Tarquinia

Video installation 2006 at M HKA Antwerpen 2007 Lonely at the Top curators Dieter Roestraete Grant Watson The title of Marie Julia Bollansées work refers to an old Etruscan city near Rome Tarquinia was the most important of the twelve cities of the Etruscan League and is now an archaeological site primarily known for its necropolis an underground cemetery containing more than six thousand tombs many of which are decorated with splendid colourful murals However of this partially macabre history hardly a trace can be found in Bollansées Tarquinia a threepart projection in which a festively laid table with an ever changing lineup of guests is the central point a picture which is loosely based on Tarquinias ancient wall paintings Although associations with the iconographic tradition of the Last Supper are brought to mind Tarquinia definitely plays on a different emotional register that of a festive beginning rather than that of a majestic fatal ending