Presseinformation. Ulla von Brandenburg Inside is Not Outside April 4 June 22, 2014

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1 Ulla von Brandenburg Inside is Not Outside April 4 June 22, 2014 Hannover, April 1, 2014 The artist Ulla von Brandenburg (born 1974) works at the crossroads between fine art and theater and has by now developed a complex and characteristic oeuvre. She employs theatrical methods and procedures in her films, performances and installations and explores social as well as historical questions. The wide-ranging exhibition in the, in which her most recent filmic piece Die Straße [The Street] (2013) is presented together with earlier films, site-specific installations and wall pieces as self-contained overall staging in several acts, underscores the diverse aspects of her recent works. 0 The exhibition and the work of Ulla von Brandenburg unite important aspects of current contemporary art that have also shaped the program of the over the past six years: The examination of the narrative, the uniting of film, image and installation as well as questions concerning staging. The artist s works have already been shown internationally, for example at the 2009 Biennale di Venezia, the 2011 Lyon Biennale and at the moment at the Sydney Biennale. The exhibition at the Kunstverein is the largest solo presentation of her oeuvre to date. In Ulla von Brandenburg s work, stage-like and theatrical facets become metaphors for human coexistence to the extent that she continuously dissolves the separation between reality and illusion. Film, for the most part stands at the core of her work, and she integrates them into an overall spatial production with curtains, architecture and murals. In a single uncut shot, von Brandenburg s newest film Die Straße [The Street] (2013) follows the occurrences taking place on a street which she staged outdoor in an ephemeral scenic city of white canvas. In the Kunstverein, the film is embedded in architectonic scenery made of fabric extending nearly 30 meters across the whole of the large exhibition space. The visitor moves about in this set like the film s protagonist himself, meandering as if through narrow alleyways and small urban square towards the film. As such, the viewer in the exhibition spaces accesses in each case stage-like installations that draw him into the seemingly surreal setting of the films that make a timeless impression. The dialogues sung in the black-and-white films as well as the mysterious scenes and plots contain a large number of cultural historical references. Mirrors and shadows are central motifs in Ulla von Brandenburg s work and the present exhibition. She employs both in different techniques, for example in 1

2 her characteristic paper-cut silhouettes and shadow plays which with she fathoms divergent layers of reality and the boundaries between being and appearing. The mirror is itself a recurring symbol, both for the visual and the performing arts. The theatre can thus be comprehended as a reflection of our life s realities. The likewise expansive installation Zelt (2013)] consists of an accessible, 10 x 5 meter large tent assembled from fragments of fabric and surrounded by a forest landscape painted on the wall in the fashion of a black-and-white papercut silhouette. Benches have been placed inside the tent on which visitors can sit in order to watch Shadowplay (2012), a seven-minute-long filmic piece that simulates shadow play theater in a deceptively lifelike manner. Ulla von Brandenburg s installations are allegories about the theater as a symbol of life and about the complicated connection between theater and reality, illusion and reflection. She allows the visitor to take a backstage-look at life without destroying the fascination in one s own play. With every image that von Brandenburg unmasks as an illusion, as a shadow or as a reflection, a new, equally complex one emerges. The films and spatial stagings can be experienced like a cabinet of mirrors whose images are reflected multidimensionally in different directions, taking the viewer in its middle. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published in cooperation with the Vienna Secession. 2

Contact and Information Press contact Catharina Rahlff-Mackeprang T 0511.1699278 12 presse@kunstverein-hannover.

3 Contact and Information Press contact Catharina Rahlff-Mackeprang T presse@kunstverein-hannover.de Exhibition curator René Zechlin Exhibition catalogue Ulla von Brandenburg Innen ist nicht Außen / Inside is Not Outside With texts by Annette Südbeck and René Zechlin; Ulla von Brandenburg in conversation with Nina Möntmann, cm, 155 pages Revolver Verlag 29 /for members 24 Opening Friday, April 4, 2014, 8 pm Opening hours Tuesday Saturday 12 noon 7 pm Sunday and holidays 11 am 7 pm Admission 6 / discount 4 Members have free admission Sponsors The exhibition is supported by: Niedersaechsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur Nord/LB Kulturstiftung The Kunstverein is institutionally supported by the Kulturbuero der Landeshauptstadt Hannover. Press material can be downloaded at 3

