Ulla von Brandenburg
30 Oct - 23 Dec 2010
ULLA VON BRANDENBURG
Neue Alte Welt
30 October – 23 December, 2010
Art: Concept is pleased to announce Ulla von Brandenburg’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.
UVB: The exhibition at Art: Concept is connected to my September performance at the Lilith Performance Studio of Malmö, in Sweden. This performance will take place over a period of four weeks. I will work with a Swedish choir of twenty-five singers, both men and women. I am currently
writing the text (in German), and the music for this piece. The performance will be structured similarly to a Greek tragedy, which is to say that the choir acts as an exterior voice of reason, like a “voice-over” conscience, and sometimes echoes the solo-singers.
CSP: Will you also participate in this performance?
UVB: Only a little bit, I prefer not to interfere with the choir and the work of its voice. The choir will be present on stage and will sing. Like in Greek tragedies, the action will take place on one side of the stage while the choir performs on the other. The décor, however, will be a baroque-style and will consist of a rolled-up set. There will be a big wound-up big scroll on the left wing, and as it is unwound into the empty roll on the right, the images of the backdrop will appear. The background will continuous roll by, so that the scenery unravels, like the landscape seen from a train.
CSP: Does that mean that the whole set, the entire backdrop, will be on a curtain, similar to the canvass of a painting?
UVB: Not really, because it will be on paper, and in black and white. The images will consist of different sorts of landscapes that interest me as subliminal images: rough sea, forest, lake, rocks, cliffs, a cave etc... The big poster will unravel like a painting or a fresco, and will allow the decor to change and make visible the passage of time. I’ll make a film (probably 16 mm format) out of this performance, which will be a separate work of art and not just an illustration of the performance. I’ll then isolate the performance from the set and the stage and refilm it outdoor, in a natural location that I haven’t yet chosen. For this, I will use a steady-cam and the scenes will be rechoreographed with the camera in mind.
CSP: So, are all your films basically sequence shots?
UVB: Well, they consist of a 1/1 scale on a time level. It is also necessary to work within the budgetary restraints imposed by a medium such as the 16 mm format. Each shot is relatively expensive, and the fact is that with a long sequence shot, we can’t do more than three takes. If during the three takes something happens that I don’t like, I must accept the fact that I can’t change it. Chance is a defining characteristic of my work.
CSP: All right, your work is therefore really structured by technique. The film, shot in a natural environment, will be projected in one of the gallery’s rooms. What do you plan to show in the other room?
UVB: A set of sculptures made from ribbons, drawings, watercolors and a few objects...
CSP: It’s a major scale project that you are about to carry out in Malmö. You will combine many tasks and exert direct control on all stages of production. You will be author, composer, scriptwriter, set-designer, performer, orchestra-director and filmmaker!
UVB: Yes, but tradition plays an important role and I am not inventing anything new. For example, I am very much interested in Wagner ...
CSP: You mean the Gesammtkunstwerk, the total artwork?
UVB: Exactly, Wagner created sets, curated productions, and even wrote both script and music. I like the idea of doing everything! Through total control you can achieve an overall coherence that is more difficult to obtain when tasks are delegated to different people. Through this process we can also perceive a form of megalomania, although not without a certain sense of humor. An example might be my 2007 performance at the Tate, where all the actors had my voice, which made me ever-present, omniscient and in total control of the situation. Of course, being all-powerful is not an end in itself, but it’s something I love to play with, a very interesting form of fiction.
Excerpt from the July 2010 interview of Ulla von Brandenburg by Caroline Soyez-Petithomme
Neue Alte Welt
30 October – 23 December, 2010
Art: Concept is pleased to announce Ulla von Brandenburg’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.
UVB: The exhibition at Art: Concept is connected to my September performance at the Lilith Performance Studio of Malmö, in Sweden. This performance will take place over a period of four weeks. I will work with a Swedish choir of twenty-five singers, both men and women. I am currently
writing the text (in German), and the music for this piece. The performance will be structured similarly to a Greek tragedy, which is to say that the choir acts as an exterior voice of reason, like a “voice-over” conscience, and sometimes echoes the solo-singers.
CSP: Will you also participate in this performance?
UVB: Only a little bit, I prefer not to interfere with the choir and the work of its voice. The choir will be present on stage and will sing. Like in Greek tragedies, the action will take place on one side of the stage while the choir performs on the other. The décor, however, will be a baroque-style and will consist of a rolled-up set. There will be a big wound-up big scroll on the left wing, and as it is unwound into the empty roll on the right, the images of the backdrop will appear. The background will continuous roll by, so that the scenery unravels, like the landscape seen from a train.
CSP: Does that mean that the whole set, the entire backdrop, will be on a curtain, similar to the canvass of a painting?
UVB: Not really, because it will be on paper, and in black and white. The images will consist of different sorts of landscapes that interest me as subliminal images: rough sea, forest, lake, rocks, cliffs, a cave etc... The big poster will unravel like a painting or a fresco, and will allow the decor to change and make visible the passage of time. I’ll make a film (probably 16 mm format) out of this performance, which will be a separate work of art and not just an illustration of the performance. I’ll then isolate the performance from the set and the stage and refilm it outdoor, in a natural location that I haven’t yet chosen. For this, I will use a steady-cam and the scenes will be rechoreographed with the camera in mind.
CSP: So, are all your films basically sequence shots?
UVB: Well, they consist of a 1/1 scale on a time level. It is also necessary to work within the budgetary restraints imposed by a medium such as the 16 mm format. Each shot is relatively expensive, and the fact is that with a long sequence shot, we can’t do more than three takes. If during the three takes something happens that I don’t like, I must accept the fact that I can’t change it. Chance is a defining characteristic of my work.
CSP: All right, your work is therefore really structured by technique. The film, shot in a natural environment, will be projected in one of the gallery’s rooms. What do you plan to show in the other room?
UVB: A set of sculptures made from ribbons, drawings, watercolors and a few objects...
CSP: It’s a major scale project that you are about to carry out in Malmö. You will combine many tasks and exert direct control on all stages of production. You will be author, composer, scriptwriter, set-designer, performer, orchestra-director and filmmaker!
UVB: Yes, but tradition plays an important role and I am not inventing anything new. For example, I am very much interested in Wagner ...
CSP: You mean the Gesammtkunstwerk, the total artwork?
UVB: Exactly, Wagner created sets, curated productions, and even wrote both script and music. I like the idea of doing everything! Through total control you can achieve an overall coherence that is more difficult to obtain when tasks are delegated to different people. Through this process we can also perceive a form of megalomania, although not without a certain sense of humor. An example might be my 2007 performance at the Tate, where all the actors had my voice, which made me ever-present, omniscient and in total control of the situation. Of course, being all-powerful is not an end in itself, but it’s something I love to play with, a very interesting form of fiction.
Excerpt from the July 2010 interview of Ulla von Brandenburg by Caroline Soyez-Petithomme