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Corroding Nails

(c) Photo: Oliver Ottenschläger
(c) Photo: Oliver Ottenschläger
(c) Photo: Oliver Ottenschläger
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    • Corroding Nails
    • Korozija eksera
  • 1972
  • 4 b&w photographs, typewritten text, felt-tip pen, slide in paper envelope, adhesive tape, staples, monted on paper
  • 29,2 × 19,9 cm
The early 1970s saw Slavko Matković carry out actions and projects involving organic and inorganic substances. The most representative of these projects are his processual works “Corroding Nails” and “Red Radish Sprouting.” Both of them stemmed from Matković’s preoccupation with de-materializing the object of art and, ultimately, with de-personalizing his own art. The project “Corroding Nails,” which took up an idea by Slavko Bogdanović, was executed in Subotica from 1 to 30 March 1972. The author’s description of the project reads: “1/2 kg of 50 mm-long nails was poured into a porcelain bowl. The vessel was then taken outside. The process of corrosion is documented with the four photographs presented here. The final shot has been snapped into a slide frame. Weather changes: sunny, rainy, snow, frost.” By registering natural processes and situations, making the invisible visible, Matković turned the objects of his art into mental sculptures. N.M.