[spectre] Monika Weiss at Wyspa Institute of Art (Modified by Geert Lovink)

[WYSPA]

Wyspa Institute of Art in Gda=A8=BDsk is proudly introducing
video works by Monika Weiss
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Wednesday, March 23rd 6 pm
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"Monika Weiss' way of operating at the edge is to expose her boundary,=20=

her envelope, that is, her skin, to continuous radical feedback and=20
performative definition."
- George Quasha, Conceiving Body: Remarks on the Side/Elytron (spirit=20
and body are only two wings) - Monika Weiss: Vessels, 2004.

"Weiss makes drawings with her body, leaving a trail or trace of her=20
movements, revealing the presence of the living body of the artist."
- Pennina Barnett, Performing the Drawing, 2003.

  Through drawing, performance, video, and installation, New York-based=20=

Polish artist Monika Weiss creates environments that relate to the body=20=

and to the tension characterizing that peculiar space it inhabits=20
between biology and culture. In her drawings, an anonymous, alienated=20
silhouette appears, posturing in undefined states of waiting, or=20
reacting to the unknown. In her performative installations, the viewer=20=

encounters scenes of repetition and ritual, counterpoised by projected=20=

video documenting the action. In one of the Weiss' installation series=20=

Ennoia the artist immerses herself for several hours inside a=20
water-filled chalice, while a projected image of the immersion and the=20=

underwater sounds mirror her action. Such works combine the qualities=20
of endurance and duration with symbolic form reminiscent of medieval=20
paintings and with the formal simplicity of Minimalism. Weiss most=20
recent New York solo exhibitions =A1=B0Monika Weiss: Vessels=A1=B1 =
(Chelsea Art=20
Museum, 2004) and =A1=B0Monika Weiss: Intervals=A1=B1 (Remy Toledo =
Gallery, 2004)=20
contextualized Weiss's artistic development over the last several=20
years. Vessels included a new multi-media performative installation in=20=

collaboration with sound artist Stephen Vitiello. Intervals was a=20
two-person show together with Carolee Schneemann=A1=AFs Infinity Kisses =
II.=20
Weiss current solo exhibition Phlegethon/Milczenie opens March 4 at the=20=

Inter-Galerie, Potsdam, Germany. Her work is also presented at the DIVA=20=

media festival, which opens March 11 in New York.

Monika Weiss received her Master's degree in painting and drawing from=20=

the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw in 1990. She has been a visiting=20
artist at universities in Europe and the United States, including=20
School of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2002; University of Maryland,=20
1999; Georgia State University School of Art and Design, 1997-98;=20
Spelman College, 1996; and Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, 1994-95.=20
In New York City Weiss exhibited at the Chelsea Art Museum, 2003 and=20
2004; El Museo del Barrio, 2003; and Diapason Gallery, 2002. Solo=20
exhibitions include also Nexus Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta,1997;=20
BMB Gallery, Amsterdam, 1993 and 1996; and Galerie Espace Degree,=20
Luxembourg, 1995. Her works are in the collection of the Albertina=20
Museum, Vienna and Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art among=20
others. In 2003 her works were part of Art in General's Annual Artists'=20=

Benefit StudioTour; the Whitney Museum of American Art's Family Day;=20
and Saatchi & Saatchi's Harlem Art Project/Ray of Light benefit=20
auction. She is currently a member of the New York-based artists' and=20
curators' organization Nomads + Residents. In 2005 Weiss=A1=AF upcoming=20=

projects include a monographic exhibition =A1=B0Monika Weiss: Recent =
Works=A1=B1=20
at the Lehman College Art Gallery in New York and a drawing show at the=20=

Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal. In 2006 her new long-term=20
installation Ennoia will be featured as part of =A1=B0You Won't Feel a=20=

Thing,=A1=B1 curated by Aneta Szylak, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin.

ARTIST STATEMENT

  My work explores relationships between the body and the spaces around=20=

it. I am interested in the body and its location at the boundaries of=20
culture and biology. I work in various media, including drawing,=20
sculpture, installation, and performance, incorporating materials such=20=

as water, paint, stone, canvas, paper, and the human body, especially=20
my own. Recurring motifs such as sculpted vessels filled with fluids,=20
acts of immersion in water and acts of individual or communal drawing=20
appear in my work to address notions of trace, erasure, and=20
disappearance. I am interested in the interplay of symbolic and formal=20=

aspects in representation of human figure in medieval and renaissance=20
painting such as in Rogier van der Weyden=A1=AFs work. Concurrently I am=20=

inspired by the formal and conceptual simplicity of Minimalism.

  Drawing has remained the foundation of my work. Drawing is the=20
beginning and the culmination of most of my pieces, as it initiates a=20
concept and carries it through to its conclusion. In charcoal on paper=20=

drawings series Skulenie (=A1=B0curled-up=A1=B1) created in my studio, =
anonymous=20
silhouettes appear, posturing in undefined states of waiting, or=20
reacting to the unknown. In an ongoing series Rape of Europa made with=20=

pencil and hair-dye on paper, abstract stains are counterpoised with=20
architectural views of a chalice. All of my work begins with drawing=20
and it permeates the performance and installation projects, remaining=20
as a trace or evidence of performance after the act and acquiring=20
properties of sculpture. In the interactive, public series of=20
installations involving a communal act of drawing, such as Drawing the=20=

City, I invite others to join me in the process of leaving mark of=20
presence within the space of canvas or paper, which, covering the=20
pavement of a street or a floor of a gallery, becomes a living=20
organism, contingent and dependent on the flux of our energies.

  My current work includes installations and objects that combine=20
elements of drawing, sculpture, video projection, sound, and=20
performance. I create environments that act as metaphors for the states=20=

of suspension in space and time. These sculptural installations and=20
performances are comprised of long-term actions involving states and=20
endurance, often for long periods. In these works, the viewer=20
encounters scenes of repetition and ritual, juxtaposed with projected=20
video documenting the action. In one of my recent sculpture series=20
Ennoia,  a video image of my curled up body is projected onto a=20
water-filled sculpted chalice. The series suggests the presence of my=20
body once immersed in the chalice for several hours, now seen only as a=20=

virtual reflection through the water and on the surface of sculpture.
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Wyspa Institute of Art
1 Doki Street
Gda=A8=BDsk
tel./fax +48 58 320 44 46=