Photo by Gideon Rothmann
VITA
Marlene Bart lives and works in Berlin. Her practice is situated at the intersection of natural history, anatomy and visual art. Bart is also a researcher and futurist who envisions the possibilities of how a common visual language in art and science could be used to address holistic issues such as the meaning of ordering systems. In her current projects she explores how our relationship to visual taxonomies can be mediated and critiqued via the medium of virtual reality.
The diverse use of multimedia techniques (printmaking, artist books, sculptures, taxidermy, installations, VR animations, AI) allows her to playfully integrate a wide range of visual content, referencing the historical dimension of scientific publications, which she firmly places in a contemporary context. This approach illustrates Bart's interest in the interplay between technology and technoimagination.
Additionally, Bart's work delves into pivotal queries within interspecies discourse, tackling inquiries like "How should we navigate the continuously eroding lines between humans, nature, and technology?" and "In what ways can we depart from our human-centric viewpoint to foster a genuinely non-anthropocentric world?" Concurrently, Bart integrates feminist approaches into this discussion within the realm of interspecies dialogue.
Among her collaborators are esteemed institutions such as the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, the Tieranatomische Theaters, the Zeiss Planetarium, and the Max Planck Institute.
Since 2023 Bart holds a PhD of the Bauhaus-University in Weimar. She worked on the theme of "The Artist's Book as a Multimedia Encyclopedia" and conducted research on the intersections of visual systems in art and science.
Between 2022 and 2023, she held the position of Managing Director at Extended Reality Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. and effectively cultivated a strong network within the XR community.
Bart studied Fine Art at the University of Arts in Braunschweig (HBK), the Villa Arson (École nationale supérieure d’art) in Nice and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. She holds a masters degree in Art in Context from the College of Fine Arts Berlin (UdK), has been a docent at the University of Arts in Braunschweig (HBK) between 2017-2020 and at the Bauhaus- University in Weimar between 2020-2021.
She is the founder and editor of the transdisciplinary book series "Atlas of Databodies" published by transcript Verlag. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the internationally active artist collective and association, TURBA.
Bart takes an active role in international conferences, transdisciplinary projects, and exhibitions related to visual arts, underscoring her dual identity as both an artist and an artistic researcher.
She is represented by the Peter Gaugy Gallery in Vienna and the Whitegrid Gallery in Berlin. Her work has been featured in numerous international solo and group exhibitions in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, and the USA.
Exhibitions (selection of solo and duo exhibitions)
2024
Ordnungswut (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
Interactions 9, Marlene Bart / Alexander Iskin (Sexauer Showroom, Berlin, DE)
2023
Theatrum Radix (Tieranatomisches Theater & Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, DE)
Theatrum Radix (Screening at Zeiss Planetarium, Berlin, DE)
2022
Theatrum Radix (Recto Verso Festival, Bateau Lavoir Saint-Julien, Laval, FR)
Hoch wie nie: imaginary landscapes and the creatures who live there (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
2021
Taxa & Theater of Memory (Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, DE)
Je, je suis si fragile (Spazio Norbert Salenbauch, Venice, IT)
2020
Naturdinge (Sprengel@Feinkunst, Feinkunst e.V. & Sprengelmuseum, Hanover, DE)
2019
the tableau of a dead bird (Art Quarter Budapest, Budapest, HU)
Novum Organum (metavier Galerie, Hanover, DE)
2018
ORBIS PICTUS (4D - Projektort des BBK LEIPZIG e. V.,Leipzig, DE)
2016
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia (HBK, Brunswick, DE)
2015
Ora et labora – Labora et ora (Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, USA)
Exhibitions (selection of group exhibitions)
2023
Berlin goes Austin, Immersive space (South by Southwest (SXSW), USA)
UNLEASHED UTOPIAS,VR ART PRIZE (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE)
VRFestMx (Muv Lab, Mexico City, MEX)
Berlain (Räume.Art, Berlin, DE)
2022
