Ulrike was born in 1943 in Bad Salzdetfurth, Germany. Lives and works in Köln, Germany.
graduate of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Master student of
Joseph Beuys (1964-1972) Ulrike Rosenbach is one of the pioneering
artists of performance and video (1971) and since 1985 it has been
enriched with media- installations. She has founded a workshop
“school for feminist creativity” with the intention to question
and interpret the traditional models of women and to implement
a feminist perspective into the evaluation of women artist’s art
productions.
In the 3rd Çanakkale Biennale Ulrike Rosenbach has presented a
media installation in the Armenian Church consisting of a video and
a performance together with four young women from Çanakkale 18
March University. The video is a collage of documentary images of the
famous film The Trojan Women of Mihalis Kakogiannis (1971) with
Katherina Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave and wailing and lamenting
women of various cultures. During her residency in Çanakkale she
has conducted a workshop with female students and during the public
performance accompanied them with her grievous voice performance
on the stage, when they were struggling to knead heavy grey clay, to
package it with black paper and to throw it into the void. The work
is primarily reflecting the historical function of women as witnesses
and mourners to the tragedies instigated by male individuals. The
kneading and the clay balls are indicating the other major role of
women as fertility creator. Her interminable and repetitive voice is a
warning or insurrection to this ongoing patriarchal order. Rosenbach’s
approach to the concept of the biennale which was advocating the
impact of artistic creativity on the civil society and individuals under
the present socio-political turmoil had a penetrating intention into the
soul and subconscious of the public. The performance ended with an
emblematic action of the four women, who covered their heads with
white balaclava in reference to Pussy Riot.
-Beral Madra
Female Performers: Fatma Dağdelen, Aysu Kozan, Feride Ceyda
Erdemli, Elçin Özderin
