Ursula Biemann (born 8 September 1955) is a Swiss

video artist Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. ...

, curator, educator, and art theorist.Yvonne Volkart (2010, 2016).

Biography

Born on 8 September 1955 in Küsnacht. Biemann trained in art in Boston, Mexico and New York, graduating with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in 1986. From 1995 to 1998 she curated the Shedhalle Zürich; and from 2000 to 2003, she taught at the

École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève (English: ''School of Fine Arts, Geneva''), was an art school founded in 1748 in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2006, the school was merged with the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD). History The � ...

. Biemann's video art at first addressed the topics of

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

and mobility in an essayistic and documentary-like style. Her later work focuses on resources, the

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

and the

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

, and uses a more critical style involving mythical elements. Her works were first noted in the international media art scene before a first exhibition in Switzerland in 2009. Her works have been exhibited internationally since 1998, and are held by several ''Fonds d'art contemporain'' in France and Switzerland, as well as by the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou in Rennes, the Musée d'Art du Valais in Sion, and the

Generali Foundation The Generali Foundation was established in 1988 by the Generali Group Austria as a private and non-profit-making art association for the promotion of contemporary art. Situated in Vienna, Austria, it is one of the important museums specialised in ...

in Vienna. She received the 2009 Prix Meret Oppenheim among other awards. Biemann's writing addresses topics such as mobility, migration, feminism, the ecology and the Anthropocene, including the ancient trans-Saharan trade routes that are now being used by migrants.

References

Living people 1955 births Swiss video artists Swiss curators Swiss women curators 20th-century Swiss women artists 21st-century Swiss women artists People from Küsnacht Academic staff of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève {{Switzerland-artist-stub