Ella Bertilsson – Durational Performance

Ella Bertilsson’s practice combines elements of sculpture, video, performance, drawing and sound to stage installations as a form of enquiry into bizarre and quotidian experiences and events that shape our character and define our identity. With playful live acts, happenings and through performance for camera, she develops fictional characters that are humorous but dysfunctional. Disused obsolete items, personal belongings and analogue technology are often utilised as props. These materials can also conjure generational experience as an 80’s kid, recalling collective memories, and evoking a sense of place. Moving between the Personal and the Universal, Bertilsson’s practice seeks to reimagine art historical tropes such as Absurdism, Surrealism and Dadaism to form a contemporary treatise on the human condition. Ella Bertilsson (b. Umeå, Sweden) is a visual artist based in Dublin since 2003. She is a studio artist at Rua Red until 2024 and is a recipient of the Visual Arts Bursary Award and the Project Award 2022-2023) from the Art Council of Ireland. She has 1st class honours in Fine Art Print (BA) and MFA both awarded from the National College of Art and Design, Ireland (2009, 2015) and Comparative Literature Studies from Södertörn University SWE (2011-2012). Forthcoming solo exhibitions; at Ballina Art Centre (2024) and The Dock (2023); recent solo show; CUT THE CAKE WITH CLAWS, The Complex (2022). No booking required, but places are limited.