Diana Wesser CV

Diana W ess er CV
Diana Wesser CV
Born 1970 in Stuttgart, lives in Leipzig (DE)
Simildenstr. 7, 04277 Leipzig, Germany
t: +49 (0)152 29267529 e: [email protected], www.dianawesser.de
DIANA WESSER is a performer and media artist, based in Leipzig (Germany). After taking courses in
classical Ballet and Modern Dance, she studied media art at the Academy of Visual Arts
Leipzig/Germany to postgraduate level, while gaining further qualifications in contemporary dance and
improvisation practice. In 2006/2007 she held a teaching position at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig
and founded the ‘Werkstattmacher’ program to encourage young performance artists at LOFFT Theatre
Leipzig. She is working as a curator for several site-specific performance festivals including most
recently the conference and performance festival ‘play!LEIPZIG – Movement in Public Space’, in
collaboration with the Centraltheater and the Dance Archive Leipzig.
Her works provide a critique of performativity and theatrical aspects of everyday life. Through videos,
performances and participatory projects she investigates social and cultural codes, how they become
apparent in the body and its relation to space. She realised numerous performances particularly in public
space in collaboration with Marina Quesada (Argentina), Hermann Heisig (Germany) and theaterKUNST
Copenhagen (Denmark) among others. Together with the English architect and critical writer Helen
Stratford she founded the artist duo ‚urban (col)laboratory’. Her dance films are screened on festivals all
around the world including most recently 2010 FEDAME, International Dance and Electronic Media
festival, Guadalajara (MX) and the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai (CN).
www.dianawesser.de | www.playLEIPZIG.de | www.urbancollaboratory.net | werkstatt-lofft.de
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Diana W ess er CV
Education
2005
Postgraduate in the master class of Prof. Alba D'Urbano,
Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig (DE)
2001
Master of Fine Arts (Diploma Degree), Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig (DE)
2000
Study visit to Canada, Assistance at the performance centre
“Le Lieu – Centre en art actuel” (Richard Martel), Québec (CA)
1994 – 2001
Studies of Media Arts at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig (DE)
1990 – 1987
Education Graphic Design, Kolping Berufskolleg für Grafik-Design, Fellbach (DE)
1974 – 1987
Courses in classical Ballet and Modern Dance
Teaching / Curating
2010
Artistic Director “play! LEIPZIG – Movement in Urban Space“ (with Patrick Primavesi)
Conference and Performance Festival, Dance Archive & Centraltheater, Leipzig (DE)
2008 & 2009
Artistic Director team “Zwischengruen”, public space festival (DE)
Kunstverein Leipzig (art society Leipzig, DE)
2007 – 2009
Founder and Artistic Director team “Werkstattmacher“,
Program to encourage young performance artists, LOFFT Theatre Leipzig (DE)
2006 / 2007
Teaching position, Academy of visual Arts, Leipzig (DE)
Co-Curator “A question(ing) of gesture”, Exhibition and Performance-Event,
Opera Leipzig (DE)
2005 / 2006
Assistance of the Artistic Director “Love Your City!”, international theatre festival
“Neues Theater“, Halle/Saale (DE)
Residencies / Grants
2011
Residency Invitation, Wysing Arts Center, Cambridge (UK)
2009
CROP MARKS residency (together with English architect Helen Stratford),
Orchard Park, Cambridge (UK)
Residency at LOFFT.Leipzig (DE) (together with Austrian choreographer Caroline Decker)
2008
Project Grant, Fonds Darstellende Künste and City Council Leipzig
2007
Grant of the Kulturstiftung Sachsen (Cultural Foundation of Saxony)
2004
Nomination for “Kunstfoerderpreis” by Stadtwerke Halle (Saale) and Leipzig
2000
