Archived News

Commission - Performance | 'emoji art'

Schwenk, Artist impression, 'tears of joy: emoji art'

In September as part of Stadtbesetzung, I will perform a new art action that will build a sense of community and connection. I am looking for people to join in.

In recognising how we use emoji - an international visual language to relate to each other in the digital age - Sylvia will work with the local community of Schöppingen to create emoji art using human bodies. This project, like emoji, will connect people and enhance communication across cultural and language barriers. The action is made up of a workshop and a performance in the public space in Schöppingen.

Workshop: 7 September at 7pm  In the one hour workshop, I will work with the local community to develop an emoji that reflects Schöppingen. All parts of the community are invited to come together to brainstorm and design this emoji. (All drawing materials are provided). Where: Fotoscheune Galerie, Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen.

Performance in the public space: 21 September at 6pm  The Schöppingen emoji created in the workshop and one of the most popular emojis of 2016 will be created using the bodies of the community in a work of socially engaged performance art, that I will direct. Where: on the green field next to the St Nikolaus Kindergarten, Schöppingen.

Join in:  You are invited to be a part of this project. If you would like to participate in the workshop and/or the performance (all ages welcome) please contact the artist by email: mail@sylviaschwenk.com, or telephone: 0176 288 76469.

With support from:

Acquisition

The Museum für Sepulkralkultur Kassel, Germany has acquired my film A shared space. The work will be on display as part of the Museum's permanent collection.

For this next week only you can view this film here.

 

Artist Residency: Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Schöppingen, Germany

I will be an artist-in-residence at the  Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen for August to September 2017.

 

Exhibition: 'Sommerfest im Wasserschloss Reelkirchen'

Group exhibition
24 to 25 June 2017
Das Schloss-Projekt

Schwenk, connect: kaleidoscope

Curated by Dr Sigrun Brunsiek from the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen this festival takes place on the grounds of a moated castle, celebrating the peak or Gipfeltreffen of art and summer.

I will be exhibiting a selection of my films from connect: kaleidoscope. The sentiment driving the work is connection. Connection between people. And connection with the world we live in.

 

MEDIA x MUMM at Art Central Hong Kong

International art fair
21 to 25 March 2017
Art Central Hong Kong

Schwenk, 5 prison stories

Curated by LINDA C.H. LAI, Founder of Floating Projects and Associate Professor of Intermedia Arts at the City University of Hong Kong’s School of Creative Media.

Offering an immersive experience at the MEDIA X MUMM Champagne Bar, experimental motion video works by international artists were exhibited across four dynamic screens.

I will be exhibiting my film 5 prison stories

 

Conference: Anywhere and elsewhere: art at the outermost limits

17 to 19 November 2016
Parsons School of Design, NYC, USA

Schwenk, X Performance Sydney

I will be presenting a paper, 'Performosis. How performance (art) affects people' on Thursday 17 November at 14:15.

Bookings here - free.

Curated by Sean Lowry and Simone Douglas.

Featuring presentations by: Megan Smith; David Griffin; Sreshta Rit Premnath; Franklin Collective; Re-sited (Melissa Bianca Amore & William Stover); Susan R. Greene; Frank J Miles; Sylvia Schwenk; EIDIA House; Livia Daza Paris; Radhika Subramaniam Sara Morawetz; Atif Akin; Michelle Lewis-King; Tricia Flanagan; Steve Maher; Standard Practice; Brad Buckley; Anne Gaines and Nadia Williams; Ayodamola Okunseinde and Salome Asega; Karen Frostig; Marta Jecu; Frauke Materlik; Daniel Cherrin; Jane Philbrick; and Tatlo (Sara Jimenez & Jade Yumang)

 

Exhibition: connect: kaleidoscope

Solo exhibition
21 to 23 October 2016
Gallery F6
Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen

Schwenk, connect: kaleidoscope II

A stimulating visual and aural exhibition about connecting with others. The artworks in this exhibition have been created in response to a work of socially engaged performance art directed in June.

connect: kaleidoscope is part of an international project that builds relationships and a sense of local community.

This exhibition is part of Stadtbesetzung II.

With support from:

 

project: 'connect'

connect is an international art project about connecting with others. The work seeks to break down barriers by bringing people together to share new experiences.

Schwenk,'connect: blanca' - small example of work in progress (2 mins, no sound)

I am creating this work with people in New York City, USA; Blanca Spain, Schöppingen and Berlin, Germany. Over 80 people have participated so far.

