Ulla von Brandenburg, 'Chorspiel' (2010) (film still). Courtesy of the artist and art: concept, Paris.
Ulla von Brandenburg’s work alludes to the shared history of story telling, from Greek tragedy to folk legend, and the archetypes used in them. Ranging from recurring literary characters to universal concepts such as family, love, time, life and death, von Brandenburg uses familiar symbols to bring together the real and the unreal. As she explains ‘I am very interested in artificiality, but absurdity interests me too.’
Von Brandenburg uses a wide range of media including drawing, painting, installation, performance and film and draws upon many aspects of European cultural heritage, from ancient folklore to Romanticism and the idea of the ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ (or total work of art). Artistic synthesis runs through her work, referencing a range of movements from the Renaissance to the Bauhaus.
The exhibition included the remarkable ‘Chorspiel’ (2010) a three-part, opera-like film featuring five characters from three generations. Referencing Ingmar Bergman, who often wrote his own screenplays, the film includes music written by the artist. Brandenburg’s films not only explore how narrative unfolds through performance, but the role of the narrator or conscience in the telling or enactment of a story. Accompanied by a group of evocative objects, including fabric panels marked by extended exposure to the sun, von Brandenburg’s work appears at once historic and futuristic.
