Saint Cecilia Mariann Imre

Mariann Imre’s work is an empathic and lyrical reinterpretation of Stefano Maderno’s (1576–1636) marble statue of the same title (1599, Rome, S. Cecilia in Trastevere. The lower part of the installation is an “embroidered” concrete floor sculpture which unites the “characteristics” and “functions” of a gravestone set in the floor, a grave mound overgrown with grass and a carpet. The pattern spreading over the surface imitates organic ornaments: leaves are growing from the ramifying green tendrils. White threads are tied to the stitches of the “vegetation” and they connect the concrete silhouette of the model sculpture to its almost two-dimensional projection made of translucent plastic hovering under the ceiling. “The transparent structure” of the threads – making the flow of the line of forces interlacing the spiritual and physical space visible – creates contact between the earthly and the heavenly spheres by creating a peculiar hybrid of the floor sculpture and the hanging piece. The knottings of the threads make out a third form, a spirit floating towards the transcendental world in the middle, at the height of the spectator.
László Százados