Article
ARTIST STATEMENT/ POSTCARD PROJECT OF THE HOUSE OF WORLD CULTURES 2007
´You are why, the words on the first page of my website phonetically spell the letters of my surname U-R-Y, they also pose the most fundamental of questions. This is an old sephardic name - Urys also made their name in the German Weimar Republic: On a scared and personal level, by grace and with meditation, I would still somehow wish to grasp the mystery of heaven and earth. My Jewish kin were stigmatised by Diaspora, progrom and concentration camp. My own concerns expressed in art and writing are not existential but try to relate to the injustices of the recent past and contemporary history, whether by tracing the effect of exploitation and war in Europe during and after WW2, or in Israel and beyond today.´
Tanya Ury was born in London in 1951. Since 1993 she has been living in Cologne where part of the family lived before being persecuted and fleeing because of their Jewish origins. In her art Tanya Ury works with her German-Jewish identity, the themes of the Holocaust, rediscovering this historical epoch, racism and the role of women in this historical context of lost humanity.
Tanya Ury lives in Cologne. She recalls that her grandmother and her mother both used 4711 Eau de Cologne. In 1993 she had the number 4711 tattooed onto her thigh. When she later heard that the resistance fighter Milena Jesenska was given the number 4714 at Ravensbrück concentration camp and was consequently nicknamed "4711 - Eau de Cologne", she knew that the number and the tattoo were right for her. Tanya Ury is Jewish.
The video performance ´Kölnisch Wasser´ (´Eau de Cologne´), which the artist first presented in 1993, documents the execution of this tattoo. During the procedure Tanya Ury and the tattoo artist talk about the history of National Socialism, about Germany and about the city of Cologne. On the second track of the video the artist´s voice can be heard. She is singing the song of the Lorelei and various carnival pieces. Two additional monitors show Tanya Ury doing a striptease. The dark-haired artist is wearing a blond wig of long hair and is clad in leather. She also takes a shower. The striptease is filmed by two cameramen who also film each other. A fourth monitor shows the members of the public as they watch the striptease and the tattooing procedure.
In the video recording of the ´Golden Showers´ performance of 1997, the artist allows herself to be covered in gold leaf in a test of patience that takes hours. Piece by piece the restorer lays the gold leaf onto the naked body until it is finally enveloped as if by a protective cloak. This painstaking process, laying the gold, leaf by leaf onto the skin, has something very soothing about it, like the treating of wounds that may finally be able to heal. In the end only the number 4711 remains exposed. The video is soundless. "Sometimes you have let out a shrill cry", Tany said in an interview with Radio Köln in April 2000, when she was asked about the provocative aspect of her art. Her voice, which in many of her works compels one to listen, is in fact soft and gentle.
Tanya Ury concerns herself with her Jewish history, with her history as a Jewish woman, but also with exclusion and racism towards other minorities. In many of her works sexuality plays an ambivalent role with many nuances of meaning. The artist often contrasts her body with the observer´s voyeurism. The observer becomes a voyeur because the artist wants it that way and makes voyeurism part of the performance. Although her striptease in ´Eau de Cologne´ is live, it nevertheless does not take place directly in front of the public. There is an additional space between Tanya Ury and the public. The camera provides the insight.
In a number of works Tanya Ury combines the themes of Holocaust and pornography. Two photos which emerged in connection with ´Golden Showers´ are entitled ´Blue Danaé´. They show the artist´s genitals covered with gold leaf. In the photo work ´Triptych for a Jewish Princess Second Generation´ of 1996 she wears a leather coat of the German air force. The centre photo is accompanied by a short text collage with the artist´s own and others´ sentences, some of which are very provocative, on the topics of family, Holocaust and fascism. The Sylvia Plath quote: "Every woman adores a Fascist. The boot in the face, the brute“ is one of these sentences. "Eroticism and sensuousness are abused in our society; sex is divorced from love," says Tanya Ury. "People do not meet to make love but to have sex." Her video work ´Hotel Chelsea - Cologne´ of 1995 circles around this theme in many variations.
Tanya Ury´s works are full of allusions and images. A 21-part photo series produced in 2000 is called ´Jack the Ladder´. The photos are hung in seven rows of three to symbolizing the rungs of a 3.5 metre-high ladder. In the play of light the image fragments show a young Chinese woman in front of a red oriental carpet. The black tights emphasize her nakedness. Broken glass and nails are visible, ladders in the tights are painted with red nail varnish, knives. "Jack the Lad" is a common term in English meaning "a man around town", a cheeky rascal; "ladder" implies both the structure used for climbing and the damage in the tights. And of course, "Jack the Ladder" is also reminiscent of "Jack the Ripper".
