when did you write your last love letter?

… Mia Florentine Weiss writes one every year, with her own blood.

The idea of resurrecting the fine art of letter writing arose through her communication with her pen-friend and fellow artist Jonathan Meese—a man still opposed to mobile phones. Weiss and Meese have maintained their platonic affair for years, and Weiss’s letters provide the basis for her “Love Letters” series. The title of the performance is a question addressed to us all: When did YOU write your last love letter?

In order to document the authenticity of her works, the artist has been withdrawing and stockpiling blood at regular intervals. The blood is being stored in a blood-bank fridge at her studio. While symbolizing her heart, the blood also alludes to the artist’s dedication to her work. The goal of this action was draw as much blood as possible for her poetry tank: an illuminated tank whose cover shows an image of Jesus as he would have appeared after his crucifixion. The tank thus also pays homage to the Italian artist Andrea Mantegna. The theme reoccurs in the performance “Female Jesus” staged in a hotel room in Moscow. At this performance, the artist lies like a corpse at the scene of a crime. But instead of being covered in blood, the poem “The kiss of snow is cold” appears written upon her body (Poem Clip Nr. 1 in her video work “What is your place of protection?”).

The removal of blood has become Weiss’s own mania. In addition to the “Poetry Tank,” still more litres of blood have flowed into her installations. The series of protective shields, the sword of the “Warrior for Love,” the “Big Love Letter,” and several other pictures and photographs have been inscribed with her blood.