Photo by Gideon Rothmann
VITA
Marlene Bart (*1991) 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 Society.
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.
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)
2019
Artist in Residence at Art Quarter Budapest (aqb, Budapest, HU)
2018
Projektstipendium (Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen)
Artist in Residence at Χοροθέατρο Ακροποδητί | Σύρος (Dance Centre Akropoditi, Syros, GR)
2017
"Herbststipendium 2017" (Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten Cuxhaven)
Master Student scholarship (Stiftung Braunschweigischer Kulturbesitz)
Award of EREIGNIS DRUCKGRAPHIK 2017 (BBK Leipzig)
2016
La Bourse Impulsion Arts visuels
2015
CANON PROFIFOTO Award
ISAP scholarship (Los Angeles, USA)
2014
PSD Bank Art Award
ERASMUS scholarship (Nice, FR)
Exhibitions (selection)
2023
Theatrum Radix (Tieranatomisches Theater & Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, DE) SS
Berlin goes Austin, Immersive space (South by Southwest (SXSW), USA) GS
Theatrum Radix (Screening at Zeiss Planetarium, Berlin, DE) SS
UNLEASHED UTOPIAS,VR ART PRIZE (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE) GS
VRFestMx (Muv Lab, Mexico City, MEX) GS
Berlain (Räume.Art, Berlin, DE) GS
2022
Hoch wie nie: imaginary landscapes and the creatures who live there (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT) GS
Theatrum Radix (Recto Verso Festival, Bateau Lavoir Saint-Julien, Laval, FR) SS
Theatrum Radix (VRE - Virtual Reality Experience festival, MEET, Milan, IT) GS
2021
Taxa & Theater of Memory (Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig, Braunschweig, DE) SS
Naturae (Galerie Peter Gaugy, Vienna, AT) GS
Je, je suis si fragile (Spazio Norbert Salenbauch, Venice, IT) SS
Fragments of Hybrid Soup (oMo artspace, Berlin, DE) GS
2020
Environmental Crisis Exhibition (Gerald Moore Gallery, London, UK) GS
Naturdinge (Sprengel@Feinkunst, Hanover, DE) SS
Charity art auction (Federation of Austrian Industry, Vienna, AT) GS
Fresh...essays on Nature! (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE) GS
International and Different (Network of Arts, Luzern, CH) GS
2019
MyPrivateParadise (Kunstverein Ludwigshafen, Ludwigshafen DE) GS
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, UK) GS
the tableau of a dead bird (Art Quarter Budapest, Budapest, HU) SS
Novum Organum (metavier Galerie, Hanover, DE) SS
Mini Maxi Print Berlin (Galerie Kuchling, Berlin, DE) GS
2018
Image and Sound in Music Video (artist talk) (Dance Centre Akrpoditi, Syros, GR) SS
ORBIS PICTUS (4D - Projektort des BBK LEIPZIG e. V.,Leipzig, DE) SS
Leere sockel / Entfernte Monumente (Organ kritischer Kunst, Berlin, DE) GS
MyPrivateParadise (Neuer Pfaffenhofener Kunstverein, Pfaffenhofen, DE) GS
Elsewhere is here : Anderswo ist hier (TURBA Gallery, Hanover, DE) GS
2017
EREIGNIS DRUCKGRAPHIK 2017 (Tapentenwerk, Leipzig, DE) GS
VOYAGE VOYAGE REISE REISE I (Galerie vom Zufall & vom Glück, Hanover, DE) GS
Voyage Voyage Reise Reise II (Aître Saint-Maclou, Rouen, FR) GS
Upcoming empires - Meisterschüler 2017 (Städtische Galerie, Wolfsburg, DE) GS
TURBA CUX (Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten, Cuxhaven) GS
ALL YOU NEED IS MORE (Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Düsseldorf, DE) GS
2016
PER ASPERA AD ASTRA (Lokal-int, Biel, CH) GS
Wunderkammer (Galerie Schmalfuss, Berlin, DE) GS
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia (HBK, Brunswick, DE) SS
2015
Inversion (Museumsabtei, Liesborn, DE) GS
International Project (Bolu Art Gallery, Bolu, TR) GS
87. Herbstausstellung (Kunstverein Hannover, Hannover, DE) GS
TURBA | efficere (Montserrat DTLA, Los Angeles, USA) GS
Ora et labora – Labora et ora (Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, USA) SS
2014
IF YOU BELIEVE THAT PRINT IS DEAD YOU ARE DEAD (Verein für Originalradierung München e.V., Munich, DE) GS
HOME Street HOME („Vermittlungsraum“, Kunstverein BS, Brunswick, DE) GS
2013
Re-Produktion (Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, DE) GS
2022
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Untitled Gallery, Tbilisi, GEO)
2023
Jury: XR Unites (HTW, Berlin) DE
Mentoring: Pause / Play: Culture under Pressure (Yerevan, ARM)
2023
What is it about VR?!, Panel discussion, Digital Art Lab (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE)
MEET THE ARTIST, Marlene Bart in conversation with Dr. Tina Sauerländer (Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE)
»Turn and face the Strange«, Trickster Science" lecture series (Bauhaus-University, Weimar, DE)
Shaping Access! - A workshop for new perspectives on natural history objects (Münster University, Münster, DE)
Art & Tech Talks (Tieranatomisches Theater, Berlin, DE)
XR ecosystem in Berlin and Brandenburg (hub.Berlin, Berlin, DE)
2022
Lecture on digital and analouge artists books in the context of "culture under pressure" (online)
Presentation on the EU Horizon project XReco (de Doelen, Rotterdam, NL)
2021
Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft ( Leopold-Franzens-Universität, Innsbruck, AT)
Talk and Presentation on the "atlas of databodies" (Futurium, Berlin, DE)
Talk in the context of Sprengel Readymades (online)
Artist books/exhibition catalogues
2021
Je, je suis si fragile, Petra Schaefer (German Study Centre Venice) (eds.), exhibition catalouge
2020
Naturdinge, Feinkunst e.V., Sprengelmuseum (eds.), artist book
2018
Orbis Pictus, artist book
2016
SYSTEMS - a reconstructed encyclopedia, artist book
2023
Das Künstlerbuch als multimediale Enzyklopädie, Marlene Bart, transcript
2021
Atlas of Databodies - Issue 1, Marlene Bart, Johannes Breuer & Alex Leo Freier (eds.), Journal for Interdisciplinary Research on Images of the Body, transcript
2013 - 2015
KRISTEL- Issue 1 - 3, Marlene Bart, Lena Lamprecht (eds.), Interdisciplinary Magazine for Students of the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts
2018
Un/Certain Futures – Rollen des Designs in gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozessen, Marius Förster, Saskia Hebert, Mona Hofmann, Wolfgang Jonas (eds.), transcript
Text 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