Artist Statement: Through visual, auditory, and haptic interaction, my goal is to craft situations that question the nature of human habitats and reveal how these built environments shape our well being and connections to each other. Stemming from an underlying fascination with invention, my practice looks at the ephemeral nature of resources and infrastructure that feed, house and nurture our bodies directly. This includes simple technology such as plumbing and electricity as well as less tangible resources such as time, creative space, and community. Recent subject matter draws parallels between physical structures and economic or political frameworks with a focus on the concept of stability, mobility and personal agency.
Time and presence are consistent themes in my artwork–both the presence of the work itself, and that of the audience. Through this pursuit, I have become captivated by the idea of the moment as a period of undefined duration but also as an event of great importance. Using salvage and ephemeral materials to investigate my surroundings, I look for ways to foster thoughtful relationships with emerging and declining technologies through poetic, playful, and contemplative interaction with objects and sound. For me, this kind of hands-on experimentation provides intimacy with the physical world. I want my installations to exist in their own perpetual moment, creating a collective durational experience while remaining urgently present.
Bio: Anja Ulfeldt is an artist, educator, and curator with a hybrid practice that floats between installation, performance, and unconventional art facilitation. Anja grew up in Berkeley, CA, and earned her BFA from California College of the Arts in 2001 and her MFA from Stanford University in 2014. She’s a founding member of two artist-run alternative spaces in California, one a Mojave Desert based curatorial project and the other a floating venue for visual art, research and performance built atop a converted potato barge in the Sacramento River Delta. She’s a recipient of VBC Artist Award and Residency at Headlands Center for the Arts, the Visions from the New California Award, the TSFF & SOMArts Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award,The AAF/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Finalist Award.
Anja is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University in the areas of Sculpture and Emerging Technology. She has exhibited in the Bay Area at SLAC National Laboratory, Pro Arts Gallery, Kala Art Institute, SOMArts, Root Division, The Museum of Craft & Design. Ulfeldt’s work has been collected by the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, Esplora National Interactive Science Centre in Malta, and Recology San Francisco among others.