Sanja Iveković, Dalibor Martinis

1949, 1947, Zagreb, Yugoslavia; live in Zagreb, Croatia

Chanoyu, 1983

video, 11'

Between 1973 and 1992, Croatian artists Sanja Iveković and Dalibor Martinis produced several video works which connect research into media images with a reflection of social and political issues. Their video Chanoyu features two protagonists, a woman and a man, and deals with the tensions and conflicts which arise from male-female relations. The basic opposition between man and woman is reflected in other oppositions, such as yin-yang (as suggested by the tea ritual) or East-West (the Eastern spiritual experience of tea drinking turns into a Western style consumption of tea prepared with tea bags). In Chanoyu, the artists use the contrast between the "narrative", which speaks about the tense relationship of the two protagonists, and the aestheticised visual form, which uses a suggestive combination of the voice and slow-motion recording. Thus they create a meditation on the situation where one is defined by a system of oppositions and differences and thus constantly in need of overcoming tensions and conflicts.