Eliza Ballesteros

is based in Vienna (AU)

CONTACT
via mail
or DM @eglitza


♦️ Interview with Jêrome Nicod for 10N Gallery Brussels via youtube.com ♦️

published 7th October 2024


🥀 Interview with Theresa Weise for KUBAPARIS 🥀

published 23rd May 2024


UPCOMING

HOAST - Artist-run space Vienna

invited by Arvid Jansen & Oliver Bleckmannw/ Hannah BesenhardOpening:
Friday 29th November 2024, 6-9pm
Exhibtion
29.11. - 13.12.2024
HOAST
Grosse Sperlgasse 25
AU - 1020 Vienna


Kunstverein ZINKdressing... Man Nequinn
Episode 2

curated by Janina Weißengruber, Nanna Sorgo, Mathilde Gärtner, Maya LempeliusGroupshow w/
Yasmina Haddad, Fiona Haderer, Pille-Riin Jaik, Maya Lempelius, Jonas Morgenthaler, Muk Muk, Georg Thanner
Opening:
Thursday 12th December 2024, 6-9pm
ZINK Kunstverein
Hintzerstraße 10
AU - 1030 Vienna


CHESS CLUB

curated by Amanda Weimar...more infor tba...Chess Club Hamburg
Colonnaden 72
DE - 20354 Hamburg


RECENT and PAST

10 N BrusselsEliza Ballesteros
ORDINATION

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

LOSANGE (crimson) and LOSANGE (bordeaux), 2024hand dyed cotton velvet, smocking, thread, jute, felt, wooden frame
227 x 77 x 5 cm
courtesy Eliza Ballesteros, 10N Brussels 2024

Exhibition
06.09.- 05.10.2024

ORDINATIONThe term “ordination” in its Austrian context refers to a doctors or therapists office, a space with a distinct architecture and function. Drawing on the unique apparatus of Freud’s iconic ordination, which remains notorious and preserved as museums both in Vienna and in London until this day, Eliza Ballesteros installation for 10N Brussels pivots these qualities with her new works, referring to the Freudian divan as a space of projection yet its instrumental character within the psychoanalytical setting.Exhibition views: contemporaryartlibrary.orgFor more informations please get in touch with 10 N Gallery

10 N Gallery Brussels
Av. Napoléon 10
BE - 1180 BRUXELLES

Interview with Eliza Ballesteros for her solo show ORDINATION at 10N Brussels with Jêrome Nicod via youtube.comVideo filmed and edited by Hugo Boutry, 2024


viennacontemporary 2024

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

ZONE1, Booth A22 curated by Bruno Mokross
courtesy Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2024
Photo: choreo.info

12. - 15. September 2024ZONE1
Eliza Ballesteros (solo booth)
curated by Bruno Mokross

Messe Wien
Halle D, Booth A22
Trabrennstr. 7
AU - 1020 Wien

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

Wallobject (glove and tiffany rattle with belt), 2024
silkscreen on stainless steel, leather belt, buckle, artist frame
1/1 unique
34 x 26 x 3 cm
courtesy Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2024
Photo: choreo.info


fiebach, minningerEliza Ballesteros
ALCOVES OF WEEP

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

THE WAY YOU WEAR YOUR SKIN (APCC), 2024
wood, stain, carnauba wax, EPDM rubber, velvet, eyelets, leather lace
63 x 131 x 89 cm
courtesy Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2024

