EX REPUBBLICA JUGOSLAVA DI MACEDONIA
Mozart's Boat
Antoni Maznevski
Commissario: Sonja Abadzieva. Commissario aggiunto: Zoran Petrovski.
Sede: Unesco Roste, Palazzo Zorzi, Castello 4930
www.msuskopje.org.mk


Mozart’s Boat, the project shown at the 51st Venice Biennale, in the Palazzo Zorzi, follows a line of simplicity, which is a constant characteristic of Antoni Maznevski’s work. An old sailing boat (80 x 180 x 650 cm), flawlessly renovated, is transformed into a musical instrument, retaining the familiar connotations of both at the same time: the ability to sail and also to produce sound. In addition to this object, archers’ or violin bows are dynamically introduced as specific visual supports for the boat’s imagined trajectory on the horizontal water surface.
This work is a metaphor for the human desire to reach into the distance, to grasp the unknown, to taste the risk of adventure. It incites associations of legends, myths, historical events and personal yearnings. These reminiscences are linked to the artist’s affinity with Far Eastern philosophy and the aesthetics of Zen. It is in this context that Maznevski develops his idea to promote silence as a substitute for speech. Even though it is not visually intrusive, it is encouraging, rich and has an echo. In Mozart’s Boat silence is a space for meditation, an exercise in spiritual maturation, a “metaphor of pure and undisturbed vision,” which we approach directly and innocently, just like when we gaze at the sky. This is what activates the desired music, the movement of the boat/instrument and the humming of the bows for the viewer. Mozart’s Boat typifies the human desire for perfection in an explicit way. The constant communication between Maznevski and the ready-made/rejected object exemplifies his general view of the world: the interaction between the real and metaphysical.