Travel Grant awarded by the Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse
for a study visit to Québec (CA)
Projects
2006 – 2008
Flexible Response, Performance collective, with the dancer Hermann Heisig
and the musicians Chris Weinheimer and Ole Schmidt
Since 2005
urban (col)laboratory, interdisciplinary artist duo with the English architect
and critical writer Helen Stratford (Cambridge/GB)
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Diana W ess er CV
Selected solo and group shows, festivals (since 2007)
2010
Expo 2010, Deutscher Pavillon, Shanghai (CN)
CUBEopen (until January 2011), with urban (col)laboratory
CUBE Centre For The Urban Built Environment, Manchester (UK)
WAC: Partnering, Group Exhibition, with urban (col)laboratory
Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (UK)
FEDAME, International Dance and Electronic Media festival, Guadalajara (MX)
Metropolis Laboratory, with urban (col)laboratory, Copenhagen (DK)
play! LEIPZIG – Movement in Urban Space, with urban (col)laboratory
Dance Archive and Centraltheater Leipzig (DE)
2009
New Media Festival, Britto Arts Trust, Dhaka (BD)
DAS ZIMMER Installation – Visual Music, Mozarteum Salzburg (AT)
Work Exhibition Diana Wesser (Solo Show), Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig (DE)
Festival of Ideas, with urban (col)laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK)
Nightjar Festival, Art in Public Space Festival, with urban (col)laboratory, Cambridge (UK)
Crop Marks Art Trail, with urban (col)laboratory, Orchard Park, Cambridge (UK)
Subvurt Surveillance Festival, with urban (col)laboratory,
The Britons Protection, Manchester (UK)
Metropolis Biennale, Copenhagen (DK)
zwischengruen09, Art in Public Space Festival, Kunstverein Leipzig (DE)
Das Böse ist ein Eichhoernchen, Landgericht, Leipzig (DE)
2008
Festival internacional VideoDanzaBa Mexico 2008, Coatepec, Veracruz (MX)
Metropolis LAB 2008, Kopenhagen (DK)
get lost psychogeography festival, with urban (col)laboratory, Manchester (UK)
TRIP psychogeography festival, with urban (col)laboratory, Manchester (UK)
Dokville 2008, Haus des Dokumentarfilms Stuttgart (DE)
Zwischengruen08, Art in Public Space Festival, Kunstverein Leipzig (DE)
2007
Metropolis Biennale, Kopenhagen, Denmark (DK)
Body Navigation Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia (RU)
9° VideoDanzaBA Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina (AR)
FIVU.07 International Videodance Festival of Uruguay, Montevideo (UY)
Junge Kunst International, OHO Oberwart, Austria (AT)
Videodance Festival, Athen / Thessaloniki, Greece (GR)
Videorassegna, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rom (IT)
Crossbreeds, WUK Vienna, Austria (AT)
A question(ing) of gesture, Fotohof Salzburg (AT) & Goethe Institut Rom (IT)
MitArbeit–Lebensrhythmen im Wandel, Dance Archive Leipzig (DE)
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Diana W ess er CV
Selected performances (since 2003)
2010
Practicing Wysing: 10 Ways to misuse a Building, urban (col)laboratory –
WAC: Partnering, Group Exhibition, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge (UK)
Walking through Walls (Durch Wände Gehen), urban (col)laboratory - audio walk,
Centraltheater Leipzig, play! LEIPZIG – Movement in Urban Space,
Conference and Performance Festival, Leipzig (DE)
2009
Choreographing Knowledge, urban (col)laboratory – Performative walk and talk,
Murray Edwards College, Nightjar Festival & Festival of Ideas, Cambridge (UK)
Fissures in the Harbour of Knowledge, urban (col)laboratory – Lecture performance walk,
TANZ MACHT RAUM – RAUM MACHT TANZ, Symposium, Ruhr University Bochum (DE)
Home is, where the piano is (How can you feel at home in Orchard Park?), urban
(col)laboratory - interventions in public space, CROP MARKS art trail, Cambridge (UK)