The sentiment driving this performance is true connection. In a world of increasing fear– we need to reach out to others – to celebrate life and the amazing nature within each of us.

If you live in NYC and would like to participate please email me at: mail@sylviaschwenk.com.

Please see here for more information.

With support from:

 

 

Artist Residency: AADK, Blanca, Spain

I will be an artist-in-residence at  AADK for 3 months, from July to September 2016.

 

Exhibition: 'Sommerfest im Wasserschloss Reelkirchen'

Group exhibition
12 June 2016
Das Schloss-Projekt

Schwenk, Drawings for performance, connect: kaleidoscope I,

Curated by Dr Sigrun Brunsiek from the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen this festival takes place on the grounds of a moated castle, celebrating the peak or Gipfeltreffen of art and summer.

I will be directing a new work of socially engaged performance art, connect: kaleidoscope. The sentiment driving the work is connection. Connection between people. And connection with the world we live in.

Exhibiting artists include: Artists Unlimited, Kaaren Beckhof, Dani Bekirsch, Angelika Höger, Andrea Freiberg, Frank Bölter and Sylvia Schwenk.

 

Artist Residency: Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, Schöppingen, Germany

I will be an artist-in-residence at the Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen for June and October 2016.

 

Exhibition: 'X/II'

Group exhibition
2 March to 2 April 2016
Artereal Gallery Sydney

 
Schwenk, The workers' lift, (single channel film with sound 6 mins)
This is a Preview of the first 30 seconds of the film.

X/II is the second phase of the ten-year anniversary celebration of the art and artists of Artereal. It continues the decade-long conversations around identity, spirituality, environmental impacts, the languages of light and the materials of art and Artereal Gallery’s ongoing emphasis on experimental and innovative practices.

I will be exhibiting my film, The workers' lift.

Exhibiting artists include: Jess Macneil, Ben Ali Ong, Owen Leong, Gian Manik, Svetlana Bailey, Emily Sandrussi, Noula Diamantopoulos, Hayden Fowler, Stevie Fieldsend, Shoufay Derz, Camille Hannah, Rebecca Beardmore, Gary Smith, Louise Zhang and Sylvia Schwenk.

 

Exhibition: 'X/I'

Group exhibition
2 March to 2 April 2016
Artereal Gallery Sydney

X/I is the first of a special two-part exhibition during March and April 2016 to celebrate the art and artists of Artereal Gallery, Sydney.

I will be directing a new work of socially engaged performance art, connect, create, inspire (see below) on 6 March as part of this exhibition.

Exhibiting artists include: Noula Diamantopoulos, Liam Benson, Daniel Wallwork, Andrew Lavery, Gary Deirmendjian, Damian Dillon, James Birch, Anne MacDonald, Ken and Julia Yonetani, Anna Carey, Hyun-Hee Lee, Sam Holt, Glen Henderson, Christopher Bucklow and Simone Douglas and Sylvia Schwenk.

 
Schwenk, 'connect, create, inspire', 2016. Artist impression
 

Exhibition: 'Outer space'

Group exhibition
5 December 2015 to 7 February 2016
Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney

Outer space, curated by Adam Porter, utilises the idea of space as a metaphor to explore the limits and agency of the physical body and human existence within the physical environments.

The exhibition includes two of my films:

- A shared space; and
- Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty.

Exhibiting artists are: Anotinette J. Citizen, Haines & Hinterding, Peter Hennessey, Christina Lissman, Alasdair Macintyre, Adam Norton, Liam O’Brien, Mira Oosterweghel, Sylvia Schwenk and Vernon Treweeke

 
Schwenk, Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty, (single channel film with sound 4 mins)
This is a Preview of the first 30 seconds of the film.
Schwenk, A shared space, (single channel film with sound 7 mins), 2012
This is a Preview of the first 30 seconds of the film.
 

My latest film Water ways will be screening at two film festivals:

and

 
Schwenk, Water ways (single channel film with sound 6 mins)
This is a Trailer of the film

Water ways is a visual documentary that transports us into the lives of a riverside community in Indonesia.

The film shows a slice of everyday life, starting with a group of children playing in the wash of the boat; and a tangle of boats that ultimately leads us to the main protagonist of the film, an older woman who shares her point of view with us. This woman absorbs the details of life around her from the edge of a timber mill, as she completes her morning rituals. She takes us into her world, a textured and fascinating place that we are invited to experience.

