Andrea G Artz. Juried Artist
Constellations
WebXR on the Styly platform
Artist Statement
The VR experience was inspired by an ancient Greek myth and a series of self – portraits that the artist took at age 50. The project developed during a digital residency for Mozilla hubs with Agora Digital Art, a London based organization that advocates the work of women and non-binary artists. The work weaves together surreal CGI imagery inspired by the myth of Aphrodite’s violent birth; how the goddess was born a grown woman, and an audio piece that is a virtual continuation of Frigga Hauge’s “memory work” and built upon the oral reflections of middle-aged women.
“Some of you may recall the myth of Aphrodite’s violent birth; how the goddess of Love and Fertility was born a grown woman shaped form the white foam of the sea. Adding narrative from the surrealist artist Ithell Colquhoun with her vision of divine femininity, in which the woman becomes a landscape and merges with Earth – an entity alive inhabited by spirits… In this metaphor, the project question’s themes related to mature women such as ageism, body confidence, and criticism of the eternal youthful representation of the female body. The clash between the two players: the body and the mind.” (MiMi, Agora Digital Art, 2022).
In 2022, I answered a residency call to develop and adapt my XR project “Rise of the Tidal Island Queens” to the stories and landscapes of Lapland, Sweden. The project is an ever evolving, site-specific work that dynamically adapts to each environment it inhabits, and during my residency at Moskosel Creative Lab/ Northern Sustainable Futures it developed into the VR work “Rise of the Ice Queens.”
During my stay, I visited the Ajtte Museum in Jokkmokk to research Sami traditions, 3d scanned the Northern environments and recorded 360 videos of Aurora to build the virtual world for the Island Queens covered in ice and snow and skies illuminated by Aurora.
I was particularly curious about the role of women in Sami culture and read Ann – Helen Laestadius’s book Stolen, where she portrays a woman’s struggle to defend her heritage in a world where climate change looms and the tensions that arise when modern ideas come up against traditional culture.
In the VR experience visitors witness and can take part in a ritual performed by the “Ice Queens” under the skies of Aurora, and accompanied by a sound design of fellow artist in residence and experimental musician Christoph Zeckel. They can further interact with 3 floating spheres and experience the original Island Queens and listen to the quotes of middle aged women how they feel in body and mind (sound design Isa Suarez).
Styly link: Rise of the Tidal Island/ Ice Queens
About the artists
Andrea is a German/ British multimedia artist, Media Design lecturer and photographer based in London. Recent awards and commissions: shortlisted for Artists Meet Archives, Photoszene Cologne; VR Art Prize Berlin awarded by DKB, 2023; bursary a-n Artists Information Company, 2022; Commission Covid Responses, Grain Projects, 2020; Arts Council England Lottery grant, 2020; Mac Dowell Colony Fellowship Award, 2018; DYCP Arts Council grant, 2018; Ecce (European Centre for Creative Economy) award, 2017. Solo exhibitions: Neuland Projekt Raum, Bochum, Germany; Coleman Project Space, London, 2021; Foyer Gallery, School of Design, University of Leeds, 2019; and Rottstr5 kunsthallen, Bochum, Germany, 2017. Artist residencies at iM Konsthall, Lappland, Sweden, 2024; Agora Digital Art, 2022; Yucca Valley Material Lab, California, USA, 2020; and Mac Dowell Colony Residency, Peterborough, NH, USA, 2018. Andrea’s work is in the collections of the Museum of London; Charles Dickens Museum; MFAH Houston, USA and Museum Kunst & Gewerbe, Hamburg.
Isa Suarez. Originally from the Basque region and a classically trained musician, Isa Suarez is a London based composer who creates contrasting sound worlds spanning a range of genres across film, visual art, VR and performance. Her compositions stem from her passion for how music can impact emotions and respond to the human condition. Recent awards include Best 360° Film Awards at the Cannes World Film festival and Beyond The Curve International Film Festival 2023. Her works have been exhibited and broadcast worldwide including Tate Britain, Barbican, Glastonbury and Edinburgh International Festivals/UK, Cape Town/ZA and Berlin Art Biennales/Germany, BBC, National Geographic TV, Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood Film Festival.
Christoph Zeckel is a German/Malaysian experimental musician and sound artist based in Porto. Seeing sound as a playground and a field of exploration while drawing inspiration from the natural world and its unique complex compositions, he creates works based on field recordings and obscure technologies, seeking to elicit a sense of wonder and meditative listening space.
Credits: Mrs Andrea G Artz, Mrs Isa Suarez, Mr Christoph Zeckel
URL: https://andreagartz.co.uk/virtual-worlds/rise-of-the-ice-queens/