|
Elodie Silberstein was born in France in 1973. She is an
installation* artist who lives and works between Europe and
Australia. She creates dream like environments which often involve
narration, light effects and performance used in order to create an
atmospheric world which resides between dreams and nightmares. Her
work has a direct affiliation with concept of Total Installation
quoted by artist Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933). Kabakov has described the
viewer as an actor and the work as being all encompassing like in a
theatre set where the artist is the director of a play. Many of
the surreal settings created by Elodie address the contentious
concept of childhood, a recurrent thematic which appears throughout
her investigations as does motherhood. Her work deals with childhood
representation, the construction of its romance and its nostalgia.
Her artificial worlds sound sensual and playful but this first
impression is deceptive. The journey brings us through an
exploration of violence and dysfunctional behaviour far from the
sanitised Victorian vision of the infantile and induces a powerful
sense of discomfort. Psychoanalysis, collective mythologies,
contemporary visual theatre and the cinematic experience are some of
the strong influences of her practice.
Recent works, both in London, have included The Play House, a one
week residency in Waltham Forest Theatre curated by Laura Kerry for
Artillery and The Cubby House, a solo show held in Campbell Works
Gallery. Elodie is currently working on Architecture Week London
2007 for which she has been invited by Architect Ed Frith and
Choreographer Caroline Salem to participate in a second
collaborative project.
elodiesilberstein@westnet.com.au
* Refers to the type of art into which the viewer physically
enters, and which is often described as “theatrical”, “immersive” or
“experimental”. Bishop, Claire. Installation Art, Tate, 2005, P 6.
Preparatory model of The Cubby House / 2006 / Campbell Works
Gallery
Visitors individually locked themselves inside a totally dark wooden
enclosed cube. Whilst inside this cubby, with the aid of a torch,
they were allowed to read an intimate diary which transformed them
into voyeurs and allowed them to penetrate the secret world of a
pre-pubescent girl, Clara.
|
