Candice Breitz | |
---|---|
Born | 1972 Johannesburg, South Africa |
Alma mater | |
Known for | video art |
Website | www |
Candice Breitz (born 1972) [1] is a South African artist who works primarily in video and photography. [2] [3] She won a 2007 Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize. [4] Her work is often characterised by multi-channel moving image installations, with a focus on the "attention economy" of contemporary media and culture, [5] often represented in the parallelism of the identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures and widespread indifference to global issues. [6] In 2017, she was selected to represent South Africa at the 57th Venice Biennale. [7]
Breitz was born in Johannesburg in a Jewish family. [1] She holds degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Chicago, and Columbia University. [8]
Breitz uses found video footage, appropriating video from popular culture. [9] She is represented by KOW (Berlin), Kaufmann Repetto (Milan / NYC) and the Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg / Cape Town / London).[ citation needed ]
Breitz's 2016 seven-channel installation, Love Story, shares the personal narratives of six individuals who have fled their countries in response to a range of oppressive conditions: Sarah Ezzat Mardini, who escaped war-torn Syria; José Maria João, a former child soldier from Angola; Mamy Maloba Langa, a survivor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Shabeena Francis Saveri, a transgender activist from India; Luis Ernesto Nava Molero, a political dissident from Venezuela; and Farah Abdi Mohamed, an idealistic young atheist from Somalia. [10]
Created as part of Performa Commissions for the Performa Biennial, New York City (2009) [11] is her first live performance. Exploring themes of identity and inclusion, this evening length play follows the formula of a television sitcom. New York City involves four sets of identical twins in two separate but identical productions.
Breitz has been a tenured professor at the Braunschweig University of Art since 2007.[ citation needed ]
She currently lives in Berlin.[ citation needed ]