The most sacred of it all (that I am)
I hold a finger to my throbbing temple: what I see delights me. I lay down to the object’s feet, stretching myself out, bashful as I am, somewhat clumsy in its proximity. Closing one eye first, then the next, before finally asking how come we’ve never met.
In the aftermath of an answer that, as far as I know, was never replied, I turn angel-like to follow the weeping feebly expressed in this deathly silence. I can no longer tell the difference between the sparkle that I, tearful, wipe from my ajar lips and the cold sweat stemming from impure springs that my hands bring before my eyes as I kneel to the sky. The dismemberment that flows from them makes me anxious. Dismayed, that spirit in me throws its weight against my right leg. I sway. The head, tottering behind my back, takes this last chance to turn to excuses which, spat out by fear, take me towards an unbearable loneliness.
Bowing to the etiquette of some unfamiliar ceremony, I take a quick run-up like a lunatic and, with a leap to fall in love with, cheerful to the sound of approving laughter, I finally part with everything that lies before and is behind me. The fear that now drives me, a forbidden companion caressing me as it gently covers my skin like a cilice, then sucking me, torn by more and more pain with every step, into the ass of the spirit. The sacred experience that haunts me through this ordeal is sordid.
Now at the mercy of an object that it just tried to harness, the spirit that can do no more, screams after it once more before getting lost in a revelation where nothing is revealed to astonished sensuousness other than a scene that no longer has anything to do with the everyday. Here, the wound left by this ordeal sets the table for a feast of pigs. I, most beautiful among them, let the shared fever wash over me, and after the anointing bid goodbye with a kiss: God speaks to me, the idiot, with his mouth against mine. The sunlight on my pale face opens my eyes. Ashamed, I walk out onto the street guided by bells chiming and ask fellow humans for forgiveness.
An everyday life leaky by its very nature was only able to let me escape temporarily through its open wounds. Because when the spirit within me brought itself before my eyes with a false move, I killed it, sacrificed it, so that I may use the power of the consecration it experienced to wallow blissfully in life. I am the midwife of its rebirth into filth, the animal that keeps on teaching that even the most hopeless despair can still be followed by hope.
..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
It is an experience that I could never have sought out. It is not the object of any calculation, something no purpose could ever find.
Text by Nils Fock

Exhibition
16. 03. - 08.05.2024
Gallery fiebach, minninger
Venloer Str. 26
DE - 50672 Cologne


© Eliza Ballesteros

Detail
o.T. [an entity on its own] 2023
cow bell, litelok®, sling chain, suspension link, ingot ring, carabiner, marking tags, wood, grime
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

Kunsthalle RecklinghausenKunstpreis »junger westen« 2023 – Skulptur, Plastik, Installation

3 December 2023 – 11 February 2024Opening and Award Ceremony for Mona Schulzek
2nd December 2023 5PM
Performance by Eliza Ballesteros
AUSDRUCK DER SCHEU [Mountains & Paranoia]
with Thomas Huy (Vocals), Magdalena Forster (Movement) and David Rank (Score)
nominated among Noémi Barbaglia , Rebekka Benzenberg , Marta Dyachenko , Fabian Friese,
Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Isabella Fürnkäs, Marc Norbert Hörler, Lucia Kempkes, Ju Young Kim, Maria Clara Kulemeyer, Julia Miorin,Esper Postma, Moritz Riesenbeck, Miriam Schmitz, Mona Schulzek, Tatjana Stürmer, caner teker,
Tatjana Vall, Emil Walde, Denise Werth and Karla Zipfel.
curated by Nico AnklamKunsthalle Recklinghausen
Große-Perdekamp-Str. 25-27
DE - 45657 Recklinghausen


© Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Portugal

Photo by Filipe Braga
© Duarte Sequeira Gallery, Portugal

Duarte Sequeira GalleryECHOS ACROSS SURFACES

11 November 2023 - 10 February 2024group show
w/ Edmond Brooks-Beckman, Emanuel De Carvalho, Jorge Galindo, Emily Kraus, Pia Ortuño, Mauro Ventura

Duarte Sequeira is pleased to announce
Echoes Across Surfaces,
a group exhibition at Duarte Sequeira HQ Braga
opening on Saturday, November 11, 2023.
Bringing together the works of 7 artists, Echoes Across Surfaces delves into the potential and inherent limitations of painting. The exhibition celebrates the wide range of approaches employed by each artist, and stands as a platform to foster an exchange of ideas centered around the medium of painting across various surfaces. Embracing the use of brushstrokes, marks, dye, pigment, oil, acrylic and spray paint, each artist is guided by their distinct visual language and method, highlighting the numerous possibilities of painting, materials and techniques.Curated by Ivo Pacheco & Despoina Tzanou

Duarte Sequeira HQ
Rua da Galeria nº 129
4700-803, Braga, Portugal


forseasons.ch

Fall - Eliza Ballesteros
solo show
1st October - 31st December 2023

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Installationshot
4SEASONS_FALL (For Louisa & Adam), 2023
silkscreen on copper, artist made steel frame, satin lacquer finish, neodym magnets
49 x 37 x 3 cm
unique
© Forseasons.ch, Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

