WORK
 

THE LINK
GANGWAYS TO A SPACESHIP THAT BRINGS US BACK TO THE FUTURE

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Night Visitors, Piccola Spoleto Festival, June 2012
Villa Floreal, Cadegliano, Italy

Comfortable Devices for Ancient Love

Chair adapted from the mexican classic Acapulco Chair
Steel, enamel, plastic, 150x160x130 cm, 2012

 

 
 

ARCHIPEL

MULHOUSE 012 BIENNALE


ARCHIPELAGO
Installation by Ulrike Buck (*1983 Stuttgart)

‚Archipelago‘ (means) a cluster of islands including parts of islands, the waters inbetween and other natural features, that are so close in relationship to each other, that they form a real geographic, economic and political unity“ (taken from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea UNCLOS 1982)

Could we therefore consider the entire contemporary world an archipelago? The term “archipelic thinking“ established after the french philosopher and anthropologist Édouard Glissant signifies a cultural vitality that differs from continental culture in its willingness to mix. Ulrike Buck sees mankind as the people of archipelago earth. Her work connects deep intercultural motives of mankind to contemporary trends of the global village.

Ulrike Buck`s installation mixes ancient symbolics and tropical classic designs with contemporary trip culture and paradise utopia. The elements blend to a synaestetic landscape of colours, forms and sounds, that point to other worlds (states of conciousness).


THE LINK / GANGWAYS
three sculptures made from wood, steel, enamel, each app. 300x220x200 cm

The staircase carved from one tree is one of the oldest and most primitive forms of a staircase and can still be found in primitive indian tribes. The staircase icon represents not only the transit from earth to heaven, from secular to sacred, from life to the afterlife - it is the basic element in many cosmological depictions from primitve and ancient cultures. (world house, pyramids..) The staircase sculptures by Ulrike Buck could have been inspired from an LSD trip. They look like entry gangways onto a spaceship that brings us back to the future.


COMFORTABLE DEVICES FOR ANCIENT LOVE
three objects, steel, plastic, enamel, each app. 150x150x130 cm

The overdimensional seating furniture works like a parabolic antenna, that stimulates the occupant to consider the universe above, below and all around them.
The seating objects are eclectic interpretations of the acapulco chair: A mexican design classic of the fifties. There is no copyright due to the anonymity of the designer. As well as being built on a primitive level by simple workers in beach towns, the chair is increasingly produced by international design manufacturers. There are endless versions, specifications and price brackets. The Design looks as comfortable in a beach hut as it does in a designer loft.


PARADISE PARANOIA
audiotrack stereo, 15 min

Samples from the jungle, and the animals within, recorded in mexico form the basis of Erkan Barans (DJ Airkhan) trance techno audio landscape.

Paradise is not a location, but a higher state of conciousness that is destined to decay at the very moment of inception.


ARCHIPEL
Eine Installation von Ulrike Buck (*1983 Stuttgart)

‚Archipel‘ (bedeutet) eine Gruppe von Inseln einschließlich Teilen von Inseln, dazwischen liegende Gewässer und andere natürliche Gebilde, die so eng miteinander in Beziehung stehen, dass diese Inseln, Gewässer und anderen natürlichen Gebilde eine wirkliche geographische, wirtschaftliche und politische Einheit bilden. (entnommen aus dem Seerechtsüber-einkommen der Vereinten Nationen (UNCLOS) von 1982)

Könnte demzufolge der gesamte heutige Globus als Archipel betrachtet werden? „Archipelisches Denken“ zeichnet sich nach dem französischen Philosophen und Ethnologen Édouard Glissant durch eine kulturelle Vitalität aus, die sich von den kontinentalen Kulturen wesentlich unterscheidet, besonders durch die Bereitschaft zur Vermischung. Ulrike Buck sieht die Menschen als Bürger des Archipels Erde. Ihre Arbeiten bringen tief liegende interkulturelle Motive der Menschheitsgeschichte mit zeitgenössischen Strömungen des globalen Dorfes zusammen.

Die Installation von Ulrike Buck vermischt urtümliche Symboliken und tropische Designklassiker mit zeit-genössischer Rauschkultur und Paradiesvorstellungen. Die Elemente verbinden sich zu einer synästhe-tischen Landschaft aus Farben, Formen und Tönen, die auf andere Welten / Bewusstseinszustände verweist.

THE LINK / GANGWAYS
drei Skulpturen aus Holz, Stahl, Lack, je ca. 300x220x200 cm

Die aus einem Baumstamm geschnitzte Treppe ist die älteste und ursprünglichste Form einer Treppe und bis heute bei primitiven Indianerstämmen zu finden. Das Ursymbol Treppe steht nicht nur für den Übergang von der Erde zum Himmel, vom Profanen zum Heiligen, vom Diesseits ins Jenseits - sie ist überhaupt ein konstitutives Element in vielen kosmologischen Darstellungen primitiver Völker und der Vorzeit (Welten-haus, Pyramiden..) Die Treppenskulpturen von Ulrike Buck könnten einem LSD Trip entsprungen sein. Sie sehen aus wie Gangways zu einem Raumschiff das uns zurück in die Zukunft bringt.

