Ursula Biemann
Ursula Biemann is an artist, writer and video essayist. Her artistic practice is strongly research oriented and involves fieldwork in remote locations where she investigates the political ecologies of oil and water. Biemann’s pluralistic practice spans a range of media including experimental video, interview, text, cartography and materials, which converge in highly formalized spatial installations. Her work also adopts the form of publications, lectures, and curatorial, as well as collaborative research projects.
Biemann has had retrospective exhibitions at the Bildmuseet Umea, Sweden; Nikolaj Contemporary Art, Copenhagen; Helmhaus, Zurich; Lentos Museum, Linz; Neuer Berliner Kunstverein n.b.k., and at numerous film festivals. Her work also contributed to major exhibitions e.g. at the Arnolfini, Bristol; Tapies Foundation, Barcelona; Museum of Fine Arts, Bern; LACE, Los Angeles, San Francisco Art Institute; Kunsthalle Brandt Odense; Kunstverein, Hamburg; the Biennials in Gwangju, Shanghai, Liverpool, Bamako, Istanbul, Montreal, and Sevilla.
Biemann studied first at the Bellas Artes in Mexico, then in New York at the School of Visual Arts (BFA, 1986), and the Whitney Independent Study Program (1988). She is based in Zurich. Biemann is appointed Doctor honoris causa in Humanities by the Swedish University Umea (2008) and received the 2009 Prix Meret Oppenheim, the Swiss national Art Award.