SILKE GRABINGER
Performance Artist, Selected Artworks
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SPOTSHOTBEUYS
SPOTSHOTBEUYS brings together Silke Grabinger and “Spot”, the robotic dog developed by Boston Dynamics and processes the current relationship between humans and technology against the backdrop of Joseph Beuys’ performance "I like America and America likes me".
Although the dog is no longer symbolically the original nature like the coyote, but rather the result of the currently most advanced culture, the relationship to it is not dissimilar, except the role of mediating between dog and human now asserts itself in its own autonomy. In this context, the roles must be questioned more than ever – from whom does the danger emanate, who controls whom, or who can/must be tamed by whom?
A collaboration between Silke Grabinger, the Circus of Knowledge and the Department of Robotics at the Johannes Kepler University
Performance Installation 120 - 200 min.
Video artwork of the Performance at Francisco Carolinum
Lenghts 15`06, 2023
Video artwork of the Performance on April 22nd in Venice, Lenghts 37`27, 2024 with permission from Fondazione Bonotto, excerpts from the video documentation of Joseph Beuys: I Like America and America Likes Me (1974) used on 20.04.2024 at 5 PM at The Venice Venice, Cannaregio 5631, 30121 Venice
78 x 110 5 + 1 AP
110 x 154 3 + 1 AP
150 x 210 1 + 1 AP
CONVERGENCE
CONVERGENCE involving two humans - Silke Grabinger and Theresa Scheinecker - and two robots "Spot" and a robotic vacuum cleaner. Both robots respond to infrared ligth via sensors, facilitating a choreographed encounter between human and machine. The performance stages a form of communication that renders the robots seemingly capable of decision-making, creating the illusion of emotional proximity. Through dance, the inherent diversity of entitels appears to dissolve. This piece envisions a transcendent connection between human and machine, which is further explored and intensified in "SPOTSHOTBEUYS".
A collaboration between Silke Grabinger, the Circus of Knowledge and the Department of Robotics at the Johannes Kepler University
CONVERGENCE, 2024, Video Artwork, Video, Sound, Loop, 02 min
FORTUNE OF PLANET B
Welcome to Planet B
Welcome to Planet B Building on Ars Electronica Festival subject, the performer and choreographer Silke Grabinger approaches the concept of utopia and dystopia through a performative installation of the subject. Sound of Music will serve as the basis for the performative realisation, the original step sequences will be brought into focus, subjected to a repetitive movement transformation and transported into the present. - Interpreted through an urban and contemporary approach.
Performance 20 min.
Photographic concept by Ars Electronica for Ars Electronica Festival
Realization in photography: Zoe Goldstein
Fortune of Planet B
Fortune of Planet B The ancient Romans already had the figure of the soothsayers and the foretellers of the future - the augurs. Equipped with their crosier, they observed the events of nature. Silke Grabinger - this time equipped with VR goggles, controller and fortune features - deals with the questions oftoday‘s society in the performative installation Fortune of Planet B, symbolises the epitome of the oracle, who predicts fateful future scenarios and appears as a future-telling figure. Is society on its way to a utopia or dystopia? What ethical questions accompany progress? And will we as a society overcome these difficulties in a humane way? The augur‘s smile of the knowing and initiated performer and choreographer will perhaps know the answers.
Performance 20 -120 min.
UNDERBODY
A duet within herself. A construction of five KUKA Robots move an abstract figure which dances with a performer.
This performance is based on the choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser and serves as the continuation of the co-operation with Johannes Braumann and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. In Bodenwieser’s piece “Demon Machine” (1923), five dancers transform into one machine, now five machines transform into one dancer. One person used to control a part of the machine then, an industrial Kuka-Robot takes over a body part now.
Performance Artist Silke Grabinger enters a pas de deux with this puppet. The technology serves as the male counterpart, the animus, with whom Grabinger is being confronted. Who mirrors whom, who reacts on whom, or who is leading is unclear in this art work. The investigation questions the relevance of Bodenwieser’s assessment which states that machines are occupying a more and more predominant role in our society and humans are not in control.
Performance 15 min.
VI
The series „Vi! - The continuous state of suspense“ captures the ephemeral nature of performance as a photographic coincidence in a moment, integrating the stillness of the body into the seemingly timeless emptiness of the landscape.
The medium photography holds a distinct advantage over the human eye: it can render sequences of motion in their own complexity. However, through deliberate focus on a specific moment within the sequence, it can also deconstruct, abstract, and reinterpret them.
In this cooperation with the photographer Meinrad Hofer, Silke Grabinger asks him to capture a specific moment when she is leaping within expansive landscapes through rapid succession of images.
His aim is not to conduct a precise study of motion from takeoff to landing, but to reveal a singular moment.
The series of „Vi“ has been reenacted by Silke Grabinger in several cooperations with different photographers over more than twenty years.
180 x 252cm 1+1AP
152 x 213cm 2+1AP
114 x 160cm 3+1AP
75 x105cm 4+1AP
Videoartwork of the Performance Island Lenghts 714, 2019
Videoartwork of the Performance Vienna Lenghts 1521, 2019
THE BERLIOZ PROJECT
“The Berlioz Project” is a cooperation between Ars Electronica and Markus Poschner with the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Visual Artist Cori Olan. It took place as part of the Big Concert Night of Ars Electronica Festival and Silke Grabinger was responsible for choreography and the over-all performance.
She created a performance based on the opera “Symphonie fantastique” by Hector Berlioz. In this work the performers engage in a visual dance with a robot. The piece deals with technology, the digital, the body and the organic, it searches for natural aspects in the machine and perfection in the body. What quality can found in imperfection?
Performance 120 min.
For more detailed information on the different artworks including full credits and a detailed portfolio map, please contact presse@silk.at.
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