Swiss artist Milena Naef, in her work titled Temporary Pieces, approaches marble beyond the conventions of classical sculpture, treating it as a material that establishes a direct relationship with the body. The work focuses on the physical and conceptual interaction that emerges when marble slabs are placed on the artist’s body. At the point where stone and skin come into contact, both the marble and the body leave traces—one through its weight, the other through warmth and movement. According to Naef, marble only becomes truly “touched” at the moment of contact, and this moment forms the foundation of the work.
The artist describes the harmony that arises when she wears the marble slabs not as a performance, but as a temporary integration belonging to a specific moment in time. While the body is constantly changing, marble presents a more enduring presence. For this reason, the resulting objects can be read as records that archive a fleeting form of the body. As time passes, the body may no longer fit these stone forms; yet the marble continues to exist as an autonomous object. In this way, the work makes visible the tension between permanence and transience.
In Temporary Pieces, certain parts of the body are covered with marble and thereby abstracted, guiding the viewer’s perception. The body almost becomes a carrier for marble, like a piece of jewelry, while the stone frames the body like an inverted ornament. Through this interaction, marble is no longer merely a hard and durable building material; instead, it is redefined within a fragile, personal, and even intimate context.
Naef’s relationship with marble is also rooted in a personal background. Growing up in her father’s sculpture school, the artist was raised next to Switzerland’s only marble quarry. Her engagement with stone makes her the fourth generation of stone sculptors in her family. In her work The Weight of Four Generations, a large marble piece placed on her leg makes this inheritance visible as both a physical burden and a form of ownership. This gesture represents not only the weight of tradition but also the effort to carve out a personal space within it.
Ultimately, Temporary Pieces invites viewers to reconsider marble by removing it from architectural or monumental contexts and focusing instead on its direct contact with the body. The tension between the stone’s resistance to time and the body’s changing nature lies at the center of the work. Here, marble is no longer merely a material to be shaped; it becomes an actor that holds memory, carries traces, and gains meaning through its relationship with the body.
+90 532 585 51 95
+90 532 585 51 95