Theatrum Radix (VRE - Virtual Reality Experience festival, MEET, Milan, IT)
2021
Naturae (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT)
Fragments of Hybrid Soup (oMo artspace, Berlin, DE)
2020
Environmental Crisis Exhibition (Gerald Moore Gallery, London, UK)
Charity art auction (Federation of Austrian Industry, Vienna, AT)
Fresh...essays on Nature! (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE)
International and Different (Network of Arts, Luzern, CH)
2019
MyPrivateParadise (Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen DE)
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, UK)
Mini Maxi Print Berlin (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE)
2018
Leere sockel / Entfernte Monumente (Organ kritischer Kunst, Berlin, DE)
MyPrivateParadise (Neuer Pfaffenhofener Kunstverein, Pfaffenhofen, DE)
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (TURBA Gallery, Hanover, DE)
2017
EREIGNIS DRUCKGRAPHIK 2017 (Tapentenwerk, Leipzig, DE)
VOYAGE VOYAGE REISE REISE I (Galerie vom Zufall & vom Glück, Hanover, DE)
Voyage Voyage Reise Reise II (Aître Saint-Maclou, Rouen, FR)
Upcoming empires - Meisterschüler 2017 (Städtische Galerie, Wolfsburg, DE)
TURBA CUX (Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten, Cuxhaven)
ALL YOU NEED IS MORE (Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE)
2016
PER ASPERA AD ASTRA (Lokal-int, Biel, CH)
Wunderkammer (Galerie Schmalfuss, Berlin, DE)
2015
Inversion (Museumsabtei, Liesborn, DE)
International Project (Bolu Art Gallery, Bolu, TR)
87. Herbstausstellung (Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, DE)
TURBA | efficere (Montserrat DTLA, Los Angeles, USA)
2014
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT PRINT IS DEAD YOU ARE DEAD (Verein für Originalradierung München e.V., Munich, DE)
HOME Street HOME („Vermittlungsraum“, Kunstverein BS, Brunswick, DE)
2013
Re-Produktion (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, DE)
Awards / Scholarships / Residencies (selection)
2023
Publication grant from the Bauhaus University Weimar (equal rights office) for the artist's book as a multimedia encyclopaedia
DKB working grant for visual artists who work with virtual reality (Nominees of the VR ART PRIZE)
2022
Residency and exhibition (Recto Verso Festival, Laval, FR)
INITIAL 2 – Neue Kooperationen, Special Grant (Akademie der Künste, Berlin, DE)
2021
Grant for transparatizing taxidermy (Alexander Tutsek Stiftung, Munich, DE)
2020
"Kunststipendium" (German Study Centre Venice, IT)
Production scholarship (Berengo Studio, Murano, IT)
Bauhaus PhD Scholarship (Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar, DE)
2023
Jury: XR Unites (HTW, Berlin) DE
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Yerevan, ARM)
2022
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Untitled Gallery, Tbilisi, GEO)
2021 - 2023
Lecturer at the TU Braunschweig for experimental printmaking
2020 - 2021
Lecturer at the Bauhaus University in Weimar on "Atlas of Databodies"
2017 - 2019
Lecturer at the HBK Braunschweig for digital and analog artist books
Artist books, exhibition catalogues & publications
2024
Monograph: Das Künstlerbuch als multimediale Enzyklopädie, Marlene Bart, transcript
2021
Je, je suis si fragile, Petra Schaefer (German Study Centre Venice) (eds.), exhibition catalouge
Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
2020
Naturdinge, Feinkunst e.V., Sprengelmuseum (eds.), artist book
2018
Orbis Pictus, artist book
2016
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia, artist book
2013 - 2015
KRISTEL- Issue 1 - 3, Marlene Bart, Lena Lamprecht (eds.), Interdisciplinary Magazine for Students of the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts
Contributions in
2022
Imagining Life, Artworks and descriptions: Amy Karle, Text: Marlene Bart, Alex Leo Freier, Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
Milimeterarbeit der Natur, Atlas of Databodies - Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
A little bit nasty, Artworks and descriptions: Marius Mathisrud, Text: Marlene Bart, Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
Gunga, Maxim Gunga, diploma catalouge
CONTEMPORANEA 2020/1973, Maria Bremer (eds.), exhibition catalouge
2020
A little other, Rui Zhang, Feinkunst e.V., Sprengelmuseum (eds.), exhibition catalouge
2018
Artistic contribution in: Un/Certain Futures – Rollen des Designs in gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozessen, Marius Förster, Saskia Hebert, Mona Hofmann, Wolfgang Jonas (eds.), transcript