Mia Florentine Weiss
Mia Florentine Weiss (* 1980 in Würzburg ) is a German concept and performance artist .
Life
She spent her childhood and youth in Germany and Russia. In 1999 she began to work with object art and installations. Weiss began studying fashion journalism and media communication at the AMD Akademie Mode und Design in Hamburg in 2000 , which she graduated in 2004. She then moved to Brooklyn , New York, where she did poetry readings and method acting . A performance in 2008 with the Himba tribe (Namibia) gave her the opportunity to deal more deeply with the origins of being and to develop a uterus utopia as her artistic leitmotif, which she defined as a place of security.
Back in Germany, she took up acting studies at the Berlin Film Acting School from 2007 to 2009 . Mia Florentine Weiss has been commuting between her studio locations in Berlin and Frankfurt a. M. and Los Angeles . On November 11th, 2011 she “landed” on the legendary Hollywood sign during her Art Angel performance . Guerrilla performances as an uninvited artist at art fairs such as Art Basel or Documenta followed. For the special exhibition in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt a. For five years she worked on her Pegasus project. The American ambassador couple, John B. Emerson and his wife Kimberly brought the Pegasus sculpture, “a four hundred kilogram dermoplastic of a white horse with a wingspan of five meters”, to the former State Council Building (ESMT) for the 2016 Human Rights Watch Council Summit to Berlin, which was made available to the public during the Berlin Biennale , which The Guardian reported, as well as u. a. the Kestnergesellschaft and Sotheby's Europe. Weiss' ambigram LOVE / HATE as an oversized steel sculpture opposite the Senckenberg Museum symbolizes the coincidence of opposites ( Coincidentia oppositorum ) as the Faustian in art. Since a live performance at Art Basel Miami Beach , the artist has been wearing her “two word poem” as a burned-in “white tattoo” on her wrists . In 2017, together with the curator Yasha Young , she set up her temporary installation NOW / WON in front of the Reichstag in Berlin, which is now in the permanent exhibition of the Urban Nation - Museum of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. Since February 17, 2018, there have been two “ Love Hate ” ambigrams made of patinated steel at the Siegestor for one year . They were set up in the run-up to the Munich Faust Festival 2018 and accompanied by a solo exhibition by the artist at Hubert Burda Media . The sculpture was then placed in front of the Bavarian National Museum. In the run-up to the European elections, the sculpture went on a journey through various European countries and was installed as a temporary double sculpture in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Various representatives from the art and culture industry gave speeches and performances in front of the installation, including Museum Director Paul Spies , Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer and Minister Dorothee Bär . At the same time as the European elections, she organized the art campaign #LOVEUROPE. The aim was to promote cross-generational and cross-national dialogue between culture, politics, education and society.
plant
The philosophical question "What is your place of protection?" Marks the first decade of Weiss' oeuvre. This is the content-related examination of individual protected spaces and their antithesis , which the artist herself describes as her leitmotif . The performative search for answers on all continents often takes more than ten years in situations in which people are beyond social acceptance and in precarious, defenseless places, such as the homeless and people on the run; but also tribal elders in Africa and monks whom she questioned in monasteries in India , Russia and Europe. She has summarized the poetic nucleus of her worldwide performances in a multimedia installation with 54 video works under the name Art Protector .
In numerous performances Weiss puts her own body in contexts that are essential for her and uses her biography as the “literary” basis of her work. She was the first artist to exhibit her placenta in the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main .
The performance " Mother Animal " shows the artist with her baby and a breast pump in her arms in the pharmacy of the anomalies of the Senckenberg Museum. It should be understood as the source of life in the midst of the ambivalence of being and not being , of death and new life. Weiss describes "performance" as "a snapshot of a feeling or dialectic that is translated into images."
