Ellen de Bruijne

Zhana Ivanova

01 Nov - 20 Dec 2014

ZHANA IVANOVA
Predictions
1 November – 20 December 2014

On September 14, 2014 by invitation of Land Art Live, Zhana Ivanova presented the specially commissioned performance Predictions. This large scale intervention took place on location at Robert Morris’ Observatory near Lelystad.
The function of a “cosmic compass” intended in Morris’ Observatory served as a starting point for Ivanova’s work. Her focus diverted however from the movements of the sun and the planets – instead she observed the site’s immediate environment. Each day a steady flow of trains, trucks, tractors, cars and bicycles passes by the Observatory’s perimeter – forming ever changing, and as far as we know incidental constellations. As patterns emerged and established, Ivanova predicted a scenario where daily chance and a perhaps grander scheme seemed to intersect. Viewers were invited to hear the predictions through individual headphones, and observe which of them would come true and which would not. A sound installation deducted from the event will be presented at the gallery

Zhana Ivanova’s practice centres on rearranging and reconfiguring daily patterns and systems to which we have grown accustomed. She often uses performance in order to artificially induce situations in which social and power relations fluctuate. Her constructions are initially formal and rule-governed; yet within them she insistently exposes the ambiguity of her own rules.

Zhana Ivanova (Bulgaria, 1977) lives and works in Amsterdam. She was educated at the Queen Mary University College, London and at DasArts, Amsterdam. In 2013 she completed a residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. Her works have been realized in galleries and festivals internationally, most recently Fondation Galeries Lafayette Paris (2014), Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam (2013), Performatik – Brussels Performance Biennale (2013), Crikoteka Krakow (2012), Arsenic (Lausanne), W139 Amsterdam (2012), Frascati, Amsterdam (2012). In January 2015 Ivanova will have a solo presentation at Kunsthalle Basel (CH)
 

Tags: Robert Morris