4 Brief texts on further works in the exhibition The artist Ulla von Brandenburg (born 1974) works at the crossroads between fine art and theater and has by now developed a complex and characteristic oeuvre. She employs theatrical methods and procedures in her films, performances and installations and explores social as well as historical questions. The wide-ranging exhibition in the, in which her most recent filmic piece Die Straße [The Street] (2013) is presented together with earlier films, site-specific installations and wall pieces as selfcontained overall staging in several acts, underscores the diverse aspects of her recent works. At the start of the exhibition, the visitor is immediately confronted with the piece Wagon Wheel (2009) encompassing seven blankets made from diverse items of clothing and textiles that hang from the ceiling. Ulla von Brandenburg uses them to recall the American tradition of quilts and the myth of secret codes that are conceivable concealed behind the patterns. The quilts were made over the course of generations and handed down from one to the next and were often used as bedspreads, so that one sleeps in effect in the history of the other family members. Ulla von Brandenburg is interested in how the individual is socially shaped by the family. Stage-like and theatrical facets become metaphors of human coexistence in her work; the search for one s own role is constantly present in her films. Employing seemingly magical things that are arranged and deconstructed, she aesthetically takes up the patterns of the quilts in the film The Object (2009). Mirrors and shadows are central motifs in Ulla von Brandenburg s work and the present exhibition. She employs both in different techniques, for example in her characteristic paper-cut silhouettes and shadow plays which with she fathoms divergent layers of reality and the boundaries between being and appearing. In the stage-like installation Eigenschatten [Body Shadow] (2013), the props are affixed to rope hoists and seemly hover in space. Their mirror or also shadow images are visible as over-sized textile photograms on the opposite wall. The interplay between both representational layers regularly dissolves the transition between illusion and reality as well as actor and audience, referencing Plato s Allegory of the Cave. A further expansive installation entitled Zelt [Tent] (2013) presents this very thing measuring 10 x 5 meters and made from fragments of fabric; it is accessible and surrounded by a mythic black-and-white forest landscape painted on the wall like paper-cut silhouettes. Inside the tent, the visitor can watch the seven-minute-long film Shadowplay (2012) that simulates a shadow play theater with living actors. The sung associative dialogues, which were also written by Ulla von Brandenburg, as well as the mysterious scenes and plots contain a large number of cultural and historical references. 4

5 Von Brandenburg s newest film Die Straße [The Street] (2013) follows the occurrences taking place on a stylized street which she staged outdoor in an ephemeral scenic city of white canvas. A stranger encounters a community and witnesses curious costumes and unknown rituals and forms of behavior. In the Kunstverein, the film is embedded in architectonic scenery made of fabric extending nearly 30 meters across the whole of the large exhibition space. The visitor moves about in this set like the film s protagonist, meandering as if through narrow alleyways and small urban square towards the film. The respective stage-like setting of the exhibition spaces draws him into the seemingly surreal scenario of the black-and-white films that make a timeless impression. By selecting the street as her site, Ulla von Brandenburg betakes herself into the public space. The exhibition Inside is Not Outside is a quote taken from this film that symbolizes the duality between interior and exterior, reality and deception. In Spiegellied I & II [Mirror Son I & II) (2012), the recurring motif of the mirror symbolizing the image of reality is employed for the visual as well as performing arts. In the juxtaposed double projection, the same three friends each meet each other in Baroque spaces. Ostensibly the same action, it was filmed twice by way of the reflection in a mirror, whereby the differences first become apparent when meticulously observed. Ulla von Brandenburg takes up the theme of role play and costuming in four large-format watercolor collages. Kostüm mit Bändern (2013), for example, recalls the protagonists of her films while the Kostüm des Banditen Gasparone (2013) evokes the feared Sicilian robber Gasparone. A mysterious old-fashioned situation can be found at the end of the exhibition. A simple wooden stage construction is juxtaposed with an 86-mm-film projection documenting figures with animal skins, cowbells and fearsome animal masks stomping rhythmically in a circle before a village setting. The title Mamuthones (2011) reveals the reference to the millennia-old resistance of the Sardinians against numerous conquerors, which is celebrated annually in January in a traditional carnival custom, the so-called Mamuthones, at Mamoiada on the island of Sardinia. Ulla von Brandenburg s installations are allegories about the theater as a symbol of life and about the complicated connection between theater and reality, illusion and reflection. She allows the visitor to take a backstage-look at life without destroying the fascination in one s own play. With every image that von Brandenburg unmasks as an illusion, as a shadow or as a reflection, a new, equally complex one emerges. The films and spatial stagings can be experienced like a cabinet of mirrors whose images are reflected multidimensionally in different directions, taking the viewer in its middle. 5

20 May 17 July 2016 Education Kit Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

20 May 17 July 2016 Education Kit Australian Centre for Contemporary Art Contents Artist Biography Curatorial Rationale Artist Practice Making, Materials & Techniques Artworks Curriculum links Glossary