photograph form because that is what they were, photos gleaned from the internet.

Maver’s fake life was an art project of the duo known as 0100101110101101.

The hoax required the collusion of several real world art magazines AND museums!

Darko Maver "dead" in his prison cell

"Darko Lives"

Maver resurrected in the same room in which he was found dead: in his right hand a can of paint, in his left hand he holds an article showing his face and reporting his imprisonment. The photo was actually taken few minutes after the one portraying his death.

"I declare I've invented the life and the works of the Serbian artist Darko Maver, born in Krupanj in 1962 and dead in the prison of Podgorica the 30th of April 1999"

• 0100101110101101.org
  
• Eva and Franco from 0100101110101101.ORG interviewed by Jaka Zeleznikar
  
• Luther Blissett (nom de plume) on Wikipedia