curated by Adam Cruces and Louisa Gagliardi


Sihl Delta

Artist in Residence 2023
Zurich, CH


SIHL DELTA HORIZON - Range Of Vision | Das Blickfeld
21.08. - 19.11.2023

Sihl Delta offers a studio space on the grounds of Sihlcity, a shopping mall in the south of Zürich.
Under the title 'SIHL DELTA HORIZON - Range Of Vision | Das Blickfeld', various collaborative and open scenography's take place under the artistic direction of Eliza Ballesteros.
The project functions as a platform that offers the invited artists a place to present ideas and content in an undisclosed way.
The public sphere of the shopping mall as an arena of agglomeration and desire provides the framework to assert speculative scenarios within the artificial system, through interventions and spirit of inquiry.
'SIHL DELTA HORIZON - Range Of Vision | Das Blickfeld' is a place for new learning and thus offers an alternative education in exchange: the scenography's and forms of presentation created allow a complement and a change from the usual institutional and academic frameworks in which artistic creation takes place.
In this sense, the open scenography's serve as a speculative practice: Eliza Ballesteros invites interdisciplinary artists to interweave different approaches and artistic strategies. The scenography's aim to find a balance between the impulse of the environment and the work-in-progress character of the anodizations, in order to test new forms of exchange and artistic production.

SIHL DELTA HORIZON - RANGE OF VISION | DAS BLICKFELD
with
Part I: Jana Dormann - Power Center (Retail)
Part II: Mario Espinoza - Intervention
Part III: Judith Shyambala Heinemann
Part IV: Nils Amadeus Lange - Shopping, Sculpture
Part V: LMK Oder - Amina | Anima
curated by Eliza Ballesteros

Design by Jil Gieleßen
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science NRW 2023 and the Sihl Delta Artist Residency 2023

JESTER_X_Installation

DOCK 20 life:

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

AUSDRUCK DER SCHEU [Mountains and Paranoia] 2023
Photo: Matthias Guido Braudisch
© DOCK 20, Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bildrecht, Österreich 2023

AUSDRUCK DER SCHEU
[Mountains and Paranoia], 2023

with
Thomas Huy (Vocals)
Magdalena Forster (Movement)
David Rank (Score)
Art, Concept and Prologue by Eliza Ballesteros

short excerpt of the performance via youtube.com

AUSDRUCK DER SCHEU [Mountains and Paranoia] 2023 is a scored performance piece by Eliza Ballesteros, composed for a bass-baritone soloist and a 6-channel sound system with subwoofers. Performed by Thomas Huy (vocals), Magdalena Forster (choreography/dance) and a score by David Rank.The score is composed from field recordings of the traditional "Alp-Abzug," a folkloric tradition in the Alpine regions in late summer when herds of cows return from the mountains to the villages. The music focuses on the bell as the protagonist and is composed for live voice by a bass-baritone opera singer, whose sensitive but powerful tone conveys the communication between the shepherd and the animal; he tells a dark fairy tale without words. In Lustenau, the existing piece is expanded through a spoken prologue and includes now the layer of choreographed yet improvised movement by choreographer and dancer Magdalena Forster.The dramaturgy of the piece corresponds to the combination of the experience of a panic attack with the idea of a descent. Paul Nizon's essay "Diskurs in der Enge" (Suhrkamp, 1990), in which he writes about (metaphorical) claustrophobic feelings that the Alps evoke in him, serves as a reference.

curated by Lukas Weithas

DOCK 20
Kunstraum und Sammlung Hollenstein
Pontentstr. 20
6890 Lustenau
Austria


Rinde am RheinLampen & Leuchten

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

LANTERN [Schinkel], 2022
steel, mica, foil, LED
140 x 55 x 70 cm
(comissioned by Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster for BUTCHER'S COIN, 2022)
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

group show
31.03. - 23.04.2023
Rinde am Rhein
Kreuzstraße 49
40210 Düsseldorf

w/
Lea Babel, Maximiliane Baumgartner & Alex Wissel, Emma Bieck, Brian Briggs, Sarah Doolan, Alyce Ford, Claus Föttinger, Keta Gavasheli, Ludwig Kuffer, Hannah Kuhlmannn, Jihye Rhii, Lukas Mogwitz, Günther Möbius, Nan Shen, Fernanda Rueda, Kaspar Stöbe, Herbert Willems


ART DÜSSELDORF 2023Sculpture Spots

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2023

Courtesy Eliza Ballesteros, SPIKED COLLARS, 2022
(comissioned by Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster for BUTCHER'S COIN, 2022)
© Galerie fiebach, minninger,
Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

