PRESS RELEASE
ULVI HAAGENSEN's (1964) performance-based solo installation and drawing exhibition The Cleaner will be open on Monday 14 July 2014 at Draakon gallery. The opening for the exhibition will take place at 5pm on 17 July 2014.
Ulvi Haagensen was born in 1964 in Sydney, Australia. She obtained her art education at various universities in Sydney and has participated in exhibitions since 1991. Haagensen has lived in Estonia since 2000 and teaches at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her work depicts and interprets everyday motifs and domestic activities.
While known for her “wire drawings”, Ulvi Haagensen has recently acquired a more performance-based approach – she practises her art in the art gallery with the presence of the audience where the artist either creates, changes or, if necessary, destroys her work (her latest exhibitions “Studio”, Draakon gallery, 2011 and “Aagh! Oehh!” Hop gallery, 2013). Thus, Haagensen demystifies what the artist normally does in his/her studio. In her current exhibition with its thriller-like title “The Cleaner”, the artist explores the potential for finding mental enlightenment and growth in the daily acts of domestic cleaning. Her fight with the “daily dust” reflects self-irony and putting up with the situation.
Ulvi Haagensen's working process can be followed at Draakon gallery until 26 July 2014. It is possible to meet the “cleaning” artist Monday through Saturday, from noon to 4pm.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions at Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and Estonian Ministry of Culture.
ULVI HAAGENSEN
Born 1964 Sydney, Australia www.ulvihaagensen.weebly.com
Represented by Defiance Gallery, Sydney, Australia www.defiancegallery.com
EDUCATION
2001 Master of Fine Art, College of Fine Art, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1989 Jewellery Design Certificate, Randwick College of TAFE, Sydney
1985 Bachelor of Art (Visual), City Art Institute, Sydney
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 Aagh! Õehh!, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2012 Everyday / Kasdien, (AV17) Gallery, Vilnius
Everyday / Iga päev, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
Next, 24hr Gallery, http://www.kunstikeskus.ee/new/galerii/naitus/ulvi_haagensen.htm
2011 Studio, Draakon Gallery, Tallinn
2010 How to become free, Museum of New Art, Pärnu, Estonia
2009 How to become free, Riigikogu Exhibition Hall, Tallinn
2008 Pantry, A-Gallery safe, Tallinn
Antipodes, Hop Gallery, Tallinn
2003 Selected Stories, Gallery Põlendruum, Tallinn
2002 Corners and Cornices, Linnagalerii, Tallinn
2001 Homeworks, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney
1991 Sculptures, Vaal Gallery, Tallinn
GROUP EXHIBITIONS, last 5 years
2014 Kilometre of Sculpture, Rakvere
2013 Maximus Minimus, 18th Annual 6x6x6 Inch Miniature Sculpture Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
11th Baltic States Biennale of Graphic Art, Kaliningrad–Konigsberg
Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Seoul, South Korea
Words & Works from a World Away, Project Space Spare Room, RMIT, Melbourne
Stuck Together, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Please be seated, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
2012 Tiny Titans & Miniliths, 17th Annual 6x6x6 Inch Miniature Sculpture Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Piir, lävi, rada, International Drawing Triennial, Viinistu Art Museum, Estonia
Silent Revolution, International Drawing Triennial, Tallinn Art Hall
2011 Ultramarine, Noblessner foundary, Tallinn
Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Abstract, Tallinn Art Hall
2010 The Drawing Show, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Sculpture 2010, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
2009 You Little beauty!, Defiance Gallery, Sydney
Variations, Agija Suna Gallery, Riga, Latvia
Self Exposure, Tallinn Art Hall
Mystery of Amber Colours, Gintaro galerija-muziejus, Vilnius, Lithuania
CDH–2009 Art Salon, Central House of Artists, Moscow
COLLECTIONS
Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Tallinn, Estonia
Gintaro galerija-muziejus, Vilnius, Lithuania
The Lady Ethel Nock Sculpture Collection, NSW Australia
Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, NSW Australia
TEACHING
1999–2014 Lecturer–Estonian Academy of Art, Tallinn
1994–98, 2001 Lecturer–Sydney Institute of Technology, Design Centre Enmore, Sydney
1992–1993 Teacher–Randwick College of Technical and Further Education, Sydney
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE
2013 Mustarinda, Finland
2012 Kolin Ryynänen, Koli, Finland
2009 Portait Residence, Pori Society of Artists, Pori, Finland
2002 Polli Talu Creative Arts Centre, Estonia