This work emerged in the context of various bomb attacks directed against minorities in London and Germany. In 2000 a nail bomb exploded at a bus stop at which a group of Russian Jews waited regularly at the same time every week.
In literary terms ´Jack the Ladder´ can also be seen as an allusion to the story of Jacob´s ladder with which Tanya Ury has been working for many years. Jacob, who wanted to trick his elder brother out of his birthright, had to flee, and while in exile dreamed of a ladder with angels that reached up to heaven. In a second encounter with God he fights with an angel over God´s blessing. The artist does not agree with the story: "I have a problem with this behaviour," Tanya Ury says, "with this way of fighting, with trying to reach heaven by such methods." What is a better way? "I think that prayer and patience would be better," is her simple reply.
The video performance ´Kölnisch Wasser´ (´Eau de Cologne´), which the artist first presented in 1993, documents the execution of this tattoo. During the procedure Tanya Ury and the tattoo artist talk about the history of National Socialism, about Germany and about the city of Cologne. On the second track of the video the artist´s voice can be heard. She is singing the song of the Lorelei and various carnival pieces. Two additional monitors show Tanya Ury doing a striptease. The dark-haired artist is wearing a blond wig of long hair and is clad in leather. She also takes a shower. The striptease is filmed by two cameramen who also film each other. A fourth monitor shows the members of the public as they watch the striptease and the tattooing procedure.
In the video recording of the ´Golden Showers´ performance of 1997, the artist allows herself to be covered in gold leaf in a test of patience that takes hours. Piece by piece the restorer lays the gold leaf onto the naked body until it is finally enveloped as if by a protective cloak. This painstaking process, laying the gold, leaf by leaf onto the skin, has something very soothing about it, like the treating of wounds that may finally be able to heal. In the end only the number 4711 remains exposed. The video is soundless. "Sometimes you have let out a shrill cry", Tany said in an interview with Radio Köln in April 2000, when she was asked about the provocative aspect of her art. Her voice, which in many of her works compels one to listen, is in fact soft and gentle.
Tanya Ury concerns herself with her Jewish history, with her history as a Jewish woman, but also with exclusion and racism towards other minorities. In many of her works sexuality plays an ambivalent role with many nuances of meaning. The artist often contrasts her body with the observer´s voyeurism. The observer becomes a voyeur because the artist wants it that way and makes voyeurism part of the performance. Although her striptease in ´Eau de Cologne´ is live, it nevertheless does not take place directly in front of the public. There is an additional space between Tanya Ury and the public. The camera provides the insight.
In a number of works Tanya Ury combines the themes of Holocaust and pornography. Two photos which emerged in connection with ´Golden Showers´ are entitled ´Blue Danaé´. They show the artist´s genitals covered with gold leaf. In the photo work ´Triptych for a Jewish Princess Second Generation´ of 1996 she wears a leather coat of the German air force. The centre photo is accompanied by a short text collage with the artist´s own and others´ sentences, some of which are very provocative, on the topics of family, Holocaust and fascism. The Sylvia Plath quote: "Every woman adores a Fascist. The boot in the face, the brute“ is one of these sentences. "Eroticism and sensuousness are abused in our society; sex is divorced from love," says Tanya Ury. "People do not meet to make love but to have sex." Her video work ´Hotel Chelsea - Cologne´ of 1995 circles around this theme in many variations.
Tanya Ury´s works are full of allusions and images. A 21-part photo series produced in 2000 is called ´Jack the Ladder´. The photos are hung in seven rows of three to symbolizing the rungs of a 3.5 metre-high ladder. In the play of light the image fragments show a young Chinese woman in front of a red oriental carpet. The black tights emphasize her nakedness. Broken glass and nails are visible, ladders in the tights are painted with red nail varnish, knives. "Jack the Lad" is a common term in English meaning "a man around town", a cheeky rascal; "ladder" implies both the structure used for climbing and the damage in the tights. And of course, "Jack the Ladder" is also reminiscent of "Jack the Ripper".
