Episode 26: Margret Wibmer, Thursday, June 3rd, 2021
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Margret Wibmer, multi-media artist
Margret Wibmer’s performances, sculptures and photographic works explore relations between bodies, objects and spaces. Using ambiguity and the principle of chance as a methodology to deconstruct internalized processes, norms and values deeply embedded within our societies, she creates transient ‘realities’ that explore new strategies for connecting us with the world and with others. This becomes particularly apparent in her participatory performances where she uses specific garments that she develops for each project as a connective medium and engages the public as actors in her work.
‘Broadening and switching viewers' and actors' perspectives has always interested me. It was important to me from the very beginning to step back as a performer and open up the stage into something that can be filled by other people…. creating a space of experience for everyone individually or a space for dispute, confrontation and uncertainty, as well. Abandoning control is a central element of my work, whether in relation to the audience or in relation to the development processes underlying my work.’ ~ Margret Wibmer, interview with Magdalena Kröner, 2020.
Wibmer was born in Austria, studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and at Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. She spent a large part of the 1980s in New York. In 1990 she moved to Amsterdam where she is based. Wibmer has exhibited and performed at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, RMIT Design Hub in Melbourne, Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, Ishikawa Nishida Kitaro Museum of Philosophy in Japan / KAI 10 – Arthena Foundation in Düsseldorf and many other venues.