TauchGang – a journey below the surface, performative walk at Leipzig’s main station,
‘Zwischengruen’ public space festival, Kunstverein Leipzig (DE)
Im Namen des Volkes, performative walk, festival ‘Das Böse ist ein Eichhörnchen’,
Leipzig (DE)
2008
blind spots (picadilly gardens), urban (col)laboratory – lecture performance walk,
get lost festival, Manchester (UK)
Learning of a Fishtank, performance, LOFFT.Leipzig (DE)
2007
Movements of Lindenau, dance- and video-performance,
with Hermann Heisig, LOFFT Theatre Leipzig & public space (DE)
Movements of Lindenau Walk, performance lecture walk,
Together with the dancer Hermann Heisig and the city planner Roland Beer,
exhibition ‘Rhythmus und Arbeit’, Lindenfels Westflügel/Dance Archive Leipzig (DE)
Lift extended, participatory performance installation, OHO Oberwart (AT)
in collaboration with the media artist Herber Kopitar
2006
Situs Opera, site specific performance, performance collective ‘flexible response’,
Opera Building Leipzig (DE)
room with(out) a view, site specific performance,
performance collective ‘flexible response’, LOFFT Leipzig (DE)
Contact Photo Company Ventejo: Nach Süden! Nach Süden!, performance,
International festival of theatre MANöVER, LOFFT Leipzig (DE)
John Cage: Variations V, multi-media-performance,
performance collective ‘flexible response’, LOFFT Leipzig (DE)
2005
Ventejo farigos Mondcampiono (Ventejo will be football champion)
performative intervention in public space, Hamburg (DE)
2003
Das Hochzeitsfest (The Wedding Celebration), participatory performance
in public space, Hotel-Neustadt, international festival of theatre, Halle (Saale) (DE)
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Diana W ess er CV
Workshops (in public space) & Lectures (since 2004)
2011
PSi #17 conference: Camillo 2.0, Lecture with urban (col)laboratory, Utrecht (NL)
2010
urban (col)laboratory: Public Interventions, Lecture & Work Presentation
Metropolis Lab 2010, Kopenhagen
urban (col)laboratory: Choreographing Knowledge, Poster presentation,
2009
Symposium Constructing Knowledge, Faculty of Architecture, RWTH Aachen
Nora Roma Interventions, Workshop, Schaubühne Lindenfels, Leipzig
RANDGEBIETE, Work presentation, Theatertreffen OFF 09, weltecho, Chemnitz
Dancing with Buildings, Workshop, LOFFT.Leipzig
Interne Störungen, Workshop, Chemnitz
Unter den Pflastersteinen das Meer, Workshop, Berlin
KünstlerIn im Osten – Was heisst Erfolg und wie geht das? Workshop together with
film maker Gunther Scholz, Symposium ‘Frauen machen Neue Länder’, Leipzig
Performing with buildings, Lecture, Symposium „Mobility Visions“,
2008
Theater der Welt, Halle/Saale
Stadtstreichler, workshop and walk, together with Bertram Weisshaar,
public space event “Zwischengrün”, Leipzig
city.space.body, performance workshop in public space for children
and youngsters, Kreative Kreuzberger, Berlin
Copenhagen Incorporated, performance workshop in public space & lecture,
2007
METROPOLIS Biennale Copenhagen (DK)
Dancing with walls, performance workshop in public space
in collaboration with TeaterKUNST, METROPOLIS Biennale Copenhagen (DK)
Productive disruptions, lecture, symposium “Technologies of Space“,
2005
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart
Das Hochzeitsfest (The Wedding Celebration), lecture, University Leipzig
2004
Publications
Performing with(out) Buildings In: Arbeit und Rhythmus – Lebensformen im Wandel,
Inge Baxmann ed., 2009
Productive Disruptions, In: Solitude Yearbook 8: Was machen Sie dort am Schloss?
merz&solitude, 2006
Amalgam von Selbsterfahrung, In: beyond education, Kunst, Arbeit, Ausbildung
und Ökonomie, Beatrice von Bismarck and Alexander Koch eds., 2005
Das Hochzeitsfest, In: Hotel Neustadt, Thalia Theater Halle ed., 2004
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