Sandra Johnston

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Sandra Johnston, 2019

Sandra Johnston (* 1968 in Northern Ireland ) is a visual artist specializing in performance art .

Life

She now lives and teaches in the UK . In her artistic work, she examines the after-effects of trauma and, in connection with this, the role of memory, testimony ( live testimony ) and empathy with the help of site-specific performance, installation , drawing and text . She has been internationally active since 1992.

Johnston held several teaching and research positions, including an AHRC Research Fellowship at the University of Ulster , Belfast in 2002 , the visiting professorship "Ré Soupault" at the Bauhaus University , Weimar in 2007 , and she is currently the course instructor for the BxNU Master of Fine Art ( MFA) from Northumbria University , England. In 2013, Johnston published a PhD research project entitled Beyond Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation into Concepts of Doubt, Risk and Testimony Explored Through Consideration of Performance Art Processes in Relation to Systems of Legal Justice .

Her work often arises from intensive collaborations (with Alastair MacLennan and Dominic Thorpe, among others), and this interest in collective creativity extends outward to long-term involvement in the development of international performance art networks. She is co-founder of various artist collectives in Belfast, namely:

  • Catalyst Arts
  • BBeyond
  • Agency

Create

Each work arises from the careful observation of the tensions between the history of the places that are in dialogue with the vitality and the insistence on the passing moment. The work is heavily based on the exploration of improvisation as a special form of communication that can convey ideas both evocatively and convincingly through non-verbal perceptions. Gestures are offered as "provisional behavior" that exist as irrational, incomplete and changeable encounters that can only be realized in moments of close connection between the artist and the audience.

Johnston's works of art explore strategies of ambiguity, counter-narratives, and marginality through actions that involve a cautious questioning of the location of objects and a person's location in the world. Her works of art aim to navigate the permeable, the concrete, the defined and the spectral. A consistent feature of Johnston's performance work is the use of available or discarded materials found directly at the location of the actions. Everyday or unappreciated objects are appropriated and transformed through artistic work. Their specificity is respected, sensations and memories are evoked by touch.

Her work focuses on: a. “Contested Spaces” and “Trauma of Places”. In doing so, she examines how aspects of collective memory associated with certain places can be changed after violent events by creating layers of stigmatization or, conversely, of memory . In 2009–2012 she continued this research as part of her doctorate, in which she related performance art processes to the systems of jurisdiction.

Exhibitions, performances (selection)

Source:

  • 1993 co-founder of Catalyst Arts, Belfast
  • In 1994 she was invited to Irish Days 2 , a tour of Irish artists to Berlin and Poland
  • 1996 a series of private walks
  • 1998 commissioned work for the Project Art Center, performance at the Ormand Hotel, Dublin
  • 1999 Gaining Distance , Arthouse, Dublin
  • 2001 collaboration with Pauline Cummins and Frances Mezetti , Appearances Project
  • 2012 Sandra Johnston: The Shadow of a Doubt , December 13, 2012 - February 2, 2013, The Golden Thread Gallery
  • 2014 II. Venice International Performance Art Week

literature

  • Sandra Johnston: Beyond Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation into Concepts of Doubt, Risk and Testimony Explored Through Consideration of Performance Art Processes in Relation to Systems of Legal Justice. LIT, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-90440-9 .
  • Bryonie Reid : A profound edge: performative negotiations of Belfast. In: Cultural Geographies , London, Volume 12, 2005, pp. 485-506, ISSN  1474-4740 ( PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Sandra Johnston. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Sandra JOHNSTON. In: laboratory of interdisciplinary practices. Retrieved June 14, 2019 (American English).
  3. ↑ THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT - SANDRA JOHNSTON | Golden Thread Gallery. Retrieved June 14, 2019 (American English).
  4. ↑ Sandra Johnston | BBeyond. Retrieved June 14, 2019 .
  5. ^ Culture Northern Ireland: Art Beat - Sandra Johnston. August 16, 2005, accessed June 14, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Golden Thread Gallery - The Shadow of a Doubt - Sandra Johnston. In: co.uk. web.archive.org, 2012, archived from the original on December 20, 2012 ; accessed on May 15, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Sandra Johnston. In: veniceperformanceart.org. Retrieved June 15, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Johnston, Sandra
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish artist in the field of fine arts with a focus on performance art
DATE OF BIRTH 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Northern Ireland