Ursula Biemann
Indigenous Knowledge - Cosmological Fictions

THE MAMAC - Contemporary Gallery
August 28, 2020 - January 17, 2021

MAMAC Contemporary Gallery

For more than twenty years, the Swiss artist and author Ursula Biemann has closely interweaveed contemporary ecological challenges, the extraction and uneven distribution of Earth's resources and migratory flows, as a result of pressure on the environment and all living things. More than ever, current events raise the relevance of this complex vision, interweaving these social and environmental issues, this voracity in the exploitation of resources and the irreversible transformations of entire soils and ecosystems.

For the first time in France, this exhibition brings together several video works by the artist with a selection focused on environmental issues. Ursula Biemann takes us from the now-bitumen plains of northern Canada to the flooded lands of Bangladesh; from the lush forests of Ecuador where indigenous peoples are fighting legally to preserve their ecosystem and cosmovision, to the invisible interactions and dramas playing out in the heart of the oceans or in the Sami territories of Norway. Very knowledgeable about the scientific research in progress and the philosophical and anthropological debates around ecological issues, the artist instills in his filmed work eco-feminist visions (alliance of feminist and ecological conceptions to counter the exploitation of nature, the commodification of the living and promote gestures of reparation). It echoes the inclusion of cosmological representations in the law, and introduces non-human perspectives - the integration of the ways of thinking of other living beings.

The exhibition also shows the evolution of his practice from video essays giving voice to other geographies, to fictional narratives, even science fiction. The territory of the imagination and the invention of narratives appear as possible ways today to consider new relationships to the world and an ethic of relations with other species. Far from giving in to environmental catastrophism, Ursula Biemann thus invites us to relearn our original belonging to the natural order and to hear the voices of peoples who live in rich and respectful interactions with the non-human.

Ursula Biemann's work is regularly shown in international exhibitions and biennials (Liverpool, Sharjah, Shanghai, Thessaloniki, Sao Paulo, Seville, Istanbul, Venice) as well as in festivals. Based in Zurich, she received the Meret Oppenheim Prize - Swiss Grand Award for Art, a national distinction in the field of art.

Exhibition cured:

Hélène Guenin, Director of MAMAC
This exhibition is organised in partnership with the Swiss Cultural Centre, Paris
It is part of the Parallels of the South of Manifesta 13 Marseille - European Travelling Biennale

Key Partners