video + performance
institutional performance trailer, © 2017, 2:45 minute
A brief view of Heather Sheehan's opening performance for her solo exhibition in Paul-Clemen-Museum at The Institute of Art History, Bonn University, Bonn, Germany. Opening speaker: Prof. Anne-Marie Bonnet, Camera/Tone: Frank Norden.
SeamStress, © 2017, installation and performance
video documentation, 6:00 minutes
video documentation, 6:00 minutes
- a one week critical performance about the hierarchy of labor, trickle- down economics and the dignity of workers
In the attic of Schloß Plüschow, a theatrical one-woman workroom is staged. A hierarchy of tables is stacked against the logic and comfort of her labors. The SeamStress manufactures hessian/burlap work dresses like the one she herself wears. At the lowest table, she cuts the cloth. Loudly echoing in the vast room, her scissors bite through the stiff fibers. Then, she climbs perilously up to the top most table where one sewing machine, high in the air, takes center stage. There, she sits in the light of one lamp and sews. The machine rumbles, stops, starts again and again. With each completed dress, she climbs back down to wash and hang it. The new work dresses drip, dry and shrivel on the line. The results of her labors fill the lines to her left and right with dresses for an army of absent workers.
In the attic of Schloß Plüschow, a theatrical one-woman workroom is staged. A hierarchy of tables is stacked against the logic and comfort of her labors. The SeamStress manufactures hessian/burlap work dresses like the one she herself wears. At the lowest table, she cuts the cloth. Loudly echoing in the vast room, her scissors bite through the stiff fibers. Then, she climbs perilously up to the top most table where one sewing machine, high in the air, takes center stage. There, she sits in the light of one lamp and sews. The machine rumbles, stops, starts again and again. With each completed dress, she climbs back down to wash and hang it. The new work dresses drip, dry and shrivel on the line. The results of her labors fill the lines to her left and right with dresses for an army of absent workers.
waterline/receding from Heather Sheehan on Vimeo.
‘waterline/receding’, performance documentation video, 5:12 minute, c. 2015 Heather Sheehan
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
edit: Heather Sheehan, camera: Frank Baumann
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
edit: Heather Sheehan, camera: Frank Baumann
The wall drawing, 'waterline' is transformed using water from the Lech canal which runs before the exhibition building. The illusion of woven cloth is transformed into an image of fluid water recalling the washing stage of textile manufacturing processes.
‘receding’ performance view, 2015
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
photo: Marko Petz
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
photo: Marko Petz
The wall drawing, 'waterline' is transformed using water from the Lech canal which runs before the exhibition building. The illusion of woven cloth is transformed into an image of fluid water recalling the washing stage of textile manufacturing processes.
‘receding’ performance view, 2015
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
photo: Marko Petz
Holbeinhaus, Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
photo: Marko Petz
The wall drawing, 'waterline' is transformed using water from the Lech canal which runs before the exhibition building. The illusion of woven cloth is transformed into an image of fluid water recalling the washing stage of textile manufacturing processes.
'alighting on the river' video
4'29'' © 2015 Heather Sheehan
camera: Lisa Voelter
4'29'' © 2015 Heather Sheehan
camera: Lisa Voelter
Heather Sheehan alighting, 2015
14' 32 minute video documentation of the performance by Heather Sheehan juxtaposed with the opening speech by Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Bonnet, at the exhibition: 'alighting', Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
14' 32 minute video documentation of the performance by Heather Sheehan juxtaposed with the opening speech by Prof. Dr. Anne-Marie Bonnet, at the exhibition: 'alighting', Kunstverein Augsburg, Germany
'in muddier years', performance documentation video 2015
5'06''
Gotische Stadel, Landshut, Bavaria, Germany
5'06''
Gotische Stadel, Landshut, Bavaria, Germany
part of 'sack-rope-stone'
on-going installation / performance series, 2014-2016
on-going installation / performance series, 2014-2016
5 (w)holes - heather sheehan c. 2015
2' 53 minute video documentation of Sheehan washing away the wall drawing at end of year long exhibition:
(w)hole at SAM project room, Cologne, Germany
(w)hole at SAM project room, Cologne, Germany
'I shot myself in Augsburg.' performance rehearsal view
2018
Claudia Weil Galerie II, Augsburg, Germany
2018
Claudia Weil Galerie II, Augsburg, Germany
As the seismograph registers the stirrings of the earth’s core, Heather Sheehan’s body registers stirrings of human experience imbedded in historic buildings. Hovering at the crossing point of architectural and human memory, she attends to the individual mythologies of place.
During her 2015 solo exhibition in K.V. Augsburg, the New York born artist climbed the staircase of one of Augsburg’s renowned medieval addresses. On the landing, a row of Marionettes hung from their crosses. There, she positioned her camera and loaned her body out to the ghost of a female houseworker. For the premeire presention of the resulting self-portrait series, Marionette’s Landing, Sheehan returns to Augsburg to give a performance. With medium-format camera, she shoots herself before a live audience. Sheehan plays both the role of the artist and that of the ghost. She objectifies herself, inviting us to explore the space between the self and the other.
During her 2015 solo exhibition in K.V. Augsburg, the New York born artist climbed the staircase of one of Augsburg’s renowned medieval addresses. On the landing, a row of Marionettes hung from their crosses. There, she positioned her camera and loaned her body out to the ghost of a female houseworker. For the premeire presention of the resulting self-portrait series, Marionette’s Landing, Sheehan returns to Augsburg to give a performance. With medium-format camera, she shoots herself before a live audience. Sheehan plays both the role of the artist and that of the ghost. She objectifies herself, inviting us to explore the space between the self and the other.
'I shot myself in Augsburg.' © 2018
1:07 minutes performance video documentation
1:07 minutes performance video documentation
In an intimate gallery space before a select live audience, an artist steps into another woman's role and photographs herself. Costume change was part of the performance at Claudia Weil Galerie II.