Ulla von Brandenburg

PROJECT
During a residency in Amiens, France, in 2022 Ulla von Brandenburg was inspired by the city’s century’s old tradition of marionette theatre, a type of theatre staged in untraditional public spaces to mock the rich and powerful. In Underwater theatre six actors, who regularly appear in von Brandenburg’s works, engage in a Brechtian play with marionette puppets acting as body-doubles.

Von Brandenburg’s recasting of this theatrical tradition in a deep-sea setting draws inspiration from the French writer, playwright and poet Jules Verne, who died in Amiens in 1905, and his novel ‘Vingt Mille Lieues sous les mers’ (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea). The marionettes sing in English, French and German, welcoming us, the audience into their hopes for a utopic future and aspirations for living, working and love. The hand-painted backdrop of the underwater scene is presented as part of the installation, bringing the film’s narrative and its setting into our collective experience.

ABOUT
After training as a scenographer in Karlsruhe and working in theatre, Ulla von Brandenburg studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg. Her work encompasses installations, films, watercolours, murals, collages and performances. Using the codes of scenography, her work is often steeped in literature, art history, spiritism and magic. She deploys masks, costumes, sets and props from popular traditions allowing her to transgress norms and hierarchies by subtly mingling reality and appearances in theatrical presentations. Her internationally recognised work has appeared in solo shows including MRAC, Sérignan, 2019; Whitechapel Gallery in London, 2018; the Musée Jenisch Vevey, Switzerland; and the Perez Art Museum in Miami, 2016. Her works are included in the collections of the Tate Modern in London, MAMCO in Geneva, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and Mudam in Luxembourg.

Commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Purchased, NGV Foundation, 2023.
Additional support provided by F.R.A.C Regional Contemporary Art Funds, Amiens, France and Visual Artists Ireland