COMFORTABLE DEVICES FOR ANCIENT LOVE
drei Objekte aus Stahl, Kunststoff und Lack, je ca. 150x150x130 cm

Die überdimensionierten Sitzmöbel funktionieren wie Parabolantennen, die den darin Sitzenden stimulieren, sich das über, unter und in ihm befindliche Universum vorzustellen. Die Sitzobjekte sind Abwandlungen des Acapulco-Chair : Ein mexikanischer Designklassiker der Fünfziger Jahre. Der Designer ist unbekannt, folglich gibt es kein Copyright. Der Stuhl wird sowohl traditionell von primitiv arbeitenden Handwerkern in Stranddörfern, als auch zunehmend von großen internationalen Designfirmen hergestellt. Es gibt unendlich viele Variationen, Ausführungen und Preisklassen. Das Möbel passt ebenso gut in primitivste Strandhütten wie in teure Designerlofts.

PARADISE PARANOIA
Audiotrack Stereo, 11 min loop

Erkan Baran (DJ Airkhan) komponierte aus Tier und Naturgeräuschen, die von Ulrike Buck im Dschungel aufgenommen worden sind, eine psychedelische Trance-Techno Audiolandschaft.

Das Paradies ist kein Ort, sondern ein Zustand, der im Moment seines Entstehens dem Verfall zustrebt.

 
 
PARA SOIRÉE
Mexico City April 2012

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SALÓN VERDE
Lamps made from banana leafs

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PARADISE
PARANORMAL
PARANOIA
PARASITE
PARAPHRASE
PARALELL
PARABOL
PARADIGM
PARADOX
PARAVENT
PARAGRAPH
PARACETAMOL
PARAMETER
PARALYSED
PARANUT

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BLATTSCHNEIDERAMEISENAUTOBAHN
(leaf cutting ants autobahn)
Videoloop 10 min
Palenque 2012

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Karma Colonial
Performance by Pilar Villela (Mexico D.F)

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Bora Bora
Installation by Bora Tanay (Stuttgart)

 

Strange Encounters of the 5th Type
Groupshow February 2012, Mexico City

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WE WILL SURVIVE
Neon lettering, 12 x 80 cm, 2012

The universal term we will survive comes with heaps of historical assosiations. Its meaningfulness fluctuates between sobriety and irony,
therefore the illuminated lettering may function as word of comfort - but at the same time it raises serious questions about our existence.
It  can be read as a comment on the apocalyptic spices in our zeitgeist, whereby the identities of subject and recipient stay undefined.
Manufactured by a small shop in Mexico City.

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What the eyes don´t see and the ears don´t hear
Neon pencil drawing, 30x50cm
, Mexico 2012

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Thinking is a Waste of Time
Audio piece, 20 min loop
(once in a a while various voices from hidden speakers in the chinese lamp tell: "thinking is a waste of time")
 

WE LOVE GLOBALISATION !
THE BUCK SISTERS GLOBAL JELLY

Edition:
68 glasses of superdelicious homemade global jelly.
The origins of the ingredience are labeled.
Ulrike und Wera Buck 2011

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“greetings ancient moon!

Moon, often I have asked myself which is the easiest to divine:
the altitude of the moon or the depth of the human heart
I may say that despite the altitude of the moon
it cannot be compared in this respect with the depth of the human heart
Psychology has much to learn.(…)

Tell me, ancient moon
will you be my brother?
Ignorant of your secret destiny, 
everything about you interests me
Are you the abode of the prince of darkness?”(1)

For centuries, myths have been constructed in an attempt to decipher the natural world and its phenomena.(2)  Through such mythologizing, the rabbit and the moon have been written into cultural significance as emblems of our own untamable wild psychological states.  These archetypes have come to embody, among many things, the inaccessible regions of the human psyche– that which is neither conscious nor unconscious– beyond psychology (3).
These myths not only function to “harness the moon” and “constrain the population of rabbits,” moreover these stories attempt to explain the inexplicable. We are empowered by our natural inclination to explain what we cannot control. The uncertain and the chaotic are identified in relation to ourselves, transforming through metaphor into mythical explanations which become definitive.  Through this, we aim to control that which we cannot suppress– that which recurs, regenerates, and multiplies.
The moon, although cyclical in its apparent transformation, belongs to a universe with ever-increasing entropy, on an unwavering trajectory toward eventual cosmic heat death. Likewise, populations of rabbits serve as catalysts for their own destruction, continuing to multiply as they overextend their territories and resources. (4) Translation becomes an exercise in futility. Perhaps we can better understand without explanation.
An open and indecipherable field for subjective perception, the works featured in this exhibition do not attempt to define particular phenomena, nor do they function to reveal any mystery about the psychological states of their author, or the cultures which gave rise to the mythological interpretations to which Buck refers.  Rather, the works suggest a rejection of the transcultural myth.  Our destiny, much like that of the objects Buck has created, lingers in the unknown.  This exhibition is an invitation to participate in this mystery. 
Your destiny is, and will remain secret.

