The character chosen to describe Ornellaia’s 2023 vintage is “La Vitalità” – Vitality is an existential concept to go over. A question of how long we can remain energetic and productive, and how far this state can extend our lives. 

The artist chosen to interpret “La Vitalità” for the 18th edition of Vendemmia d’Artista is Marina Abramović.

Marina Abramović, a Serbian artist born in Belgrade, is without question one of the seminal artists of our time.  

Since the beginning of her career during the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has pioneered performance as a visual art form. 

Her performances married concept with physicality, endurance with empathy, complicity with loss of control, passivity with danger. They pushed the boundaries of self-discovery, both of herself and her audience.  

Abramović was one of the first performance artists to become formally accepted by the institutional museum world with major solo shows taking place throughout Europe and the USA over a period of more than 25 years. 

For Ornellaia 2023 “La Vitalità” (Vitality), Marina Abramović has conceived a project centred on the theme of self, intended as an act of awareness and determination in capturing her own image. 

The artist has chosen to portray herself in a continuous process of transformation, constantly redefining the boundary between art and life.  

The drawing for the 750ml labels, with its essential and measured lines, portrays Marina Abramović as a contemporary Medusa: her hair replaced by vine branches bearing grapes, transforms the myth into a symbol of abundance and vital force. 

For the double magnums (3L), the artist’s face is almost entirely enveloped by grapes. The drawing reflects the courage of a direct encounter with nature’s generative force and becomes a gesture of growing vitality, an invitation to the viewer to perceive art as it transforms into life. 

The vital energy evoked in the previous drawings reaches its full embodiment for the Imperial bottle (6L). In a progression of images, like a cinematic sequence, Marina’s face is gradually covered by grapes, culminating in the final frame where only her eye remains visible.  

Her gaze captures the viewer, transforming the self-portrait into an intense visual experience. 

The 9L Salmanazar is a unique piece, conceived as a combination of elements engaging the temporal dimension of life and the senses. 

At the top of the bottle a red wax cone-shaped candle –inspired by one of her iconic artworks, Energy Hat –can be lit. As the flame slowly burns, it marks the time of rituality and prepares to the moment for wine.  

Beside it, a 45-rpm vinyl record by Nino Rota accompanies the gesture, transforming the space through music. The label provides instructions: “Slowly drink wine with eyes closed and listen to the music.”