“I began by changing what things could mean.
I gradually moved toward changing the conditions under which things are perceived.
Today, I increasingly create less of what is visible and more of the conditions through which what is already there — including absence — can become perceptible.”
— Marina Razheva
A chronology of shifts in practice
The development of practice is not a sequence of closed periods, but a movement through changing forms of attention.
Over time, the work has shifted from changing the meaning of things toward changing the conditions under which they are perceived, and increasingly toward creating conditions through which what is already present can become perceptible.
These shifts overlap. Earlier concerns remain active as new ones emerge, forming continuing lines rather than replacing one another.
I. SITUATION & PERCEPTION
1998–2002
The work moves beyond the image into situation, space and event.
Everyday objects, familiar spaces and constructed situations are placed into relationships that disturb habitual perception. The viewer becomes part of the work, not simply an observer of it.
The work begins to operate through the situation itself: what happens, where it happens, and how it is experienced.
Selected works:
Otto Arte. P.S. · Children’s Room · Simple Things · Once Upon a Time… New Year’s Syndrome · Attempt at a State: BETWEEN · Observation System
II. FRAME, POSITION & TRACE
2001–2007
Attention shifts from what is presented toward the conditions through which it is perceived.
Position, scale, context and framing become active elements of the work. A change of viewpoint can alter the meaning of an ordinary object or space. Actions introduce transition, displacement and irreversible change.
The work also begins to leave traces — physical, spatial or mnemonic.
The frame is no longer neutral.
Selected works:
The Angle of View / Fence Becomes a Staircase · The Corridor · Brobdingneg · Möbius Pretzel · Wedding of the Tower and the Metro
III. REVEALING THE UNSEEN
2003–2019
Attention increasingly turns toward what is present but overlooked: hidden structures, latent forms, relationships, traces and meanings.
Instead of producing another representation, the work begins to reveal something that is already there.
This line gradually becomes articulated through Revealed Realism — an approach in which the artwork creates conditions for recognizing an existing reality rather than simply constructing a new one.
Selected works:
New Hole / Sieve · Appetite · Flying Deer · Deer Stones
IV. ABSENCE, THE INVISIBLE & THE WEIGHTLESS
2006–2025
A parallel line of practice develops around what cannot be held, seen or fully represented.
The work begins to use absence itself as a material.
In The Invisible Fir (2006), the object is absent while the action of decorating it remains.
In later works, absence becomes a space for interpretation. Invisible objects occupy physical space without becoming visible forms. Water temporarily creates an image before it disappears. Empty space becomes an active element rather than a lack.
What is missing is not simply nothing.
Absence becomes perceptible.
Selected works:
The Invisible Fir · Nothing · Absence / Απουσία · Letters of Water · The Weightless Offering
V. SITE, LANDSCAPE & MEMORY
2006–2019
The work increasingly enters existing environments — cities, landscapes and places marked by time, memory and human presence.
Site is no longer a neutral setting. It becomes a carrier of traces, histories, relationships and material for the work.
Rather than imposing a new reality onto a place, the work attends to what the place already contains.
Selected works:
Anatomy of Cities · Flying Deer · Letters of Water · Absence / Απουσία · Golden Apples
VI. RECOGNITION WITHOUT IMPOSING
2019–2026
In recent work, intervention becomes increasingly minimal.
The work does not necessarily transform what is found. Instead, it creates conditions through which something already present can become perceptible.
Recognition increasingly replaces construction.
The artwork may take the form of a trace, a temporary gesture, a change of attention, a disappearance, a return, or a space left open.
The boundary between making and noticing becomes increasingly thin.
Selected works:
Quarry as Witness · To Understand — One Must Walk · Deer Stones · Letters of Water
THE WORK CONTINUES
The practice remains open.
What is present may still be overlooked.
What is invisible may become perceptible.
What disappears may leave a trace.
The work continues through attention.