Methods of Art – Archive of Artists Interviews

That’s the process I think. That’s also something different from the production because the process
doesn’t really end in that sense, I think. The production does, for sure. But the process… there is
always, when the work is seen or when something happens to the work it adds another layer of
concept, maybe. And then, the process continues… maybe if it stays in a dark storage for 50 years.
That definitely adds a lot of content to the work. As the performance is happening there can
definitely be a part of the process of developing in that moment, which I find really interesting. I
often aim to have a kind of personal development for the people participating and I often don’t
choose to work with performers per say but to include the audience or, to perform it solemnly
myself. Which brings me further and hopefully the people participating as well. I think time plays a
big role in the work. Especially because a lot of it is processed based. So it’s maybe a comment or
continuation of something that might happen or are happening with you and something that is
going on in society but it is constantly changing. So, the time is definitely very much there in the
work, yeah.

Helga Wretman / Process

Bio

Swedish artist based in Berlin. She completed her training at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm for Modern and Contemporary Dance and explores the fake and real, possibilities and limitations of the body and technology. As an Artist and Stunt double, Wretman thrives on pushing her limits and improving the state of her surrounding. Her persona and image become like design elements in works that toy with the tropes of performed actions. In her works she also takes on the role of a marionette in a metaphorical sense. She uses these performative investigations to probe at the instrumentalization of a world of products and consumptive coercion. Wretman has performed at the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt (2014), the Palais de Tokyo (2012), Bergen Kunsthall (2011), Darsa Comfort in Zurich (2010), Kunsthalle Athena in Athens (2010) and NADA art fair in Miami (2009). Her video performance Dave was shown at the 12th Biennale of Lyon in 2013 and her television series Fitness For Artists is shown on Arte Creative TV. She also performs as a stuntwoman in numerous tv shows and cinema.

www.helgawretman.com

Credits

The interview was conducted on Januar 11 2014 at Studio Nihil Baxter Berlin.

Interviewed by: Johannes M. Hedinger

Filmed and recorded by: Paul Barsch

Edited by: Paul Barsch

Transcript by: Lea Hoßbach, Ella Tetrault

Produced by: University of Cologne (Cologne), Institut für Kunst&Kunsttheorie