Ane Graff

Ane Graff is informed by feminist new materialisms’ ongoing rethinking of our material reality, in which a relational and process-oriented approach to matter—including the matter of living bodies—plays an integral part. Within this framework, Graff focuses on human and non-human relationships, viewing human beings as part of an expansive, material network, stretching inside and outside of our bodies. Her work traces lines of Western intellectual history and asks how ideas of human exceptionalism, Cartesian dualism and representational thinking all relate to the ecological disasters we face today, and furthermore, what seem to be their current and future implications for material bodies. Graff sees all material bodies as part of an ongoing material experiment, where new substances are being added to the mix (through industrial production and pollution), causing an entangled web of changes and promoting new bodily states. Collaborating with scientists, Graff’s sculptural works often incorporate experimental materials such as bacterial pigments, hair dye, meat glue, phytoestrogens and SSRI antidepressant medications. Ane Graff (b. 1974, Bodø) lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She graduated from Bergen National Academy of the Arts in 2004 and currently holds a position of PhD Research Fellow at the Oslo National Academy the Arts. She has been part of exhibitions such as ‘Weather Report –Forecasting Future, Nordic Pavilion’ at the 58th Venice Biennale, (curated by Piia Oksanen and Leevi Haapala, KIASMA), 2019; Art Encounters Biennial, (curated by Maria Lind & Anca Rujoiu), 2019; Soon Enough: Art in Action, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, 2018; Myths of the Marble, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, 2017; the 11th Gwangju Biennale The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?), Gwangju, 2016; and Surround Audience, The New Museum Triennial, 2015, NY. Recent exhibitions include: ‘and we learn to keep the soil wet (group exhibition)’ at CARA, New York City (2023), ‘Ane Graff: The Wound in Its Entanglements’ at Kunstinstituut Melly, Netherlands (2022). ‘Liquid Life’ at Kistefos (2021) (curated by Martha Kirszenbaum), ‘7x7 Stavanger’ as part of the Rhizome/New Museum/Stavanger Kunsthall collaboration (2021); 2021 Liverpool Biennale (curated by Manuela Moscoso).