Zorka Wollny
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Zorka Wollny is an interdisciplinary artist who directs and choreographs performative works in collaboration with musicians, actors, dancers, and community members. Operating at the intersection of visual art, theater, activism, and contemporary music, her projects often explore the voice and body as tools of expression and public debate and respond directly to the histories and functions of specific architectural sites. She has staged performances in museums, factories, and empty buildings. Her works have been presented worldwide, including at De Appel, Amsterdam; Heroines of Sound Festival,Berlin; International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York; Edith-Russ-Haus für Medienkunst, Oldenburg, Germany; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Jazz and Experimental Music Festival, Istanbul; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig; Savvy Contemporary, Berlin; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; Royal College of Art, London; and the 4th World Social Forum, Mumbai.
Born 1980, Kraków, Poland; lives and works in Kraków, Poland and Berlin, Germany.
Supported by a grant from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
Biennial Project
Overtone Hive, 2019Sound sculpture
Commissioned by the 2019 ChicagoArchitecture Biennial
In collaboration with: Jasmine Guffond and Lional "Brother El" Freeman
Supported by: Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Chicago Arts Partnership in Education
Performed by: Caleb Boyd, Jeremiah Collier, Jeremiah Davis, Mariah Echevarria, Marchaun Holmon, Ashia Hughes, Getara Mayo, Zavon Reynolds, Denzel Sanders, Karla Soriano, Kamiya Arianna Talison, Jasmine W., Lataria Williams
Zorka Wollny is an interdisciplinary artist who directs and choreographs performative works in collaboration with musicians, actors, dancers, and community members. Combining visual art, theater, activism, and contemporary music, her projects explore the voice and the body as tools of expression and public debate, responding directly to the histories and functions of specific architectural sites. In summer 2019 Wollny made recordings at the former Anthony Overton Elementary School, one of fifty Chicago public schools that were controversially closed in 2013 in the wake of budget deficits. The work centers on both the physical memory of the building and the collective memory of thec ommunity surrounding it. Presented in a classroom at the decommissioned school, the sound installation takes the shape of a large wasp nest made of tangled speakers and cables. Other speakers integrated into the building’s architecture emit sounds of footsteps and children talking, shouting, and making noise, evoking the school’s former vibrancy.
