Ursula Nistrup
Denmark, b. 1974 in Gentofte. Based in Copenhagen and in Los Angeles, CA.
Studied architecture and photography, initiated artistic education 1996. Then studies at Glasgow School of Art(MFA) and CalArts.
First public sound work: Sound reflected through the vibration of a string.
I am a conceptual artist primarily working though non-tangible materials such as sound, light and process, as well as through tangible materials such as installations, drawings, text and model structures.
Coming primarily from a visual arts background; BA.(hons)/MFA in Fine Art Photography at Glasgow School of Art, my interest in Sound became intensified while studying in the MFA Fine Arts program at CalArts, where I was exposed to subjects such as; experimental electronic composition, mathematical, physical and acoustical sound research, as well as music history and theory.
In my view, sound,light and other less tangible materials, have the ability to transport information between places. It is as if sound waves do not let themselves get dictated. Sound accumulates and can take any direction - might I suggest sound as being a democratic medium!
I am fascinated by sound’s ability to never be constant, or exist in a finished form, in my experience, sound is always changing and informed by the location and moment it is situated in or passing through. Simultaneously complete and constantly incomplete and accumulating.
Central factors in my practice are experimentation and research.The production of my first publicly shown sound work, a piece titled “Sound reflected through the vibration of a string” was based on both of these factors. This work is closely described in the text “Drifting through space” by Stine Hebert.
Reassessing/relating to what constitutes a present situation is a key interest in my practice, to the extent where sound is a principal material, but only part of a complex situation located in the environments that are indentified by my installations. Furthermore, in introducing parallel occurring, audible situations, several of my audio works have, in various ways and through different materials, attempted to access the situation(s) audiences occupy when navagating through my installations. Connections, interruptions, layering and accumulations between situations are put into play. These functions question indirectly the inclusion or link to possible relations between situations and their location. In a sense, these occurrances would not be possible through our own powers of audible perception but are still powerful components of our reality.
Overall, my interest is in non-materiality, where materials are used as a tools and a carriers of information, I am seldom concerned with the actual materials in themselves, such as through their formal quality. My practice is an investigation, a set of questions being posed. I regard all elements of an installation as moving my investigation, such as when the acoustic/aesthetic work between and out of the materials. An example of this investigation could be perceived in the exhibition, Transition, of 2005, that was composed of handdrawn work called “forming opinions”, the audible installation titled “Parallel situations” and a text called “text and two drawings”.
Please visit my website for futher examples.
