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Marion Ancker

Date of birth 10.Feb.70
Place of birth Berlin
Country of residence United Kingdom

I grew up in the huge villa of Thomas Mann, the famous German author and Nobel prize winner. Despite living in Berlin my family had a huge, wild garden. It was an amazing space for a child to be free, play in nature and be imaginative.

Our house was full of beautiful old art and dark musty family heirlooms. These 'old world' paintings were a great influence on me, in particular a large Rubens reproduction, which I always found beautiful and romantic. I poured my fantasies onto this painting and was then surprised to learn that it was in fact the ‘Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus’. Despite my shock at learning its true meaning, I love this painting to this day and it remains one of the pieces with the most influence on me. Through this work I learnt and understood that 'old art' could have a variety of meanings and interpretations, a lesson I carry into my work today.

I started my studies with Visual Communication at the University of Art in Berlin. For two years I was in the class of Austrian video artist Valie Export. My early works are mainly interactive video and sound installations. They use items from daily life which we are familiar with and comfortable to interact with straight away. For example my piece ‘Drawer Open, Drawer Closed’ has a chest of drawers at the centre of the installation. I prefer my work to have intimate interactions on a one-to-one level. I'm fascinated by the notion of collective memory and creating three dimensional spaces. I'm often creating staged, theatrical set ups that deliver a physical experience as well as a visual one.

‘Cyclus – In Four Scenes’, is my latest project. The four pieces work independently and as a whole. ‘Cyclus’ is the Latin word for circle. In my work it stands not just for a cycle from birth to death, but more importantly it represents a repetitive, habitual behaviour, a life pattern that keeps us in a certain place. Life reoccurs over and over in the same way; be it the planets that orbit, the cycles that we live, or the relationship patterns that we repeat. We cycle through and can potentially get closer to our essence. 'Cyclus' challenges the audience to break the cycles that they find unhelpful, through self-awareness and self-empowerment.

I am the central piece of every work, exposed and honest, confronting myself with the fact that we as individuals are the ones that empower or disempower ourselves. We are the ones that raise ourselves to ‘heaven.'

Despite not believing in a God as a portrait in a Western church, I understand the power of the religious archetype. Like the discovery I made through the Rubens painting, ‘Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus’, I now take these ancient meanings and add a new meaning to them - I illuminate my own personal journey by transposing myself my onto the classics. I love art, because I can choose pieces that help me learn about me. It’s a personal conversation and it’s not personal. There is a collective aspect to it.

Exhibitions Winter Exhibition, 18.Jan - 18.Feb.07, Contemporary Art Projects


www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Marion+Ancker/8965.html

 

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