ART DÜSSELDORF
AREAL BÖHLER
Hansaallee 321
40549 Düsseldorf
presenting
SPIKED COLLAR I [FIN] and SPIKED COLLAR III [ATTACHED] (2022)
in the framework of the sculpture spot program of the fair.
For more information visit the Booth F 12 of Gallery fiebach, minninger Cologne
Link to the magazine of Art Düsseldorf 2023:
"The Art Lover's Guide to All of all AD2023's Sculpture Spots"


10N Brussels ex situ - Haberdashery

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2023

© Eliza Ballesteros VEAL/VEIL, 2022
(comissioned by Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster for BUTCHER'S COIN, 2022)
Photo: Silvia Cappellari

group showcurated by Jérôme Nicod
10N Brussels
02.-05.03.23@Mercerie.bxl
70 rue van Artevelde
1000 Brussels
Belgium

w/
Julien Auregan, Francesco Battistello, Nicolas Bourthoumieux, Jack Burton, Sarah Caillard, Leo Gabin, Valérian Goalec, Gaëlle Leenhardt, Veerle Melis, Jacopo Pagin, Julien Saudubray, Myrthe van der Mark, Maarten Van Roy


Lecture- Performance
Valentine's Special: Eliza Ballesteros
Post-Show Skin Care Routine and Date Make-up | Beauty Secrets | Malkasten

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2023

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024
Retouch: Thomas Lambertz

Aspiring artist Eliza Ballesteros shares her post-opening night-time beauty routine with an in-depth 12-step facial that benefits her skin and emotional self. As a Valentine’s Beauty Special, she shows us a simple Smokey Eye Make-up Tutorial to get ready for a night out and slay with a mysterious aura.
Her beauty routine features thermal water, a distinct face massage tool, and the frozen apple trick.
Künstlerverein Malkasten
14th February 2023
7.30 PM
The event was presented by Christoph Westermeier
and broadcast via the Malkasten Profile.
https://malkasten.org/events/event/eliza-ballesteros/


Eliza Ballesteros
BUTCHER'S COIN

Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster
25.06. - 18.09.2022

Eliza Ballesteros: BUTCHER'S COIN, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 2022. Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by Westfälischer Kunstverein.
© Foto: Thorsten Arendt

Installation views and press release published on
ArtViewer and Contemporary Art Library

In her stage-like installations, Ballersteros illuminates patriarchal power structures, heteronormative role models and social classifications. She focuses in particular on the domestication of animals, which she uses as a foil to question socio-cultural narratives and interpretive sovereignties. These "staged realities," as Ballesteros refers to her installations, deliberately target sensitive issues and enable viewers to experience facts from unusual perspectives in order to encourage us to reflect, think differently. Via a mode of surprising exaggeration and deformation, she casts light on received meanings inscribed into objects and places them in fresh contexts.As a result, Ballesteros dares to "look back into the future" and questions traditional social systems in the here and now. Against this backdrop, Ballersteros is currently devising a new installation, in which she will respond to a work in the Westfälischer Kunstverein's historical collection. The exhibition was curated by Angela Theisen.

The exhibition was realized with the kind support of Firmengruppe Hermann Brück, Brillux as well as Glockengiesserei Berger.

Eliza Ballesteros: BUTCHER'S COIN, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 2022.
Courtesy the artist. Commissioned by Westfälischer Kunstverein.
Video: Philipp Wachowitz, Alina Schäfer

Exhibition views Eliza Ballesteros: BUTCHER'S COIN, Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster, 2022
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022, Photo: Thorsten Arendt

Installation in public by Eliza Ballesteros: AGGLOMERATION, Westfälischer Kunstverein Münster, 2022
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2022, Photo: Thorsten Arendt


ART COLOGNE FAIR 2022

solo booth ArtCologne New Positions © Eliza Ballesteros 2022

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024

NEW POSITIONS
solo booth
with Gallery fiebach, minninger cologne
Hall 11.2
Booth A-317
16. - 20.11.2022
for informations regarding the available works please contact the gallery directly via mail

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Eliza Ballesteros
wall object, 2022
n.T. [glove and rattle]
unique 1/1 +AP with signature
silkscreen on stainless steel, lacquer, artist made steel frame, carnauba wax
39 x 28,5 x 3 cm
© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2024


TIPSY TINA

Installation shot TIPSY TINA at Kunsthalle Exnergasse, 2022
Photos: kunst-dokumentation.com

TIPSY TINA

see the complete documentation on OFLUXO
Photography: © kunst-dokumentation.com

group show
curated by Anna Hostek
Exhibition
07.09. - 22.10.2022

Kunsthalle Exnergasse
Währinger Straße 59
1090 Wien
Austria
w/ Aline Sofie Rainer, Miriam Desta Adefris (Music), Anthea Schranz (Music), Louise Streissler, Lea Dippold, Bartholomaeus Wächter, Ebony Tylah (Tim Hartmann & Antonia Boss), Rosa Rendl, Riot Pant Project (Elena Buscaino & Mina Bonakdar),
Albin Bergström, Katharina Schilling, Maša Stanic

Courtesy Eliza Ballesteros, Photos: kunst-dokumentation.comAUSDRUCK DER SCHEU, 2022
vintage leather belts, buckles, antique cow bell, lacquer
35 x 35 x 18 cm (bag)
18 x 18 x 12 cm (bell)

The produced work and scored performance piece is funded by JUNGE SZENE, Kunststiftung NRW 2022


Graduate of
MSA^2022
MOUNTAIN SCHOOL OF ARTS

International residency programLos Angeles, California, USA
02.09. - 18.09.2022

scholared by Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn and NEUSTART KULTUR 2022


Filmstill HAMRY (2022) by JP Langer w/ Eliza Ballesteros

NACHT IM SCHACHT
Duo show with JP Langer

Nails projectroom
Birkenstraße 61
40233 Düsseldorf
Exhibition
15.01. - 18.02. 2022
Press Release
The artists Eliza Ballesteros and JP Langer are jointly developing an installation for the glass front of the Nails Projectroom exhibition space, each juxtaposing sculptural objects and the silent movie HAMRY (2022) by JP Langer. Thematically, the works relate to underground and open-pit mining from the two artists' respective regions of departure, the Erzgebirge and the Ruhrpott.
The installation will extend over the spacious display window, which will be clay-lined from inside, leaving out the shape of a mineshaft.
Both artistic positions meet in a process of collaboration in this duo show and develop the image in the form of an installation together in an interdisciplinary approach.
Text by Jana Dormann with installation views on KUBA PARIS

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

MINER’S APRON [Arschleder]
2022
uncut smoked glas (unique),
graphite, acrylic ink, pigment,
leather, clasps, clamp mounting
120 x 120 x 12 cm

supported by Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Stadtsparkasse Düsseldorf

Filmstill HAMRY (2022) by JP Langer w/ Eliza Ballesteros

NACHT IM SCHACHT
Der Titel NACHT IM SCHACHT ist Verdopplung durch Aufteilen: er doppelte die Nacht indem diese einerseits als natürliche oder empirische Nacht und andererseits als diejenige Nacht zu verstehen ist, die im Schacht, also unter Tage passiert. Wo sich also mittels Schacht von Empirischem abgegrenzt wird, gibt es Eigengesetzlichkeit. Es entsteht eine andere Nacht, die so gewissermaßen eine zweite Natur begründet. Wird diese zweite Natur in den Kontext der Kunst gesetzt, der seinerseits Eigensinn behauptet, kann zum Beispiel die Möglichkeit entstehen, das Gewöhnliche als Gewohntes hervortreten zu lassen. Dabei sind weder die Natur, noch das in die Natur Gesetzte, noch die Kunst tatsächlich metaphysisches Außen. Sie sind vielmehr als verschiedenartige Räume einer Welt zusammengeschlossen. In JP Langers und Eliza Ballesteros NACHT IM SCHACHT werden diese Drei gespiegelt oder referiert, es gibt dort die Welt noch einmal.
Noch vor dem Betreten der Installation, in der Betrachtung von außen, wird durch eine erste Arbeit, SCHACHTMUND (2022), der vordere Raum des Nails künstlich als Raum demarkiert. Die halbkreisförmige Lehmschicht auf der Glasscheibe fungiert als eine zusätzliche Begrenzung, die sich via poverer und teils schon mürbe gewordener Materialität selbst in Frage stellt. Gegen das transparente Fenster aber verdichtet sich der Schachtmund zugleich, rahmt oder beschwellt letztlich sein Dahinter. Emphatisch ist der Schacht durch eine weitere, durch und durch solide anmutende, dick aufgetragene Lehmschicht im Fenster des hinteren Raumes abgeschlossen. Die in der Sphäre des Allgemeinen eh schon fabrizierte Schacht-Nacht wird also noch einmal künstlerisch reproduziert.
Noch im Blick von außen fallen dabei vier verschiedene Positionen in das Bild: die zwei Schwester-Arbeiten BASHFUL (2021) zentral im Vordergrund und links im Hintergrund DOC (2021), die auf dem Boden aufgestellte Videoarbeit HAMRY (2022), Ballesteros Werksserie MINER'S APRON [Arschleder] an den drei Wänden des Raumes gehangen und aufgestellt sowie FRENCH FROG (2022), an der Decke des Raumes. Die Positionen lassen sich in ihrer Beziehung zueinander als Reflektion einer intra- und inter-hierarchisierten Form von Arbeit, als Anspielung auf gewöhnlich festgeschriebene Produktionsverhältnisse einordnen. So hofiert Ballesteros Werksserie über ihre Positionierung an der Schachtwand die Arbeiten JP Langers gewissermaßen. Knechtisch and die Ränder gedrängt, protagonieren die Arschleder, die eigentlich selbst servil, im unteren Blickfeld gesetzten Arbeiten HAMRY, BASHFUL und DOC. Irgendwie widersinnig entsteht im Unterbau der Arbeiten eine hierarchische Ordnung, die sich an der vierten Position FRENCH FROG (2022), jedoch sofort wieder bricht. Die in der Horizontale zentral positionierte Arbeit, eine entzündete Grubenlampe, scheint buchstäblich als ein dem Raum  übergeordnetes auf. Über sein Abarbeiten an der Decke des Raumes als dem dort entstehenden Ruß, scheitert FRENCH FROGs behauptete Autorität letztlich aber ebenso an seiner institutionellen, empirischen Begrenzung. Ausgehend von ihrem jeweiligen Unterworfen-Sein reproduzieren BASHFUL und DOC ein ähnliches Untereinander. Sie versuchen Verhältnisse unselbstständiger Selbstständigkeit zu etablieren: etwa ist von den zwei sternförmigen Objekten nur eines beleuchtet, sodass von der hinteren, beleuchteten Position aus betrachtet, sich die Vordere bloß parasitär darstellt. Seinerseits kann der unselbstständige Stern durch seine Setzung am Anfang des Schachtmundes, also durch seine Nähe zum Tageslicht, aber genauso selbständig auftreten. Im  Übergang von Nacht und Tag scheitern letztlich beide und müssen abwechselnd mal die souveräne, mal die unterworfene Position einnehmen. Im Rahmen der Installation, als Nachahmung der Nachahmung, können BASHFUL und DOC die Momente ihrer Subexistenz zugleich aber kokettieren. In ihrer Nähe zum Herrnhuter Stern wird durch die ironische Andeutung auf das hyper-kanonische objet trouvé die autarke Eigengesetzlichkeit der künstlichen Sphäre wieder präsent.
Die Ernsthaftigkeit der Verhältnisse verliert sich. Ballesteros MINER'S APRON [Arschleder] setzen die Unterbrechung einer rein auf den Gehalt bezogenen, einer moralisch normativen Rezeptionsweise formalistisch fort. Die verwischten, unsauber angelegten Ornament-Zeichnungen auf den Arschledern, bilden mittels doppelter Verdinglichung ein (produktions-)  ästhetisches, transgressives Moment aus: so entzieht sich der Rückgriff auf das dekorative, als Kitsch überkommene Ornament in seinem Verhältnis zum Gebrauchsgegenstand sowohl der Idee reiner Konzept-, als auch rein post-konzeptueller Kunst. Als  ästhetisiertes Ding oder als Bewegung zwischen bloßer Gegenständlichkeit und sinnlicher Erscheinung bleiben die Werke als Werke transparent – referieren also referenziell auf die Verhältnisse der Montanindustrie. Als ein die gesamte Installation verdoppelndes, zwischen Zeit- und Raumkunst stehendes Element schlüsselt die theatral gesetzte Videoarbeit HAMRY die Bewegung zwischen Welt und artifizieller Gegenwelt letztlich vollkommen auf. Der Film zeichnet, ausgehend von seinem ruralen, industriellen Setting, Entwicklungstendenzen hin zu post-industriellen Formen der Arbeit, zu Digitalisierung und performativer Arbeit als virtuose Selbstinszenierung nach. Mit den Letzteren rücken allgemein schöpferische Potenziale zweckmäßig in das Zentrum wirtschaftlicher Produktion und lösen materielle Bedingungen gewissermaßen aus dieser aus. Gegen diese Folie aber, durch das in den Hintergrund treten geographischer Gegebenheiten im zweckmäßigen Bezug auf Produktionsverhältnisse, re-etabliert sich der ästhetische Blick auf das Land: als Landschaft tritt Natur hier naturschön auf, die erste Natur wird über die zweite Natur wieder auf die der Kunst geöffnet. Dabei mal der performativen Inszenierung der Protagonistinnen als Kulisse dienend, mal sublim auftretend, gehen die Protagonistinnen immer wieder in der Landschaft und ruralen Szenerie unter. Das Wechselspiel wirkt dabei so regelmäßig, dass die ästhetische Domestizierung der Umwelt trotz allem maximal momentan auffällt. Der Eindruck purer Konvention überwiegt. Auch insgesamt ist HAMRY auf Banalität hin angelegt und spielt dabei mit gescheiterten Motiven der Weltflucht, einer Unmöglichkeit der Flucht ins Private. Die Übersättigung des Artifiziellen in allen Lebensbereichen der diese Banalität geschuldet ist, spiegelt sich überdies in den Titeln der Arbeiten JP Langers.  Übernommen aus der Disney Schneewittchen-Version, ist hier auch die absolute Trivialität des Massenkulturellen in die Sphäre der Kunst eingelassen und setzt so an die Stelle einer Überhöhung das Herkömmliche. Alles eskapistische Potenzial, alle Nostalgie für den Austritt in das Fiktionale, das hervorgebrachte make-believe wird als nur noch gewöhnlich, als zur Gewohnheit verkommene, mit der Sphäre der Arbeit auch in der Sphäre der Kunst Nivelliertes herausgestellt. Wie in der Nacht selbst, im Dunklen, scheint sich alles - Natur, Arbeit und Kunst - eintönig überlagert zu haben. Erst durch die künstliche Begrenzungen im falschen Schacht aber sind alle Drei als irgendwo gleiche, als ein gleicher Usus anschaulich geworden.
Text von Jana Dormann


Eliza Ballesteros
Monograph

editied by Luisa Rittershauspublished by
WIENAND Verlag Cologne
catalogue
96 pages
c-printed
28,0 cm x 22,0 cm
Hardcover
german / english
ISBN 978-3-86832-650-5Essay written by Luisa Rittershaus
Layout design by Michael Gais
brief PDF preview of the book:
https://www.wienand-verlag.de/out/media/Ballesteros.pdf
click to order online via the WIENAND online shop and read the press release (german via Monopol Magazin).

Made possible with funds from Stiftung Kunst und Kultur e. V. Bonn and NEUSTART KULTUR


Vordemberge-Gildewart Grant 2021
shortlisted
curated by Gertrud Peters and Assistant Curator Nantje Wilke
KIT Kunst im Tunnel
Mannesmannufer 1b
40213 Düsseldorf
Exhibition
26.11.2021–13.02.2022
w/ Paul Czerlitzki, Nicholas Grafia & Mikołaj Sobczak, Frieder Haller, Alesha Klein, Björn Knapp, Harkeerat Mangat, Mira Mann,
Donja Nasseri, Murat Önen, Linda Skellington and Ji Hyung Song

© Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Portrait at KIT by Katja Illner, courtesy of Eliza Ballesteros and Katja Illner 2021


SELECTED WORKS

Installationshot SHABRACK © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Installation shot of SHABRACK, 2021 Courtesy fiebach, minninger, Eliza Ballesteros | Photo: Martin PlüddemannCONES (FOR MICHAËL), 2021
leather, fur, upholstery, wax threat, vinyl, skirting board
dimension variable

Eliza Ballesteros
SHABRACK

solo show
curated by Luisa Schlotterbeck
Gallery fiebach, minninger
Venloer Str. 26
50672 Cologne
24th June - 28th August 2021

see installation shots by Martin Plüddemann on KUBAPARIS

WHIP I +II, 2021 © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Courtesy fiebach, minninger, Eliza Ballesteros  | Photo: Martin PlüddemannWHIP I (DILDOP), 2021
smoked oak, walnut, platane, wax finish
59 x 84 x 3 cm
WHIP II (9+1 CAT), 2021
smoked oak, walnut, platane, wax finish
59 x 84 x 3 cm


