Abstract:
The video projects of Ursula Biemann generally take a systemic approach to terrestrial conditions by connecting the micropolitics on the ground with a theoretical and planetary macro level. The main protagonist in her recent narratives is the figure of the indigenous scientist who emerges from a shared history of colonialism and the appearance of modern science. Her field research in the summer 2018 took her to the South of Colombia. At the invitation of an indigenous leader, she is currently involved in the co-creation of a Biocultural Indigenous University in the Amazon. Grounded in an international partnership, the visionary project aims to integrate indigenous knowledge systems with modern science, fostering a supportive ecocentric worldview. The project involves the creation of an online audiovisual platform on the process of an Indigenous territory becoming University.
Biography:
Ursula Biemann is an artist, writer, and video essayist based in Zurich. Her artistic practice is strongly research oriented and involves fieldwork in remote locations where she investigates climate change and the ecologies of oil, ice, forests and water, as in the recent projects Deep Weather (2013), Forest Law (2014, Subatlantic (2015) and Acoustic Ocean (2018). Her video installations are exhibited worldwide in museums and at international art biennials in Liverpool, Sharjah, Shanghai, Sevilla, Istanbul, Montreal, Venice, Taipei and Sao Paulo. She had comprehensive solo exhibitions at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k., Bildmuseet in Umeo, Lentos Museum Linz and Helmhaus Zurich. Publisher of several books and the online monograph Becoming Earth on her ecological videos and writing (www.becomingearth.unal.edu.co). Cofounder of the collaborative World of Matter project and Devenir Universidad on the co-creation of an indigenous University in the Amazon (deveniruniversidad.ort). Biemann studied Art in Mexico and New York. She received a doctor honoris causa in Humanities by the Swedish University Umea and the Prix Meret Oppenheim, the Swiss Grand Award for Art. www.geobodies.org