Mara Kirchberg ^{Emerging artist}

Artist's country of origin: Estonia

Mara Kirchberg [she/her] lives and works as a transdisciplinary artist in Tallinn, Estonia. Her work deals with the materiality of flesh and boundary objects such as organs and casings. Through her installations, sculptures and performances she opens interior spaces to the outside to reveal how human, otherwise living and mechanical bodies, function and break down. The exploration of physical and mechanical faults inspires her to create unfamiliar biomorphic forms through thermoplastic processes that evoke a sense of strangeness and play with the tension between repulsion and charm. Dysfunctional car parts and fluids merge with sanitary and medical equipment into new hybrid systems in which fluids such as used engine oil or coolant circulate without the efficient support of motors or pumps. Those weak systems often rely on gravity and regular manual care and maintenance. As such, they reflect the fragility of life and the robustness of its surroundings.

Her formal education includes the studies of Choreography and Performance (MA) at the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen and Contemporary Art (MA) at the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2023, she received the Young Sculptor Award from the Estonian Academy of Arts and the Eduard Wiiralt scholarship from the Estonian Ministry of Culture. Recent solo and duo exhibitions include TESTRUN 2024, Uus Rada Gallery, Tallinn, EST (2024); Resi-Dual, Maa-Tila Project Space, Helsinki, FIN (2024) and Links and Loops, K17 – Space for Art and Ecology, Sipoo, FIN (2023). Recent group exhibitions include ARTVILNIUS – International Contemporary Art Fair (2023), Vilnius, LT and Young Sculptor Award Exhibition, ARS Art Factory, Tallinn, EST (2023). She was a resident artist at amongst others Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Tallinn, EST; TUO TUO, Joutsa, FIN; ID_Tanzhaus Rhein Main, Frankfurt, DE and workspacebrussels, Brussels, BE.