Text: Amanda Moore

(1) Deep is the Ocean - High is the Moon Ulrike Buck. 2011. Video. Text appropriated from: Week End. Jean Luc Godard. 1967.

(2) Since ancient times, cultures the world over– China, India, Europe, Egypt, the Americas– have developed tales which reference both the rabbit and the moon.  Such stories include; the Buddhist Story of the Sacrifice of the Hare; Alice in Wonderland; The Tale of Eostre, Celtic Goddess, and her transformation into a hare at the full Moon; the Aztec legend of the god Quetzalcoatl, „The Bunny Girl“ was mentioned in conversation between Houston and the Apollo 11 crew just before the first moon landing; the Moon Rabbit, the Goddess Chang’e, and the elixir of life.

(3) In the field of astrology, the moon has also come to represent the subconscious mind.  

(4) Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London, John Murray. 1859.

 

Deep is the Ocean - High is the Moon
Video 5:16 min
Drums: Raphael Sbrzesny
Ulrike Buck 2011


Isis Pendulum
turned wood, enamel, 80x22cm, 2011


Great Hare 1987/2010
high res macroscopic c-print of my first sculpture
on aluminium dibond, 110x200 cm


Nimbus
hazelwood sticks covered in black silicon, neon light, electric wires, 2010



Mirror Moon
mirror with sandblasted etching on both sides, enamel, wall brackets, 55 cm, 2011


The End of Eternity
wooden pyramid base with fake marble enamel, mirror, root, 100x100cm, 2010

White Rabbit
thread, paper, silicon, glass, wooden staircase base, enamel, spraypaint, 2010

Hare in the Moon/ Rorschach
vinyl table cloth, silicon, 150 cm, 2010

Unsterblichkeit (Immortality)
Edition of 12 bottles
glass, acrylic, sandblasted etching, drink of immortality

 

WORK LIFE BALANCE LABORATORY

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An experimental self developing installation and public sculpture by Ulrike Buck

UTOPIA PARKWAY RESIDENCY STUTTGART 22.02.-27.03.2011

The WORK LIFE BALANCE LABORATORY was situated in an abandoned / to be turned down
shopping mallin the heart of Stuttgart. During five weeks it functioned as living room, studio,
exhibition spaceand furthermore as a 24/7 public café, meeting point, library, open stage, bar...

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THE CARPET IS ALIVE
dispersion on carpet
UB 2011
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THE CARPET IS ALIVE (SPIRAL JETTY)
dispersion and cress on carpet
UB 2011

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FIKUS LEVITATION BAR
fikus plant, discoball motor, aluminium, wood, paint, spotlight
UB 2011

background:

BADEWANNENVORHANG (BATHTUB CURTAIN)
curtain, paint
Helmut Dietz 2011

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Foto: Daniela Wolf

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WLB
WORDS LIKE BLUE

conceptual library
Adrianna Liedtke, Anna Holtz 2011

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BEST OF BEST OF BEST OF VIDEO GROUP SCREENING SHOW
Curated by Marco Schmitt and Patrick Alt

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Saturday night, 12. 03. 2011
WORK LIFE BALANCE LABORATORY closed with a disastrous dance party.

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Foto: Daniela Wolf

Der Begriff Work-Life-Balance steht für einen Zustand, in dem Arbeit und Privatleben miteinander in Einklang stehen. Kritisch anzumerken ist zu diesem Begriff die enthaltene implizite Unterstellung, dass (Berufs-)Arbeit ("work") etwas anderes sei und abseits passiere vom Leben ("life").

The work-leisure dichotomy was invented in the mid 1800s. In anthropology, a definition of happiness is to have as little separation as possible "between your work and your play." The expression "Work–life balance" was first used in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s to describe the balance between an individual's work and personal life. In the United States, this phrase was first used in 1986.
Over the past twenty-five years, there has been a substantial increase in work which is felt to be due, in part, by information technology and by an intense, competitive work environment. Long-term loyalty and a "sense of corporate community" have been eroded by a performance culture that expects more and more from their employees yet offers little security in return.
Many experts predicted that technology would eliminate most household chores and provide people with much more time to enjoy leisure activities; but many ignore this option, encouraged by prevailing consumerist culture and a political agenda that has "elevated the work ethic to unprecedented heights and thereby reinforced the low value and worth attached to parenting"

Source: Wikipedia

 

TELEVISION TELEPATHY TELEPORTATION

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Exorcism #1#2#3
Window Gallery, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT Boston Feb 2011
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PHENOMENA OF MATERIALISATION
self portraits with ectoplasm
inkjet on baryt, 30x40cm

 

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exhibiton view: Württembergischer Kunstverein, Das vertraute Unvertraute, 2010
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Heart of Glass
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EMPIRE OF ECSTASY
sandblasted inscription on found mirror, 80x130cm
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TWILIGHT
skirt, led bulbs, found lamp
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PARAVENT
wood, fabric with silkscreen prints
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ETERNAL LIFE
trees without skin
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Les Fleurs du Mal
Arne Jacobsen chair deconstruction reconstruction

 

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Kunstakademie Stuttgart 2009

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Heidelberger Kunstverein 2009

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Galerie Lisi Hämmerle Bregenz 2009