In 1998 we invented a reclusive artist named Darko Maver. His life was set in former Yugoslavia and heavily influenced by the ongoing war.
His early works were life-size sculpture supposedly made of wax, rubber and fabric.
Darko Maver (Dead Hand)
1999
Found photograph, frames, caption
Darko Maver (Fetus n.1)
Darko Maver (Fresh Flesh)
He roamed ex-Yugoslavia depositing gruesomely realistic puppets of murder victims in abandoned buildings and hotel rooms. The models were so realistic that they apparently shocked the people who found them.
Darko Maver (Deposition)
Darko Maver (Ecce Homo)
Darko Maver (Skinned Rembrandt)
No sculpture ever existed, the images documenting his artworks were photos of real atrocities found on the internet.
Darko Maver Censored Works, installation view, Bologna (1999)
Darko Maver died in April 1999 in the Podgorica prison during the NATO bombing. The photo of his death, that circulated widely on the media, was actually taken in our garret in the center of Bologna.
Soon after Maver’s death a string of posthumous shows culminated in the 48th Venice Biennale.
Installation view, Italian Pavilion, 48th Venice Biennale (1999)
After the show we publicly claimed we had invented his life and artworks.
Press clippings before and after the unveiling
Installed at Cell Project Space, London