Lili Ullrich's practice explores vulnerability and the Knowing Body, a term focusing on the connection between the physical and psychological experience. Her aim is to provide imagery and actions for possible futures and question existing structures, while also allowing for playful exploration and interpretations of the mundane. Their latest work deals with archetypes and trauma, exploring identity in its layered and complex ways. She works in performance art, video, installation and sculpture. They graduated from WDKA in Fine Art and the University of Music and Performing Arts, Frankfurt, in Acting. She has been a recipient of the CBK Research & Development grant for her research mimesis and the poetic body, where she looks into the connection between the subconscious and the knowing body. She is an alumni of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes (2014-19).
kosmische Raupe - 'kosmische Raupe' investigates archetypes through visceral movement, exploring the mystic powers of the body. Through Ullrich's training as an actress, she is interested in breaking the hierarchy between body and mind, merging mime art with acting, contemporary poetry, sound and voice. What happens, when a smoking dragon meets a cosmic caterpillar on a night floating with glow worms?
GRAW - Open Studio at the Ijzerblok Studios during Grote Atelierweekend 2022.
Cosmic Caterpillar - In this lecture performance Lili Ullrich will share her research on the Knowing Body, institutional trauma and the Collective Unconscious. During her residency at CLOUD she worked on the performance Kosmische Raupe, in which she translated these topics into a collage of acting, physical theatre, contemporary poetry & sound. You can expect a magical journey into the subconscious mind and mystery of the body.
Mourning Ritual - A six metre, blue flowered sculpture was created with several interventionists at the Skate Park in Museum Park, carried in silence and placed in front of the doors of Kunstinstuut Melly and TENT on August 15th, 2021. With this act, we mourned the artist who cannot be, within ourselves and the communities historically excluded from institutional art spaces with a focus on BIPOC, Queer, Disabled and Trans communities. The intervention was made with an intention to give space for an emotional expression, particularly the grief that results from exclusion, scarcity and unequal distribution of resources brought to artists and cultural workers alike. Artist - Sarafina Paulina Bonita Concept - Sarafina Paulina Bonita, Lili Ullrich, Ratri Notosudirdjo, Leana Boven Facilitators - Ratri Notosudirdjo, Lili Ullrich Production - Ratri Notosudirdjo, Tugba Bahceci, Valienska Magfira, Lili Ullrich Documentation - Silvia Arenas, Eden Calgie Participants - Dian Soto Vega, Myriam Méret, Runa Ong, Salah Edin, McKenzie Ursch, Tugba Bahceci, Ratri Notosudirdjo, Sarafina Paulina Bonita, Lili Ullrich, Marvin Lalihatu, Anna Luna and more!
wet dreamzZz - Three nameless creatures transport the audience to a hypnagogic state of delusions and hallucinations. The world created in this performance is anchored by set design made from bondaged domestic features (sinks, bathtubs, coffee tables, carpets etc.).The performative act of in-betweenness is communicated through inverted movement. A method that gives a creature-like quality to actors and relies on wearing masks and costumes on the backside of their bodies to warp the audience's perception (ie walking, conversing, sitting, dancing backwards as if it were naturally the frontal view). The masks are a convincing factor to the backwards world we aim to induce and are inspired by Bulgarian Kukeri costumes, created by Magdalena Petrova.
el jardín de los espíritus - 'el jardín de los espiritus' (garden of spirits) is a homage to Ullrich's grandmother Lolito. In the video piece she works to uncover the effects and attitudes of white privilege and racism. Ullrich traveled to Colombia, the homeland of her mother, beginning of 2020. While visiting her aunt, she developed cinematic performances with the character of the 'white ghost'. el jardín de los espíritus explores the concept of 'happyland', which Tupoka Ogette uses as term to describe the state of a white human before they discover and deal with the implicit privileges of their whiteness. Here the white ghost still fully enjoys their privilege; sitting at the pool, taking its 'pet', a mosquito net, for a walk in the forest and dancing in puddles of last night's tropical rain.
huecos profundos - 'huecos profundos' (deep holes) is a site-specific work made in Coñada del Hoyo, Spain. The Spanish town is particularly known for its many lagoons, which are characterized by their round shape and depth. 'huecos profundos' was made in collaboration with Brazilian performance artist Ana Reis during PAS #66.
white labyrinth - In a conversation with her mother, Lu explores the differences in their skin colors and the resulting societal effects. The piece, inspired by Mona Hatoum‘s work ‚Measures of Distance‘ and Gloria Wekker‘s ‚White Innocence‘, addresses (Lu‘s) white privilege, connecting political thought to a vulnerable conversation between mother and daughter. In Lu‘s performance two naked feet are slowly breaking several white eggs, which are dispersed in the room. With the image she visualizes the breaking of perception, an opening to different experiences of the self in relation to others.
öö vv and oo - 'öö vv and oo' is part of a collaboration between several Rotterdam artists to create a collective online landscape.
The white-yellow shimmering landscape explores sensuality in online space. it‘s physicality stems from gelatine objects which were translated to the virtual using photogrammetry. The sound scape, which is made in collaboration with artist Hyunji Jung, experiments with ASMR techniques and 3D mapping to create a haptic experience.
act IV: Smoking - It is 16:50. In ten minutes the Giardini will close and the collective tenderfeet, or those who are still in Venice, will have to leave the festival ground. I look at Kerem; „quick“ I say, he lights the casual looking rod, which starts to spit pink smoke. I start walking into the white clouds of Lara Favaretto‘s smoke installation in front of the Central Pavilion, leaving a pink trail behind me. Her installation means to mimic the workforce of the human brain. The pink smoke mixes with the white smoke, slowly dissolving, while visitors walk through the last minutes of unasked art.
act IV: smoking is the 4th spontaneous action of the tenderfeet collective during the opening of the Venice Biennale. At the European Cultural Center a collective work is developing in the rythm of a play.
