My work can best be defined as Conceptual Land Art.
I am interested in spaces, both
physical and psychological and how the two relate to one another. I create
site-specific projects in wide-open and extremely remote landscapes, where the
severance from civilization creates distance from the “real” world. My projects
exist only for a few hours or days at a time, before they are disassembled, and
the landscape is returned to its original condition. I document the works
through photography, video and text.
Because of my close connection to
nature and the deep sense of responsibility I feel towards the planet, several of
my installations address and call attention to environmental concerns. As a result,
I
pay close attention to the materials I use, often employing the elements around
me as source material. I collect or borrow
from nature and occasionally introduce man- or machine-made materials as subtle
reminders of human civilization.
Performance and ritual also play an essential role in my
work. Often, I use my own body in addition to what I find at a specific site,
and the space takes on significance through the actions performed in it. During
a project in Newfoundland I began developing a closer connection with the
spirits of nature and started to cultivate an interest in Shamanism, which has
become an important focus in my life and is inextricable from my work.
Another
on-going concern I address in my work is the global phenomena of
desertification. I am intrigued by deserts, as they are the most pure and magical
landscapes on the planet. In a world where every possible resource is squeezed
to its limits, human beings do not seem able of finding many ways to exploit
desert lands, and they are left pure and almost untouched by human
civilization.
Much
of my work is created in the deserts of the American West, even though I am
based in New York City. This dichotomy fuels my practice, and both places
provide me with endless and disparate stimuli. I am able to work in incredibly
isolated locales thanks to an Airstream trailer which becomes my traveling
studio and hermitage for weeks at a time. When I find a site, I meditate with it,
and after time I begin to work. My practice is a way of exploring solitude, and
of becoming completely immersed in and with the land.
ANNE-KATRIN
SPIESS
aks@annekatrin.info / www.annekatrin.info
EXHIBITIONS
2019 Composed to Decompose,
Unison Arts Center, New Paltz, NY
What Climate?!, HOTE Gallery, Los Angeles,
CA
Rite of Passage, Art Escape, Sonoma, CA
2016 Musikfest, 3 Sound
Meditation Cubes, Bethlehem, PA
2015 MC3 (Meditation Cube 3), Bioneers Conference, San Rafael, CA
Potential Fields, Clermont State Historic
Site, Clermont, NY
2014 Prickly, Tender and Steamy:
Artists in the Hothouse, Wave Hill Center, New York, NY
RESx:
The Real Estate Show Extended, ABC NoRio, New York, NY
2013 In The Green, Woman Made
Gallery, Chicago, IL
Eastern
Standard: Indirect Lines to The Hudson River School, Catskill, NY
2012 Sustainability, Arthur
M. Berger Gallery, Manhattanville College, Harrison, NY
2011 G.R.E.E.N.H.O.U.S.E. III,
Bioneers Conference, San Rafael, CA
Urban Purification Ritual, Art in Odd Places, New
York, NY
Funeral
Procession for a Dead Lake, Hydromemories Archive
G.R.E.E.N.H.O.U.S.E. II, Streetfest, New Museum,
New York, NY
2010 Crazy Horse, H215
Gallery, New York, NY
Interviews
with Succulents, Wave Hill Cultural Center, New York, NY
Nothingness
Projects/Journey to Green Horizons, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
S.P.I.L.L./S.T.I.L.L.,
Gentle Actions, Oslo, Norway
2009 Green Light, Bank of
America Plaza, Charlotte, NC
Carbon Relief Center, Bioneers Conference, San
Rafael, CA
2008 DEMO
ECO M.O., curated by Linda Weintraub, Nurture Art, New York, NY
E.P.A.
(Environmental Performance Action), Exit Art, New York, NY
Sublime
Climate, Thompson Gallery, Weston, MA
2007 Nature Scopes/Nature in Mind, National Museum, Gonju; Space Beam, Incheon;
Art Space C, Island of Jeju- South Korea
G.R.E.E.N.H.O.U.S.E., Habitat, Abingdon Art
Center, Jenkintown, PA
Green Horizons, Bates College, Lewiston, ME