This work emerged in the context of various bomb attacks directed against minorities in London and Germany. In 2000 a nail bomb exploded at a bus stop at which a group of Russian Jews waited regularly at the same time every week.
In literary terms ´Jack the Ladder´ can also be seen as an allusion to the story of Jacob´s ladder with which Tanya Ury has been working for many years. Jacob, who wanted to trick his elder brother out of his birthright, had to flee, and while in exile dreamed of a ladder with angels that reached up to heaven. In a second encounter with God he fights with an angel over God´s blessing. The artist does not agree with the story: "I have a problem with this behaviour," Tanya Ury says, "with this way of fighting, with trying to reach heaven by such methods." What is a better way? "I think that prayer and patience would be better," is her simple reply.
Author: Cornelia Gerner
Bio
Tanya Ury was born in 1951 in London. After finishing school she worked in a variety of professions, among others as a cook and a health carer. Between 1985 and 1988 she studied art in Exeter (GB), followed by Cologne in 1989. In 1988 she made her debut with her work in public. In 1990 she completed her studies with a Master of Fine Art in Reading. In 1989 Tany Ury received the Erasmus award and in 1991-92 the Colin Walker Fellowship of Fine Art at Hallam University in Sheffield.
Works
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation
2007
"In Pursuit: Art on Dating", ISE Cultural Foundation Gallery, New York, USA
Diaspora and Troubles, Kunstbunker Tumulka, Munich, Germany
2006
"Promised Land", Kunstverein Rosenheim, Rosenheim, Germany
2005
"Dream and Trauma", House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
"Stets gern für Sie beschäftigt…" (Always glad to be of service...)
ifa Galerie, Berlin, Germany and Prora Dokumentationszentrum, Kunstverein Rosenheim, Rosenheim, Germany
2004
"Lies Lust Art & Fashion", Podewil, Berlin, Germany
Rolf Steiners "Die weite Welt" Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2003
"The right of the image - Jewish perspectives in modern art", Museum Bochum, Germany
2002
"Ambivalenz" (Ambivalence), Frauenmuseum, Bonn, Germany
"Ambivalenz auf Tournee" (Abivalence on Tour), Galerie Münsterland Emsdetten, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany
2001
"Termini Technici", Trinitatis Kirche, Cologne, Germany
2000
"Frauen-Blicke" (with Anna Halm-Schudel), In Focus Galerie am Dom, Cologne, Germany
"Heimat Kunst", House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
"Gegen den Strich" (Against the Grain), Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
"Aesthetik 1,2,3", 68Elf Galerie Photoszene, Cologne, Germany
1999
"Crosslinks", (Videothek), Berliner Marstall
Menschen wie Du und Ich (People like you and me), Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, Cologne, Germany
"Davka", Kulturbrauerei Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany
Das Jüdische Zentral-Labyrinth, Berlin, Germany
1998
"Outfit & Identity", Internationale Photoszene Köln, Kunsthaus Rhenania
Jüdisches Leben in Berlin (Jewish Life in Berlin). Centrum Judaicum
"Not Black and White" (with Doris Frohnapfel), Fotogalerie Brotfabrik, Berlin, Germany
1997
"Hotels" (with Doris Frohnapfel). SCHULZ, Cologne, Germany
"Mensch 2000", HochBunker, Cologne-Ehrenfeld, Germany
1996
Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
1995
"Coincidence", Ignis Europäisches Kulturzentrum, Cologne, Germany
1992/93
British Telecom New Contemporaries on Tour: Orion in Newlyn, Cornerhouse in Manchester, Angel Row in Nottingham, Orpheus in Belfast, ICA in London, UK
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation
2006
"Fortnight of Solo Shows", Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum, UK
2002
"Hermes Insensed", 68 Elf Galerie, Cologne, Germany
"Jacob’s Ladder", HochBunker, Cologne-Ehrenfeld, Germany
2001
"Insensed", Hotel Seehof, Zürich, Switzerland
1999
"Golden Showers" (Installation), The Lux Cinema Foyer, London, UK
1997
"Golden Showers" live Video / Performance, Schauraum, Cologne, Germany
"Golden Showers" (Installation), Stadtbibliothek, Münster, Germany
1996
"Triptych for a Jewish Princess Second Generation", Foyer of the Feminale FrauenFilm Festival, Cologne, Germany
Projects
This artist took part in the following project(s) organized/funded by the culturebase.net partner institutions.
Postcard Project
(01 March 07 - 31 December 08)
