Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art presents a Screening of Gonda by Ursula Mayer
October 13, 2016 – 7pm
Please join Plug In ICA on Thursday, October 13th at 7pm for a screening of the new wave cinematic film Gonda by award winning artist, Ursula Mayer.
Gonda begins in reference to “Ideal” a play by the politically contentious philosopher Ayn Rand. The film is a non-linear abstraction that pulls Rand’s ideas into degrading pieces. The script for Gonda, written by critical theorist Maria Fusco, plays hauntingly over a flow of images that at times conform with familiarity into consumer images of beautiful bodies and tightly framed objects that Mayer unsettles through discordant and rapid montage.
Mayer defines herself primarily as a filmmaker, but she also makes objects in relation to her films – a selection of which are included in Plug In ICA’s current group exhibition Superimposition: Sculpture and Image. Her works in film and objects draw from literary references focusing on gender and the process of creating. Mayer clashes bodies and objects into post-humanistic theories. Her visual production pushes the possibilities of representation, ranging from extremely symbolic in her film practice, to highly formal in her sculptural works.
Ursula Mayer was born in Austria and exhibits internationally. She currently lives and works in London. She graduated in 1996 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and in 1995 she studied at the Royal College of Art. Mayer completed her MFA at Goldsmiths in 2004. Her work has received critical accolades, including the prestigious Derek Jarman Award 2014 for experimental film and the Otto Mauer Prize in 2007. She has been awarded numerous grants such as the FLAMIN Productions Award, Film London and the International Studio & Curatorial Program, ISCP, New York. Recent multimedia installations have been exhibited as part of Mirror City, Hayward Gallery, London. Her work has travelled extensively to venues including Tyneside Cinema Gallery, Newcastle; Audain Gallery, Vancouver; Tramway, Glasgow; Turner Contemporary, Margate; CCA Glasgow; Ursula-Blickle Stiftung Kraichtal, Germany; Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kunstverein Hamburg, Hamburg; Institute for Contemporary Art, London; SculptureCentre, New York; 21er Haus, Museum Belvedere, Vienna; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; 11th Baltic Triennial, CAC, Vilnius; Tanya Bonakdar gallery, New York; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Lentos, Museum of Modern Art, Linz; TBA21, Vienna; and Kunsthalle, Basel. Upcoming shows include SeMA Bienale, Mediacity Seoul, South Korea; THE NEW HUMAN, Moderna Museet, Stockholm & Malmoe; Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, and solo presentations at TANK, FHNW, Academy of Fine Arts, Basel, and at HOME, Manchester.
Plug In ICA gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We thank the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for their support of our 2016 and 2017 program, and we thank Investors Group and Wawanesa Insurance for the direct support of our youth programs. We as always extend gratitude to our generous donors, valued members and dedicated volunteers.
For general information please contact: info@plugin.org. For media inquiries please contact: Sarah Nesbitt at sarah@plugin.org or by phone at (204) 942-1043 ext. 27.