Anna Maria Maiolino - Body Battlefield

Text and photos / Chen Chi-Hsiang

Admiring the Centre Pompidou in Metz, I came to the hometown of the famous poet Paul Verlaine. Besides visiting historical sites and towns for leisure, while strolling pleasantly through the city, I passed by the Lorraine Contemporary Art Collection Center, which was hosting a collection exhibition centered on new female artists. What caught my attention most was in the courtyard: eggs scattered everywhere. I thought my chance had come; when no one was around, I prepared to pick up the eggs for dinner. Oh, don't joke—entering a contemporary art collection exhibition inevitably involves some trickery. It turned out to be works by the renowned Italian performance artist Anna Maria Maiolino (born 1942), who has long resided in São Paulo, Brazil. It was rare to see her works again.

Anna Maria Maiolino’s works are quite special; she is a prominent body artist today, where the body becomes both battlefield and consciousness. Her works often construct live performances, later presented through video and image works, among other forms. Two years ago, I saw her early works at Le Plateau in Paris, such as the video "Self-Desecration Between Inside and Outside" (1973–74), with mouth open, or the large-scale "Poetic Action Photographs" (1974) showing three images of herself cutting her own tongue with scissors, leaving a deep impression on me.

This time, I coincidentally encountered Anna Maria Maiolino’s work titled "entrevidas" (1981). It is a performance space installation that references a tense situation, a fragile and uneasy field of sitting upright and still. Viewers must walk carefully within it to avoid breaking the eggs. This work alludes to the political climate under Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, where powerful threats endangered personal life and property, illustrating individual fragility. People spoke and acted cautiously, daring not to cross any boundaries, constantly alerting themselves to their safety. Another hint points to her hope for the arrival of democracy and the recovery of personal freedom. The work serves as proof of the nation’s future: "We live again in what we have forgotten, and slowly recall what we know."