ArtLab live // Ella de Burca

With CONTROL, de Burca presents a new mixed media poetry performance which works through questions of perception and the emergence of meaning through reading, seeing and speaking. What would happen if a person who was blind from birth suddenly acquired the ability to see again? Would the haptic and auditory experiences be congruent with the newly gained visual impressions?

From this philosophical problem, de Burca gradually feels her way into various situations and asks about the rules and framework conditions of seeing, how they work and guide within the framework of art. The confrontation with different modes of spectating is practiced through the encounter of speaking, field recordings, image and video elements and challenged by the change of narrative perspectives. The basic motif of every performance is thereby constantly echoed: the unspoken contract that exists between the audience and the artist. In that respect she asks about the role of the audience within the performance, which can change at the moment of the presence of others and through the form of address emanating from the stage.

In the moment the audience and the common viewing itself become relevant the expectations of the audience and the act of seeing and hearing are thwarted.

Biography

Ella de Burca (1986) is an Irish artist based in Brussels, Belgium. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin and is currently doing a practice based PhD at KU Leuven / LUCA. Her work has been featured internationally in several exhibitions at key galleries and museums, including the University Art Galleries, University of California, Irvine (2018), Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart (2017), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2015), Museum of Contemporary Art CSW Warsaw (2014), KW Institute for Contemporary Art (2014), RuaRed, Dublin (2014), The Mission Gallery, Chicago (2014), The Emergency Pavilion at The 53rd Venice Biennale (2013) and The 5th Moscow Biennale (2013).

Admission is free. The venue is the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322 Frankfurt.

Due to limited space, please register at: live@artlab.ae.mpg.de

If you have any questions, please contact Eike Walkenhorst, curator of the ArtLab Live series.