Artists
Ulla von Brandenburg Born in 1974 in Karlsruhe, Germany | Lives and works in Hamburg und Paris
Portrait
Ulla von Brandenburg
Foto: Chung-Leng Tran
Ulla von Brandenburg’s world of imagery is informed by the phenomena and events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when there was a great interest in the paranormal, psychoanalysis was taking root as a discipline, vaudeville was coming into being, and the theater was developing new forms of performance and visual languages.
Von Brandenburg’s conceptual strategies revolve around these themes, ranging from the occult, mystical, and the subconscious. Concrete historical facts hold no interest for the artist, but rather her work with visual material results in independent pictorial choreographies in the form of drawings, murals, films, installations, and performances. At times, her performative acts project into the viewer’s space. Von Brandenburg usually stages her cinematic works in rooms subdivided by curtains that, as in the theater or in religious contexts, direct the viewer’s steps, conceal or reveal something, and prepare for what is coming. Her textiles emerge as a threshold between art/stage and audience, between fiction and life. In her performances, von Brandenburg also works with the concept oftableau vivants—movement and stillstand become inverted, stressing the tension between the visual media, painting, photography, and film and the eventfulness of theater.
Education
| 1998-2004 | Hochschule fĂĽr Bildende KĂĽnste Hamburg |
| 1995-1998 | Szenographie/Medienkunst, Akademie der Bildenden KĂĽnste Karlsruhe |
Solo exhibitions (selection)
| 2012 |
Le Granit, Galerie du Granit, Scène Nationale de Belfort, Belfort Mirrorsong, Pilar Corrias Gallery, London The Nonexistent Knight, Rosascape, Paris |
| 2011 |
Das Versteck des W.L., Produzentengalerie, Hamburg Vitrine de l’Antenne, Le Plateau - FRAC* Ile de France, Paris Neue Alte Welt, The Common Guild, Glasgow |
| 2010 |
Chorspiel, Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf |
| 2009 |
Name or Number, Le Plateau - FRAC* Ile de France, Paris Ulla von Brandenburg, Chisenhale Gallery, London |
| 2008 |
Whose beginning is not, nor end cannot be, IMMA, Dublin La Maison, Docking Station project Space in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam |
| 2007 |
Karo Sieben, Art: Concept, Paris Brief oder Neuigkeiten, Produzentengalerie, Hamburg |
| 2006 | Cinq milliards d'années. Module 1, Palais de Tokyo, Paris |
| 2005 | Der Brief, installation in public space, Berlin |
Group exhibitions (selection)
| 2012 |
Made in Germany 2012, Kestnergesellschaft, Sprengel Museum und Kunstverein, Hannover 30 Künstler – 30 Räume, Neues Museum Nürnberg |
| 2011 |
Chorspiel + Stereoskopisk övning, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit A Geographical Expression, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin |
| 2010 |
Cut. Scherenschnitte 1970 - 2010, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg Melbourne International Arts Festival 2010, Melbourne WYSTAWA, Museum of Modern Art, Warschau |
| 2009 | Making Worlds, Venice Biennal, Venedig |
| 2008 |
YOKOHAMA 2008: International Triennal of Contemporary Art, Yokohama The World as a Stage, ICA, Boston |
| 2007 |
Performa07, The 2nd Visual Art Performance Biennal, New York The World as a Stage, Tate Modern, London |
| 2006 |
Deutsche WandstĂĽcke. Sette scene di nuova pittura germanica, Museion, Bozen Again for tomorrow, Royal College of Art Gallery, London |
| 2005 | I still believe in miracles, ARC Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris |