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Ingela Ihrman - First Came the Ocean, 2024 - Juac, Selva di Val Gardena

Ingela Ihrman, First Came the Ocean, 2024. Environmental Installation. 25 x 5 m. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina 9. Photo by Martin Demetz
Ingela Ihrman, The Wandering Spruce, 2015. Performance on 01.06.2024. Courtesy the Artist and Ögonblicksteatern i Umeå, Sweden. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

Ingela Ihrman’s works may take the form of sculptures, performances, videos or texts. Her research attempts to activate empathic relationships between humans and the animal and plant worlds, to “open up new horizons and perspectives on what it means to be alive,” in the Swedish artist’s own words. In the performance Giant Otter Giving Birth (2012), for example, Ihrman wears an otter costume and, crouching in a corner of the exhibition space, simulates the birth of three cubs, which struggle to make their way out of the giant animal’s body. The mother then tries to wipe away the slime and help the cubs find her nipples. Audience reactions range from disbelief to laughter, but no one remains indifferent.

For The Parliament of Marmots, Ihrman presents a performance and a sculpture. During the opening days, she stages The Wandering Spruce in which the artist impersonates a spruce cone – like those found in Val Gardena – that walks from north to south, dropping seeds made of thin brown paper on the ground. The installation First Came the Ocean, on the other hand, consists of a gigantic skeleton of a marine animal – like those that inhabited the Dolomites two hundred and fifty million years ago – made up of trunks and branches of local trees, weakened by the bark beetle epidemic and having fallen as the result of recent storms. In the work, Ihrman relates ancient marine fossils to the fallen trees, returning to when the Alps were coral reefs, the valley was filled with water and meadows were the seabed. (M.P.)

INGELA IHRMAN

Ingela Ihrman (1985, Kalmar, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm. Ingela’s work is sparked by the strong emotions of everyday life and a desire to understand, question or express certain aspects of being alive, social and human. She graduated from Art In the Public Realm, Konstfack, Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include Malmö Konsthall; Carl Eldhs Ateljémuseum, Stockholm; Gasworks, London; Åstorps Konsthall; Bohusläns Museum, Uddevalla; Karlin Studios / FUTURA, Prague. Group Exhibitions include Gropius Bau, Berlin; Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris; Eden Projects, Cornwall; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; and Malmö Konstmuseum. She participated in the Yokohama Triennale; Nordic Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale; and 11th Gwangju Biennale.

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Ingela Ihrman - First Came the Ocean, 2024 - Juac, Selva di Val Gardena

Ingela Ihrman, First Came the Ocean, 2024. Environmental Installation. 25 x 5 m. Commissioned by Biennale Gherdëina 9. Photo by Martin Demetz
Ingela Ihrman, The Wandering Spruce, 2015. Performance on 01.06.2024. Courtesy the Artist and Ögonblicksteatern i Umeå, Sweden. Photo by Tiberio Sorvillo

Ingela Ihrman’s works may take the form of sculptures, performances, videos or texts. Her research attempts to activate empathic relationships between humans and the animal and plant worlds, to “open up new horizons and perspectives on what it means to be alive,” in the Swedish artist’s own words. In the performance Giant Otter Giving Birth (2012), for example, Ihrman wears an otter costume and, crouching in a corner of the exhibition space, simulates the birth of three cubs, which struggle to make their way out of the giant animal’s body. The mother then tries to wipe away the slime and help the cubs find her nipples. Audience reactions range from disbelief to laughter, but no one remains indifferent.

For The Parliament of Marmots, Ihrman presents a performance and a sculpture. During the opening days, she stages The Wandering Spruce in which the artist impersonates a spruce cone – like those found in Val Gardena – that walks from north to south, dropping seeds made of thin brown paper on the ground. The installation First Came the Ocean, on the other hand, consists of a gigantic skeleton of a marine animal – like those that inhabited the Dolomites two hundred and fifty million years ago – made up of trunks and branches of local trees, weakened by the bark beetle epidemic and having fallen as the result of recent storms. In the work, Ihrman relates ancient marine fossils to the fallen trees, returning to when the Alps were coral reefs, the valley was filled with water and meadows were the seabed. (M.P.)

INGELA IHRMAN

Ingela Ihrman (1985, Kalmar, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm. Ingela’s work is sparked by the strong emotions of everyday life and a desire to understand, question or express certain aspects of being alive, social and human. She graduated from Art In the Public Realm, Konstfack, Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include Malmö Konsthall; Carl Eldhs Ateljémuseum, Stockholm; Gasworks, London; Åstorps Konsthall; Bohusläns Museum, Uddevalla; Karlin Studios / FUTURA, Prague. Group Exhibitions include Gropius Bau, Berlin; Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris; Eden Projects, Cornwall; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; and Malmö Konstmuseum. She participated in the Yokohama Triennale; Nordic Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennale; and 11th Gwangju Biennale.