STAGES Speaker Series 2019 | Artist Talk with Silke Otto-Knapp (Germany/USA)
When: August 17, 2019 | 2pm
Where: Plug In ICA, 460 Portage Ave
We were pleased to bring artist Silke Otto-Knapp to Winnipeg to speak as part of the STAGES Speaker Series and conduct research for her temporary public artwork for the STAGES biennial in 2019.
Otto-Knapp uses the painted surface as means of research, delving into subjects that pull from the history of live performance, including theatre and dance while also deeply engaging with the history of Western figurative and abstract painting. There is a smoothness to Otto-Knapp’s work that is built from a slow process of layering, which is both subtractive and additive. Subdued colour is added and removed creating a depth of field surrounding figures, objects and settings. Her work has often depicted the stage as both a sight of performance and an abstract field of objects, shapes and delineated space.
For STAGES, Otto-Knapp was still conducting research but worked through a series of drawings that formed interchangeable panels. Applying her understanding of Kurt Schwitter’s “normal stage”, Otto-Knapp worked to bring motion to the stillness of images.
*With its conception in 2017, STAGES biennial set out to activate the city of Winnipeg with temporary public sculpture, installation and performances by international and local artists. STAGES biennial launched on August 16, 2019. The Speaker Series was a means of initiating and connecting the artists with local audiences, and introducing visiting artists to Winnipeg.
Silke Otto-Knapp was born in Osnabrück, Germany in 1970. She earned a M.A. from Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, and a degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Hildesheim, Germany. Otto-Knapp is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the University of California, Los Angeles. Selected solo exhibitions include Bühnenbilder, Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2017); Land Lies in Water, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2015); Monday or Tuesday, Camden Arts Centre, London (2014); Cold Climate, Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2014); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2014); Fogo Island Arts, Canada (2014); Geography and Plays, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (2013); A light in the moon / MATRIX 239, Berkeley Art Museum, Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2011); Many many women, Kunstverein München, Munich (2010); Present time exercise, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2009); and 50ft Queenie, Tate Britain, London (2005). Otto-Knapp has been awarded the Fogo Island Arts Artist in Residence (2014, 2010-2012). Her work is included in the permanent collections of museum worldwide, such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Serralves Foundation, Porto; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; among others. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Presenting Sponsor for Stages Speaker Series & STAGES 2019 was The Winnipeg Foundation, with the generous donation of our Featured Artist Sponsor: Mike Nesbitt; our Major Sponsors: Daniel Friedman & Rob Dalgliesh; our Engaging Sponsors Susan Glass & Arni Thorstienson; DIALOG design; and BDLG architecture; our Supporting Sponsors The French Embassy in Toronto and Downtown BIZ, Winnipeg; and our numerous Contributing Sponsors: Gary Ursell, Assiniboine Credit Union, and KMPG LLP.
Stages Biennial could not be presented without the support of our Community Partners: Alt Hotel, Alliance Française, MB, Winnipeg Tourism, the Winnipeg Art Gallery; and Leon A. Brown Ltd.