Franzisca Siegrist was born in Switzerland, raised in Spain (Canary Islands), lives mostly in Oslo, Norway and works internationally.
She has a Masters in Fine Art from the University of La Laguna (2008) and the Polytechnic University in Valencia (2010) where she studied performance art with spanish teacher and artist Bartolomé Ferrando. She works with objects, installations and performance art.
She is also co-founder and chair of the artist run initiative PAO – Performance Art Oslo (Norway) and has shown her work in several European countries, in Asia and USA.
I am interested in the possibilities of my body and observe its relationship with time and space. I use both cutsom made and mundane, everyday objects to create pieces where the objects are taken out of their regular context and given a new meaning.
The range of topics I deal with can vary, however there is always a connection to my own every day life and how I experience society. As a result, my works often bridge absurdity and poetry.
Since 2016 she is working on the ongoing project "Route of Roots" exploring the sense of belonging, combining geometrical forms together with natural and organic elements. From 2019 this project developed into a new ongoing series of works "Sculptural abstractions", producing performances and photographs where sculptural forms are created with the body in such way that it is abstracted in the meeting with the surroundings, elements and objects.
To see the duo work Sketckwork on TIME with Susanne Irene Fjørtoft click HERE
She has a Masters in Fine Art from the University of La Laguna (2008) and the Polytechnic University in Valencia (2010) where she studied performance art with spanish teacher and artist Bartolomé Ferrando. She works with objects, installations and performance art.
She is also co-founder and chair of the artist run initiative PAO – Performance Art Oslo (Norway) and has shown her work in several European countries, in Asia and USA.
I am interested in the possibilities of my body and observe its relationship with time and space. I use both cutsom made and mundane, everyday objects to create pieces where the objects are taken out of their regular context and given a new meaning.
The range of topics I deal with can vary, however there is always a connection to my own every day life and how I experience society. As a result, my works often bridge absurdity and poetry.
Since 2016 she is working on the ongoing project "Route of Roots" exploring the sense of belonging, combining geometrical forms together with natural and organic elements. From 2019 this project developed into a new ongoing series of works "Sculptural abstractions", producing performances and photographs where sculptural forms are created with the body in such way that it is abstracted in the meeting with the surroundings, elements and objects.
To see the duo work Sketckwork on TIME with Susanne Irene Fjørtoft click HERE
Interviews
- In conversation with Øyvind Rongevær Kvarme Click here (in norwegian)
- Interview with Lagenda during my residency at TEA Click here (in spanish)
- Interview with Sunniva H. Stokken during my residency at VKL Click here (in norwegian)
- Interview with PAO Click here (in english)
- In conversation with Øyvind Rongevær Kvarme Click here (in norwegian)
- Interview with Lagenda during my residency at TEA Click here (in spanish)
- Interview with Sunniva H. Stokken during my residency at VKL Click here (in norwegian)
- Interview with PAO Click here (in english)
Selected texts
I perceive the work of Franzisca Siegrist as relevant for today's dialogues in society and contemporary art. One of the reasons is her intensive artistic research within the connection and the intersections of society and her own all-day life. The value of her work lies in the poetic and absurd discourse she is offering. Her precise view, her sharp analysis and her critical observations creates performances which invites the audience to directly connect with the presented works. Her body connects objects, relates to spaces and different time settings and as such extends the contemporary discourse on Performance Art practice and theory.
BBB Johannes Deimling, 2017
En plante på vandring. Røtter i lufta. En kropp som prøver å få plass. Inni små bokser. Over i større sirkler. Franzisca Siegrists pågående performancekonsept ROUTE OF ROOTS får meg til å trekke på smilebåndet. Til å svelge et plutselig påtrengende hulk. Det er noe både så stillferdig og absurd og grenseløst desperat over denne opptegningen av sirkler og vandringen fra boks til boks, med kroppsdeler hengende utenfor kanten. Behovet for å få plass. Falle på plass. Med røttene opp i lufta. Holder hun balansen.
Route of Roots. CELLARCUBE. January 2017 Exhibition text by Johanna Zwaig (norwegian only).
Text by Agnieszka Gratza:
[...]
Dreams and nightmares
The cup embodies refinement and civilization, but for Siegrist it is an object of everyday use: we drink coffee from a cup to keep us awake, just as we drink tea from it to make us fall asleep. The number of cups in 31 Cups, initially strung together with thread, corresponded to the days of the months. In Siegrist’s poetic universe, the cup became a container of dreams, symbolically represented by white feathers and black beans that the artist would shake out of her capacious black leather boots, aiming for the white porcelain cups she had previously lined up. Calling to mind magic rituals, the white feathers that softly fell to the ground stood for dreams, whereas the black beans, which made the porcelain ring as they hit the bottom of the cup, embodied nightmares.
At the start of the performance, the artist walked up to the audience holding in her hands a single white cup on a saucer, which she placed on the ground. Instead of drink, the cup contained thin strips of type-written paper fanning out round its edges. Having scattered some beans and feathers on to it during the performance, the artist brought things to an elegant close by brushing these aside and drinking the contents of the cup in one draught. The final image the spectators were left with was that of the paper strips protruding from the artist’s mouth, not unlike the golden rays sometimes bearing words in early Renaissance Annunciation scenes. One of the strips scattered on the ground read “there weaker than a new-born lamb. In his dreams he” on one side and “the drugged meal in the inn two nights ago and he had” on the other.
[...]
31 Cups. April 2014 // Dimanche Rouge: Focus on Norway, Le Generateur, Paris, FR
Review in Inferno Magazine (french) here
Hvite kopper mot en hvit vegg, der et antall like hvite bøker er hengt opp, sender tankene mot selvutslettelse, eller i hvert fall total anonymitet. Installasjonen er ikke nok. Franzisca Siegrist forteller at de hvitmalte bøkene i all hovedsak er valgt ut med utgangspunkt i sine fysiske kvaliteter. Arrangeringen inviterer ikke til å stå og bla i dem. De er da heller ikke annet enn objekter som kretser rundt Siegrists performance. Det er denne som er utgangspunktet for det repetitive mønsteret av bøker og skjeer på veggene. Hva vi måtte tillegge de fysiske objektene av meningsinnhold eller assosiativ kraft, avhenger av den enkeltes erfaringsbakgrunn. Kunstneren har flere ganger tidligere benyttet bøker i sine performancer. Denne utforskningen fortoner seg nesten som et forsøk på å stille spørsmål ved hva språk er. Et forsøk på å nullstilles. Å se språk og rutine på hvit bakgrunn.
Exhibition text by Gustav Borgersen (norwegian only)
BookWall. Exhibition at Babel Art Space 14.02 - 23.02. 2014. Images on ArtScene Trondheim: here