MEDIA RELEASE
28 Mar 2016

Ulla von Brandenburg: IT HAS A GOLDEN YELLOW SUN AND AN ELDERLY GREY MOON

Ulla von Brandenburg, still from 8 2007 (film still) 16 mm film.  Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias Gallery

ACCA presents the first Australian survey of works by celebrated German artist Ulla von Brandenburg from 21 May.

Ulla von Brandenburg’s distinct visual language draws on the traditions and tropes of theatre, film and storytelling.   

Characterised by their use of curtains, costumes, props and staged settings, her works draw on a range of historical references, including the tableau vivant, modern theatre, folk traditions and iconic architecture. Combined with song and movement, these elements suggest a symbolic staging of ritualised encounters that are central to her oeuvre.
 
Working for over fifteen years, Ulla von Brandenburg’s practice displays a deep engagement with the traditions of craft, music, colour theory and the construction of narratives, both real and imagined.  With a unique signature style that brings film, architecture and installation together, her works explore the relationships between people, different levels of consciousness, and how the outsider responds to private rituals and customs.

Recently nominated for the prestigious French contemporary art prize, the 2016 Prix Marcel Duchamp, Ulla von Brandenburg is well known for her ethereal, fairy-tale worlds that investigate the thresholds between reality and artifice and the rules that govern our collective social reality.

This exhibition brings together several of von Brandenburg’s object installations, films, shadow plays and costumes, as well as a new commission developed in partnership with the Darling Foundry, Montreal; The Power Plant, Toronto; Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich; and Aarhus, Denmark.  ACCA’s main gallery will be transformed into a baroque opera set, with a viewing platform that invites audiences to reconsider the way they interpret language, colour, and the idea of community.

Ulla von Brandenburg lives and works in Paris, and has had solo exhibitions at at Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Chisenhale Gallery, London; Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco; and Stedilijk Museum, Amsterdam. Notable group exhibitions include the 19th Biennale of Sydney; Yokohama Triennale; Performa, New York; and Tate Modern, London.

Organised by Juliana Engberg and curated by Hannah Mathews.

21 May to 17 July, 2016.  Artist talk 6pm Tuesday 24 May.
ACCA, 111 Sturt Street, Southbank.  accaonline.org.au

Ulla von Brandenburg: IT HAS A GOLDEN YELLOW SUN AND AN ELDERLY GREY MOON has been supported by the Goethe Institut, Australia. 

For further media information:  Katrina Hall, 0421153046 or kathall@ozemail.com.au