The eternal vicious circle , the antagonistic agony of both poles of life and death, run like a red thread through Weiss' work. The “Pegasus Project” is a performative journey from the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt along the European borders with Venice as its final destination for an exhibition of the German-Italian Cultural Society in the Palazzo Albrizzi during the Biennale di Venezia 2015 in Venice. The artist has created a taxidermy sculpture of a white horse with light wings that symbolizes innocence but also the terror of our time in a bipolar field of tension. At the beginning of 2015, Pegasus followed an authentic refugee route on water and on land as a “ Moving Installation ” on the edges of Europe (title “ Edges of Europe ”), which Mia Florentine Weiss had researched with the organization Pro Asyl the previous year, even before the topic exploded medially. The Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main had dedicated a solo exhibition entitled “The navel of the world” to this project under the motto “Nature meets culture” .
As a final performance entitled “Anthropocene” , the artist staged herself as the subject of the exhibition in the museum, in which she symbolized the end of mankind as an artifact in a glass showcase between long-extinct dinosaurs and communicated with visitors during the performance via digital connections.
For her project " #LOVEUROPE ", Mia Florentine Weiss traveled 75,000 kilometers across European countries over three years. The aim of the Tour d'Horizon was to strengthen European awareness by referring to cultural similarities instead of ethnic differences. At the same time, this trip was a plea for more love than hate, a figure of thought that runs through her oeuvre as a leitmotif. She sees the unifying element of Europe in the representation of the cross, an artistic way of the cross, which she implemented for the first time in autumn 2019 in her multi-room art installation "KREUZ WEG" in the museum of the Berlin Nikolaikirche in the form of a monumental lying, walkable cross. It was created on the occasion of the centenary of the Trianon Peace Treaty . It reflects the case, a crossroads as similar, stony transformation of Europe from a Europe of Nations, where each state with God in law went to war to a Europe of unity. The cross is accessible inside. It consists of ten tons of steel and fabric tunnels. With its 40 meters in length and 20 meters in width, it filled the entire central nave of the church building. Here it was symbolically bedded on the earth and the stones that the artist brought from the 47 countries in Europe. The solo exhibition by Mia Florentine Weiss in the Nikolaikirche of the Stadtmuseum Berlin is part of a series of solo shows in the house, including B. Chiharu Shiota , addresses the contemporary question of the present through a Christian reference point. The exhibition was funded by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds . During the German presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2020 , her "Love Hate" sculpture was placed in front of the European Parliament as part of her #fromBrusselswithLove project in Berlin, Prague and also in Brussels, as reported on the topics of the day on the occasion of Angela Merkel's speech on taking over the presidency . The artistic concern is to refer to the importance of peace and the need for love in a time of political division and hatred. The performance takes place with the support of the Federal Foreign Office and the Berlin Senate Chancellery .
reception
"Mia Florentine Weiss, Madonna of Art"
“When the German performance artist Mia Florentine Weiss set out 15 years ago to look for people's shelters all over the world, nobody had a clue of how painfully current and to the point the resulting exhibition in summer 2015 was would be. The 'Pegasus Project' shows how much the geopolitical reality influences and increasingly threatens the security and security of every single person. "
Quote
"We must now work to preserve the European idea, strengthen the exponential function of Europe and turn the omnipresent hatred in the world into love!"
