“Maria Kossak was baptised Maria Magdalena, a name given to her by her mother as a symbol of female lineage and a reference to the patron and biblical figure. Over time, this name has become an avatar for her performative work. In many ways, the way Mary Magdalene has been portrayed throughout history mirrors and societal biases towards women, has become a point of departure for Kossak’s performances…”
TIME REWIND – solo performance- and multimedia project at the Neuköllner Oper, 2021
Media: painting, drawing, video, printmaking, with a live performance for 48h Neukölln.
As a female artist, I have realised in many instances how my physicality becomes a canvas for the viewer’s projections. What I may, or may not express, will be perceived through the lens of cultural conditioning.
In our society, women are expected to fulfil countless, often contradictory roles, while being confined to narrow templates that define what the feminine is. Kossak interrogates these templates through performance, with the figure of Mary Magdalene serving as a bridge between religious, mythological and historical representations of womanhood against the backdrop of contemporary culture. Kossak’s creative process is characterized by the harmonious integration of analogue and digital media. The artist does this by layering the digital over her analogue, corporeal exploration of time and space, in performance. This reciprocal relationship between media types is central to her practice, as each informs and enriches the other. Her performative work is a testament to the power of interdisciplinary artistry where the convergence of mediums creates new realms of possibility. Time Rewind shows her ability to bridge worlds, inviting audiences into a space where history, technology, and human expression converge. In Time Rewind, this duality is evident in the seamless interplay between the hand-drawn intricacies of da Vinci’s perspective study and the digital projection techniques that bring them to life on stage. Through this fusion, Maria Magdalena crafts works that are deeply reflective of the ways in which past and present, vision and limitation, tradition and innovation, can inform one another.” Curator of the Time Rewind project, Dr. Joanna Kiliszek
Framing Frontiers – at the dawn of the age of AI (2026)
A visual metaphor for the enduring ambivalence of human progress—the tension between aspiration and risk, empowerment and loss of control.
MAGDALENA golden section light painting II (2019)
I breathe life into the Renaissance drawing of the Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci through the figure of Mary Magdalene, dancing on the canvas of time.
MAGDALENA golden section light painting III (2019)
DANCING on the CANVAS of art history, I breathe life into the Renaissance drawing by Leonardo DaVinci through the biblically rooted figure of Mary Magdalene.
The MARRIAGE between the ARTIST and her own VISON
OVIDS Pygmalion and Galatea – retold. The images are part of an installation which is going to be shown at the 2018 NEUKÖLLN ART FESTIVAL in Berlin.
Homage to Mark Rothko
Part of the ECHTGOLD exhibition @ Berlin art and culture festival NACHT UND NEBEL- November 2014 at Kindl Stuben Neukölln.
SOUND OF THE EARTH I, 80 x 110 cm watercolor, goldpigment and plated gold on canvas, (private collection) Berlin 2014
Homage to the Berlin-Neukölln neighbourhood
This diptych depicts the intersection of Flughafenstraße/ Karl-Marx Straße and was shown at “Cafe Schoenstedt” -LUXUS NEUKÖLLN -, curated by the Institut für Raumforschung in the context of the 48h NEUKÖLLN art festival in 2011.
FREIES NEUKÖLLN I Berlin 2011, mixed media on cardboard, 70 x 100 cm
