The Power Plant

It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon

Ulla von Brandenburg

Past Exhibition

Jun 25 – Sep 05 2016

Ulla von Brandenburg: It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, 2013. Installation view: Secession, Vienna, 2013. Photo: Wolfgang Thaler

Ulla von Brandenburg: It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, 2013. Installation view: Secession, Vienna, 2013. Photo: Wolfgang Thaler


INTERNATIONAL ARTS PARTNERS

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GUEST CURATOR

Alexandra Baudelot, Co-Director, Les Laboratoires D'aubervilliers, France And Director of Rosascape (Paris)

ASSISTANT CURATOR

Clara Halpern, RBC Curatorial Fellow

Ulla von Brandenburg has developed a visual art practice in which films, performances, sculptures, installations, books and drawings exist side by side. The apparatuses in her films and installations echo those found in the history of theatre and stage design. Her work explores states of consciousness that allow the characters in her films and the viewer to experience worlds caught between past and present, reality and illusion, the sacred and the secular.

It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, von Brandenburg's first solo exhibition in Canada, brings together five recurring themes in her work: colour, ritual, movement, stairs and textiles. The inspiration for these themes are drawn from the architecture of modern theatre and theorist Adolphe Appia's stage designs; the dances of movement theorist Rudolf von Laban and the Judson Dance Theater; the work on movement by playwright Samuel Beckett and the artist Bruce Nauman; and John Cage's musical constructions on randomness.

The exhibition features the new commissioned film It has a Golden Sun and an Elderly Grey Moon (2016), co-produced by The Power Plant, Toronto; the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne; the Darling Foundry, Montreal; Aarhus 2017: European Capital of Culture, Denmark; and Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich. unfolds in a large installation designed for this particular site. It operates simultaneously as both a stage set and a film.

It Has a Golden Sun and an Elderly Grey Moon (2016) takes place on the stage of Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre, France. This space is structured by two large staircases that serve as a platform. Comprised of different levels, the staircase is a means of architecturally representing hierarchies in space. The various actions taking place are embodied by dancers’ simple movements and their handling of coloured pieces of fabric. The film is presented in a black and white scenography that mirrors the stage on which the action of the dancers takes place.

Alongside the new film and installation, The Power Plant presents a survey of von Brandenburg’s film works in an installation designed by the artist. The selection includes Die Strasse (2013), Singspiel (2009) as well as The Record (2005-2014), which was filmed in Toronto.

The exhibition is also accompanied by the publication It Has a Golden Sun and an Elderly Grey Moon, edited by Alexandra Baudelot. Between a monograph and an artist's book, this publication brings together texts by various authors exploring the five themes of the exhibition, which are also present in von Brandenburg's wider work.Published by Mousse, It Has a Golden Sun and an Elderly Grey Moon is funded by the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne; The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto; Aarhus 2017: European Capital of Culture, Denmark; Museum HausKonstruktiv, Zurich; the Ricard Foundation; and the CNAP, Centre national des arts plastiques, France.

It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon is presented concurrently with an exhibition at the Darling Foundry, Montreal.

LEARN MORE

Watch a video of The Power Plant's Summer 2016 Season

Watch an interview with Guest Curator Alexandra Baudelot and Ulla von Brandenburg

Summer 2016 Program Guide

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Installation view: Secession, Vienna, 2013. Photo: Wolfgang Thaler.

Installation view: Palais de Tokyo, Paris. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Art:Concept, Paris. Photo: André Morin.

Installation view: Cockatoo Island, 19th Biennale of Sydney, 2014. Courtesy the artist; Art:Concept, Paris; Pilar Corrias, London; and Produzentengalerie, Hamburg with support of The Keir Foundation. Photograph: Ben Symons.

Installation view: Cockatoo Island, 19th Biennale of Sydney, 2014. Courtesy the artist; Art:Concept, Paris; Pilar Corrias, London; and Produzentengalerie, Hamburg with support of The Keir Foundation. Photograph: Ben Symons.

Installation view: The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Installation view: The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Installation view: It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Installation view: The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Installation view: It Has a Golden Red Sun and an Elderly Green Moon, The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Installation view: The Power Plant, 2016. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.

About the Artist


Ulla von Brandenburg

Ulla von Brandenburg (born 1974 in Karlsruhe, Germany) lives and works in Paris.

Photo Jan Norhoff courtesy Ulla von Brandenburg et Art - Concept, Paris .jpg