Marion Ancker

1970 Born in Berlin, Germany

1994 now Lives and works in London, UK
1995 1997 Contemporary Media Practice, University of Westminster in London, UK
1994 1995 Mixed Media Arts, University of Westminster in London, UK
1991 1994 Visual Communications at the University of Arts in Berlin, class of Austrian video artist Valie Export

Art projects and exhibitions:

Cyclus In Four Scenes, multimedia installation (2005):
- 18th Jan - 18th Feb 2007 "Winter Exhibition", group show, Contemporary Arts Projects Gallery, London
- 25th , 26th Nov 2006 "Oggle Art Fair", Stoke Newington, London, UK
- 26th Aug 21st Oct 2006 "15th Anniversary Open", group exhibition, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield, UK
- 01st 15th Aug 2006: "Birth and Heart of Gold", solo exhibition, Jedburgh Arts and Community Centre, Jedburgh, UK
- 01st 12th Nov 2005: Medical Edge 2005, group exhibition, Euroart Gallery, London, UK
- 01st 16th Oct 2005: Fred05, art invasion, Cumbria, UK
- 26th 29th Aug 2005: Are we there yet?, group exhibition Greenbelt Festival, Wakefield, UK
- 25th June 23th July 2005: Twenty Five, group exhibition in Exposure Gallery, Swansea, UK

Other Places, interactive video installation (1997):
- 7th July 1997: Group exhibition in AudioRom studio, London, UK
- 26th June 4th July 1997: Group exhibition in Riverside Studios, London, UK

Blind Alley, interactive sound installation (1997)

Play This, interactive video installation, site specific (1996):
- 18th June 1996: Exhibited in The Edge, a game arcade in Harrow On The Hill, Middlesex, UK

At the Centre of Matter, sound installation (1996)

Peep Booth, interactive video installation (1995):
- March 1995: Selected Boiled Work, group exhibition, Riding House Street, London, UK

Drawer open, drawer closed (meaning Thinking in boxes), interactive video installation (1994):
- 29th Sept 2nd Oct 1994: Signs of the Time, group exhibition to accompany the ELIArt congress in Berlin, Germany
- 16th 25th June 1994: About the (Non-)Changeability of Things, group exhibition to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Academy of Arts in Dresden, Germany

Collections:

Since 2007: Contemporary Art Projects, London, UK

Awards:

1994: Karl Hofer Price, Berlin, Germany
1994: Womens Development Fund, Berlin, Germany

INTUART INTERVIEW CONTINUED
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I started my studies with Visual Communication at the University of Art in Berlin. For two years I was in the class of Austrian video artist Valie Export. My early works are mainly interactive video and sound installations. They use items from daily life which we are familiar with and comfortable to interact with straight away. For example my piece Drawer Open, Drawer Closed has a chest of drawers at the centre of the installation. I prefer my work to have intimate interactions on a one-to-one level. I'm fascinated by the notion of collective memory and creating three dimensional spaces. I'm often creating staged, theatrical set ups that deliver a physical experience as well as a visual one.

Cyclus In Four Scenes, is my latest project. The four pieces work independently and as a whole. Cyclus is the Latin word for circle. In my work it stands not just for a cycle from birth to death, but more importantly it represents a repetitive, habitual behaviour, a life pattern that keeps us in a certain place. Life reoccurs over and over in the same way; be it the planets that orbit, the cycles that we live, or the relationship patterns that we repeat. We cycle through and can potentially get closer to our essence. 'Cyclus' challenges the audience to break the cycles that they find unhelpful, through self-awareness and self-empowerment.

In the second scene, 'Anatomy Lesson,' I'm reinterpreting the famous The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr. Tulp by Rembrandt. I'm subverting it gently to give it a new story. Whereas in the original, the arm as the instrument given to man by God, is deemed tasteful to be opened and examined in a painting by the church, in my version, my own body is laid out to be opened and examined by a multitude of observers, all of whom are myself. Ambivalent, curious, critical, immersed, fascinated, Marion observes Marion, trying to understand who I am and what is going on inside me.

The third scene is called Recognition Of Beauty. In this piece, originally The Toilet Of Venus by Rubens, I acknowledge the moment I recognise my own beauty. It's the first time that I own myself as a woman and as a masterpiece in my own right. It was important to be naked in front of the camera and take my place in this world and the world of art. It was uncomfortable at first but important.

I am the central piece of every work, exposed and honest, confronting myself with the fact that we as individuals are the ones that empower or disempower ourselves. We are the ones