DARE_2021 © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Courtesy Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Eliza Ballesteros | Photo: Katja IllnerDARE, 2021Installation in public space
driveway marking paint, glass beads
530 x 230 cm

Eliza Ballesteros
DARE, 2021

solo show
in collaboration with Teresa Schönherr
curated by Katharina Bruns
MUR BRUT #18
at
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Tiefgarage
Grabbeplatz 4, 40213 Düsseldorf
04th February - 25th April 2021

Review by Julia Meyer-Brehm at Monopol Magazin Online (german)


Installation view All Corners Made To Be Leaned groupshow, Attic Bayenwerft Rhenania Cologne, 2021 | Photos: Philipp Naujoks

ALL CORNERS MADE TO BE LEANED

Invited by Eliza Ballesteros
Text by Jana Dormann
Attic Bayenwerft
Kunsthaus Rhenania
Bayenstr. 28,
50678 Cologne
Exhibition
12.03 - 18.04.2021
group show w/
Anna Budniewski & Michael Dikta , Sarah Doolan, Till Gerhard Hausotte, Anna Hostek, HULFE, Leander Kreißl, knuddi2000
Arthur Löwen, Katerina Matsagkos, Philipp Naujoks, Phung Tien Phan, Sara Rossi, Anna Reutinger, Katharina Schilling,
Georg Thanner, Lissy Willberg

see the full documentation on
OFLUXO and Journal.fyi

TAUSEND JAHRE SCHEISSE (Jesters End), 2021 | Photos: Philipp Naujoks, courtesy Eliza Ballesteros
vinyl, latex, wax cord, chrome bells
70 x 50 x 30 cm


TRANSIT © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Photo: Ludwig Kuffer 2021TRUISMS OF 2020 - a homage
50 m LED Panel
moving text

TRANSIT – vorübergehende Literatur am Ebertplatz

TRUISMS OF 2020 - a homagepreviously unpublished text material installed in public space
at Ebertplatz, Cologne
9th April - 14th May 2021
more information and the list of participants:
TRANSIT Ebertplatz Köln (in german)


THE TRICKSTER, 2020 © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

THE TRICKSTER, 2020
goat leather, antique brass bells, linen cloth, wood display upholstered with office carpet, artist made aluminium frame, carpet cut
130 x 95 cm
Photo courtesy of ORBIT

ORBIT

Messeturm, 36th floor
Frankfurt am Main
16.10. - 29.11.2020
groupshow w/
Aline Bouvy, Leon Eisermann, Neven Allgeier, Inga Danysz, Martin Kozlowski, Yana Tsegay, Deniz Cemil, Jiwon Lee, Immanuel Birkert, Sami Schlichting, Martin Wenzel, Stefan Müller, Koen Delaere, Laura Schawelka, Felix Kultau, Dan Kwon, Rudi Ninov, Sichtbeton (Martin Kähler/Max Huckle), Miriam Schmitz

Read the story behind the show and see some installation shots at
SCHIRNMAG (german)
and the full documentation at
DAILY LAZY, KUBAPARIS and HUGO ZORN 💖
Review by Naomi Rado at PASSE-AVANT (german)


DOMESTIC_HECK_PARANOIA © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

PARANOIA [cabinet], 2020
birch wood, pigment, oil
250 x 130 x 40 cm
As part of the solo show DOMESTIC HECK, installation view at Offspace Moltkereiwerkstatt Cologne, 2020Photo by Hans Diernberger

DOMESTIC_HECK_installation View © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Installation View DOMESTIC HECK, 2020Photo by Hans Diernberger

CLAMP_detail © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

Detail CLAMPS, 2020
wood, oak stain, oil, iron, shellac
116 x 23 x 7 cm
Photo by Hans Diernberger

Eliza Ballesteros
DOMESTIC HECK

Offspace Moltkerei Werkstatt Colognecurated by Alexander Pütz

see the full documentation and text featured on
O FLUXO
and
Daily Lazy


IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Absolvent_innen der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2019
07. 02. - 08.03. 2020
Kunstsammlung NRW K21

JESTER_X_Installation © Eliza Ballesteros and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023

THE JESTER X (2020) Installation view and Detail, Kunstsammlung NRW K21
Photo: Copyright Eliza Ballesteros and AR


I M P R I N TStudio Eliza Ballesteros
Kalkumer Str. 85
40468 Düsseldorf
Germany
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