literature
- Oelmann, Sabine: Two women, one cross, Europe. Doro Bär and Mia Florentine Weiss inspire . Published on April 10, 2019 on n-tv article online
- Hermanski, Susanne: "Love / Hate" sculpture . Published on April 7, 2019 in Süddeutsche Zeitung Article online
- Weiss, Mia Florentine: Out of office notice: Mia Florentine Weiss. Ways of the cross . Published on July 12, 2018 in Monopoly Article online
- Kraft, Katja: Greetings from steel . Published on March 19, 2018 in Münchner Merkur Article online
- Binder, Elisabeth: Between new buildings and an alternative world on the water. The Stralau peninsula, a refuge in the middle of the city, is part of Friedrichshain. The artist Mia Florentine Weiss works here . Published on March 18, 2018 in Der Tagesspiegel article online
- Vogel, Evelyn: Through hell to heaven. Mia Florentine Weiss decorates the victory gate with rusty word sculptures. Her sculptures play with the feelings of hate and love . Published on February 18, 2018 in Süddeutsche Zeitung Article online
- Anonymous author: Ambigram sculptures in Munich “Love” from the front, “Hate” from the back . Published on February 15, 2018 in Monopoly Article online
- Oelmann, Sabine: Between love and hate Mia Florentine Weiss, Madonna of Art . Published on April 4, 2017 on n-tv article online
- Gisbourne, Mark and Broecking, Maxi: Mia Florentine Weiss. Ten Years of Work. 2006–2016 , Berlin: Verlag der Galerie Friedmann-Hahn, 2016
- Pirich, Carolin: You need farm horses, not wings . Published on December 5, 2015 in taz article online
- Anonymous author: Special exhibition: With “Pegasus” around the by no means ideal world . Published on November 18, 2015 in Frankfurter Neue Presse Article online
- Stillbauer, Thomas: Senckenberg-Naturmuseum: In search of refuge . Published on November 13, 2015 in Frankfurter Rundschau article
- Scholz, Claudia: Art project for refugees: The search for security . Published on November 12, 2015 in Cicero Article online
- Kathe, Sandra: Senckenberg Museum: Pegasus' journey begins on the Main . Published on April 20, 2015 in Frankfurter Neue Presse Article online
- Magel, Eva-Maria: Attention, flying horse! . Published on April 19, 2015 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article online
- Dörrenberg, Clemens: Senckenberg: A horse floats into the museum. Published on April 19, 2015 in Frankfurter Rundschau Article online
- Albers Ben Chamo, Sophie: Pegasus Project: Art along the refugee routes . Published on September 7, 2015 in Stern Article online
Web links
- Mia Florentine Weiss in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mia Florentine Weiss at filmportal.de
- Website of Mia Florentine Weiss
- Contribution to the topics of the day
- Mia Florentine Weiss in the Morning Briefing from Gabor Steingart
- Contribution to the Way of the Cross installation at ARD
- Mia Florentine Weiss on the website of the Urban Nation - Museum of Urban Contemporary Art
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scholz, Claudia: Art project for refugees: The search for security . Published in Cicero on November 12, 2015
- ↑ Stone, Mee-Lai and Sinibaldi, Christian: Party spoils and pink ladies: behind the scenes at the Venice Biennale. Published in The Guardian on May 8, 2015
- ^ Website of the Kestner Society
- ↑ muenchen.de: “Love Hate” sculptures set up at the Siegestor. Retrieved May 10, 2018 .
- ^ Greetings from steel . In: https://www.merkur.de . March 13, 2018 ( merkur.de [accessed May 10, 2018]).
- ↑ Evelyn Vogel: Through hell to heaven . In: sueddeutsche.de . February 18, 2018, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed May 10, 2018]).
- ↑ In search of security , published in Emotion , December 2015
- ↑ Pirich, Carolin: “You need farm horses, no wings”. Published on December 5, 2015 in taz
- ^ Press kit of the Senckenberg Museum on the occasion of the solo exhibition of Mia Florentine Weiss
- ↑ Pirich, Carolin: “You need farm horses, no wings”. Published on December 5, 2015 in taz
- ↑ Albers Ben Chamo, Sophie: Pegasus project: art along the refugee routes. Published in Stern on September 7, 2015
- ↑ Still Bauer, Thomas: Senckenberg Natural History Museum: In search of refuge. Published on November 13, 2015 in Frankfurter Rundschau
- ↑ Contribution to the Way of the Cross installation at ARD
- ↑ Exhibition information at the Stadtmuseum Berlin
- ↑ Press release at lifepr.de
- ↑ Contribution to the topics of the day
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Oelmann, Sabine: Between love and hate Mia Florentine Weiss, Madonna of Art. Published on April 4, 2017 on n-tv
- ↑ Albers Ben Chamo, Sophie: Pegasus project: art along the refugee routes. Published in Stern on September 7, 2015
- ↑ https://www.stiftungzukunftberlin.eu/aktuelles/einzelansicht/detail/news/loveurope-von-mia-florentine-weiss-zur-europawahl-2019/ https://www.stiftungzukunftberlin.eu/aktuelles/einzelansicht/detail / news / loveurope-from-mia-florentine-weiss-for-the-european-election-2019 /
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Weiss, Mia Florentine |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German performance artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1980 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wurzburg |