 

Group Exhibition: 'Multiples'

9 June to 14 July 2015
Brenda May Gallery

Schwenk, dada - when up is down (single channel film with sound 2 mins), 2015

This will be the premier of my film, dada - when up is down that re-presents a work of socially engaged performance art that I directed during the opening of an artexhibition.

Multiples is curated by Akky van Ogtrop.

 

14th Flensburger InternationalShort Film Festival

12 to 16 November 2014
Flensburg, Germany

Schwenk, A shared space, (single channel film with sound 7 mins), 2012
This is a Preview of the first 30 seconds of the film.
 

A shared space is a visual documentary that gives a rare insight into what happens before and after a funeral service.

The film opens on a graveyard on a beautiful serene sunny day. Grave diggers are working in a quiet, harmonious way preparing a grave for a burial. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining - but all is not as it seems.

 

Performance: World Domination

A new work of socially engaged performance art
Thursday, 14 August
Melbourne Art Fair - on the free City Circle Tram (route 35)
6-9pm

Sylvia Schwenk, World Domination (Pilot), Still from film, 2014

World Domination is a socially engaged work of performance art. It is a fun and playful work of art that encourages laughter, whilst parodying evil, greed and the desire to control the world. It is a nonsense. It is a silly and carefree project that is happy and evil, playful and scary all at the same time.  

World Domination aims to inspire happiness and laughter. Everyone is invited to join in.

Call out for participation

If you would like to be a part of the performance World Domination, please email me at: mail@sylviaschwenk.com

Here are some details for performers:

Meet at the tram stop outside the Melbourne Art Fair: Carlton Gardens’ Royal Exhibition Building,  at 5.15pm on the 14th of August.
The performance will run from 6-9 pm.You are welcome to participate in the work the whole time or for just the first hour.

 

12th In the Palace International Short Film Festival  

28 June until 4 July 2014
Balchik, Bulgaria

Schwenk, Naval Novella (single channel film with sound 10 mins), 2013
This is a Trailer of the film.
 

This is the European Premier of Naval Novella, a film that demystifies the Navy, breaking down some of the barriers that exist between Defence personnel and civilians.

This film shows the human side of the Navy uniquely allowing people to access a closed culture in an inviting way. The work is anchored by the naval tradition of tattoos and gruelling physical training utilising ‘the rope’, a symbol of union, mateship and stability.

 

Group Exhibition: 38th Alice Art Prize 

9 May until 15 June 2014
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs

Schwenk, Still from Naval Novella (10 minutes loop) 

The 38th Alice Art Prize is a national contemporary art award. The exhibiting artists were selected by Dr Michael Brand, Director of the Art Gallery of NSW. The winner will be announced on 9 May.

I will be exhibiting Naval Novella, a film with interviews, physical workouts and anecdotes presented as a revealing and engaging work filmed at HMAS Penguin, Australia.

 

Group Exhibition: 'Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award' 

29 March until 28 May 2014
Gold Coast City Gallery

Schwenk, X Performance Sydney

The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award is considered one of the most important annual surveys of contemporary Australian photographic practice. The exhibiting artists were selected by Natasha Bullock, the curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of NSW.

This is the 3rd time I have been selected for the Award.

I am exhibiting X Performance Sydney. This photograph is from an international body of work known as X Performances - ephemeral large and individual Xs that are made of human bodies in the middle of road intersections and important shared public spaces.

 

Group Exhibition: GrensWerteWeltAusstellung

21 March until 13 April  2014
Kloster Bentlage in Rheine, Germany

Schwenk and Dicke, Origami Crane Performance Performance - Interactive installation with 3 channel film with sound  (3 minutes loop) 

This exhibition showcases selected works from the European Union's Grenswerte program which promotes cross-border artistic and cultural art projects in the German-Dutch border region.

I will be exhibiting an interactive installation with a three channel film work from birds and clouds from one life to another, which was created with the German artist Nikola Dicke.

 

Art Fair: 'Contemporary Art Ruhr'

1 to 3 November 2013
Contemporary Art Ruhr in Essen, Germany

Schwenk, A shared space, (single channel film with sound 7 mins), 2012
This is a Preview of the first 30 seconds of the film.

A shared space will be screening at the Contemporary Art Ruhr at the invitation of the Berlin Directors Lounge Festival.

The film is a visual documentary that gives a rare insight into what happens before and after a funeral service.

A shared space opens on a graveyard on a beautiful serene sunny day. Grave diggers are working in a quiet, harmonious way preparing a grave for a burial. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining - but all is not as it seems.

The film premiered at the 9th Berlin International Directors Lounge Festival in 2013.