Iris Brosch

Inside Gaia Centre of Hellenic Studies Harvard University

Iris Brosch was invited for an artist residency at Centre of Hellenic Studies/Harvard University in 2019, where she continued her innovative project "Inside Gaia," expanding upon her acclaimed series of "Tableaux Vivants." This residency provided a unique opportunity for Brosch to engage with the academic community and explore the intersections of feminism, ecology, and art within a academic context.

 During the preview week of the Venice Art Biennale 2019, Iris Brosch created an environment that

offered three places to find a way “Inside Gaia”. One location was hosted by Fiora Gandolfi in her

palazzo in the heart of Venice, where Gaia evolved through explorations within the enclosed

eclectic environment of its historic architecture. Later she and her crew relocated to the Canale

Grande across the historic Palazzo of Ca’ Corner della Regina, and finally established the third site

of her performance on the island of Guidecca in cooperation with Manuel Carrion of Galleria il

Redentore.

Iris Brosch explores in experimental settings and through refined image manipulation of

mirroring effects, and digital collage, ways inside Gaia as a delicate, vulnerable sphere that we

occupy. Her sensitive approach reveals the collective coherence with constant re-figurations of multitentacular

gestures —“and such a wealth of lines”— (Donna Hathaway, Staying with the Trouble, 2016)

that seemingly merges into each other’s bodies as one, or appear to be released from one body as a

metaphor of shared values and responsibilities. As a result, magic appears with a multi-leveled

expression that emphasizes the urgency of Brosch’s artistic statement of vulnerability, preciousness

and urgency towards living “Inside Gaia.”