Marek, Stephanie

Kde domov můj / 2011

Video loop / HD / 4:55 min

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Kde domov můj? [Where is my home?]
Kde domov můj? [Where is my home?]
Voda hučí po lučinách, [Water roars across the meadows,]
bory šumí po skalinách, [Pinewoods rustle among crags,]
v sadě skví se jara květ, [The garden is glorious with spring blossom,]
zemský ráj to na pohled! [Paradise on earth it is to see!]

Remain / 2011

Performance
Peckham Road / London

Marc Augé coined the phrase non-place to refer to places of transience that do not hold enough significance to be regarded as „places“, like tube-stations, supermarkets or motorways. I am trying to acquire this space (non-place) into something familiar.

all YOU can eat / 2010

Art Action
Kunstraum Praline / Leipzig
In collaboration with Benjamin Kilchhofer

This project consists of the staging of an exhibition opening with a great buffet such as those seen at high-class art events. At first sight it seems to be a usual opening, but when visitors enter the room they recognise a disgusting smell. There is also a deep, oscillating sound. Both smell and sound make it very difficult to stay in the room and feel comfortable.

The room is devoid of traditional hanging artwork or sculpture but rather the room‘s ambience comprises the art. The addition of disturbing sound and smells creates an environment removed from that usually expected and suggests a conflict between wellness and disgust, culture and nature. Many people had to leave the room, many of them stayed inside because of the amazing buffet but were holding their noses so they could remain in the room and eat.


toilet training / 2010

Video loop / 2:15 min

„Disgust develops at the breaking point  of nature and culture. It is a defence symptom against nature.“ Sigmund Freud
The video shows a social gathering in which 3 people are eating and drinking. At some point a girl enters the room, pees on the floor and leaves without saying anything. Though the involved people observe her doing this, they don’t show any reaction. Throughout the entire 2:15 minute video, no spoken words are heard, only splashing noises and a clock ticking constantly.


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Untitled / 2009

Installation

Two at first unnoticed photographs of the inside of an abandonned house are located in a corner on the back of the video installation.


The 3 particular audio files which are the original sounds of the skinning, mix and melt together into an aggressive tearing sound. They therefore stand for both the video’s skin and the photograph’s wall paper.

any place i am not / 2009

Installation

The installation consists of a living room furnishing, of which every piece of  furniture is pushed together closely. Every entrance or exit is therefore prevented. Part of this living room is a Tv playing a videoloop without sound of approximetly ten minute length. In this loop a girl is seen sitting in a box. In the video she is situated in an only suggested and not recognizable room. From time to time the girl apathetically glances to the viewer.

„Any place I am not. Any place I am not it happens. Maybe it is better there. Maybe I long for it. Maybe I can not even comprehend that this feeling of melancholy will never change. No matter where I am. Even there, where I am not.“

Vita

Stephanie Marek

*1985 in Redwood City, California

Exhibitions

2012 „Land of Milk and Honey“ at Kunstraum Liška, Leipzig
2012 „Le conflit dans tous ses états“ at La Fontaine Obscure, Aix-en-Provence, France
2011 „Peek Show“ at Biscuit Factory London
2010 „Touch me!“ Galerie Sylvia Bernhardt, Wiesbaden
2010 „all You can eat“ Lindenow #4, Kunstraum Praline, Leipzig
2010 „Chain of Fools“ HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
2009 „UNTITLED“ Kunst- und Gewerbehöfe Plagwitz, Leipzig

Projects