Anna Bierler is a visual artist, writer and educator. Her practice considers storytelling, process and modes of collectivity. Using language as her main material her work materializes in experimental modes of publishing, reading performances, workshops, poetry and participatory installations. \r\nAnna has taught at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam; ArtEZ, Zwolle; the University of Antwerp and is a regular guest tutor at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. She has hosted workshops at Zone2Source, Amsterdam; Hackers and Designers, Amsterdam; and StrandLab; Almere. \r\nHer work has been presented at RIB (Rotterdam), Suzi Project Space (Amsterdam), Auftakt Festival (Cologne), Onomatopee (Eindhoven), Casco Art Institute (Utrecht), CLOUD Dance Lab (the Hague). Her poems have been published in Daisy World Mag (Amsterdam), Robida (Topolò) and will be published in the forthcoming hooops magazine (Berlin) and CODA (Paris).
reading, Hole Is Just Another Word For Opening @ Words Off the Page
The poem “Another Word for Hole is Opening” (2023) which looks into the tiny sand grains, holes in the landscape as a result of human activity and holes in the soul as a result of not belonging, will be published in the forthcoming book Beginnings, edited by artist Manon Michèle and Olivier Boulton (FR).
reading, Hole Is Just Another Word For Opening
Reading of my text Another Word for Hole is Opening during the latest Words Off the Page event on the topic of SOFT, hosted by Federica Notari
sound piece, Milk Star @ hooops
During Weeds Research Residency hosted by hooops at Libken in Uckermark, DE I worked with blooming Dandelions as a metaphor for the mind wandering, memories being lost, the desire to conserve stories and seeds, and the question of reproduction and kinship. My text “Milkstar” (2023) was published in the current Plant Magic Magazine edited by Lena Astarte Posch and Elisabeth Pieper and also materialized as a sound piece which I created in collaboration with Colette Aliman.
reading, Dream Girl @ Onomatopee
The text “Dream Girl” (2024) wonders how resting on a hot stone during a summer spent in the Alps encourages daydreaming and makes space to dream of crushes outside the heteronormative paradigm and has been published by Onomatopee in the anthology “Dreams of dreams of dreams”.
hosting, Open Call @ Afloat
Open Call: Fix-up #1: Endings
* afloat is a publishing platform and storytelling experiment to imagine the end otherwise. We explore the entanglements of climate catastrophe, storytelling, survivalism and worldmaking. Co-led by Anna Bierler and María Mazzanti, afloat creates publications, leads workshops, and develops protocols for compost-writing, interdependent texts and wet-reading tools.
reading, Grounding Exercise @ Echo Radio Collective
“Grounding Exercise” is a poem about geologic timescales, initially was created as an immersive storytelling experience for an audience and adapted for radio accompanied by a soundscape by sound artist Colette Aliman
performance and installation, OOOReading: Hour of the Star @ Onomatopee
The poem “Hour of the Star” (2024) was performed in a participatory reading using a star-shaped publication of the poem as reading script at the opening of the exhibition Dreams of dreams of dreams. In addition to the star shaped publication that we produced in Onomatopee print workshop, the poem is also published in the accompanying reader by Onomoatopee.
workshop, Wet Reading Room @ University of Antwerp
Throughout the week, we shared with them watery publishing protocols and writing exercises and discussed fluctuating waters, the fear of rising tides, human and non-human relationships, water infrastructure, and posthuman philosophy. The students translated their findings into a series of publications and zines and presented them in the first iteration of the wet reading room
OOOReading: Confusions and Conclusions @ Rib
Two events around the theme of translations and working with different languages. Diasporic, unfamiliar, new, secret and forgotten languages, slang, mother tongues and accents — all were welcomed. During the second event guests LA Warman and Alaa Abu Asad presented their practices and how translation connects to their work.
performance, Grounding Exercise @ auftakt festival
A poem about geologic timescales designed as an immersive storytelling experience for an audience. Seeking balance between sharing historical information and lived experience, providing multiple entry points for a viewer.