
Art Installations
Reinconnection
Re-in-connection, 2018 – Mixed media installation – 25 x 12 meters – At Graduationshow Maastricht Academy of Fine arts and Design. Materials: Plastic, fabric, daily materials, paintings, wool, video projection, paper, glitters, sculptures , atributes, lights , wind blowers Reinconnection is one of Morena’s biggest art-installations where she invites her audience into a magical mixed-media fairy-cave full of sculptures, movements, projections ad paintings. ‘’Its important to unveil the purest inner-source of my audience by triggering the imaginary world of their inner-child. Every single object in this artwork is a living entity of an alternative universe’’. Before the audience can pass trough the installation, they will find themselves in an entrance-room guarded by two gatekeepers. In order to merge into another world, these gatekeepers dress people up with simple objects like instruments, masks, lights, plumeau’s or bubble-blowers. Once people are dressed, the installation starts to live a life on its own like a biotope of natural interaction, playfulness, discovery and wonder. Important themes in this artwork are the expansion of consciousness and reconnection with our forgotten and intuitive inner-worlds, our fellow-souls, and the invisible spheres of daily live. By processing sounds, scent, moving fabrics, colorful sculptures, light effects and cozy places to lie down, this installation will introduce people to another dimension of experiencing matter.
Canis Lunatic
Canis lunatic, 2018 – Sculpture installation – Winner of Parkstadlimburgaward 2022 Exhibited at Schunck ,ECI Cultuurfabriek, Klooster Wittem, Werkplaats K Materials: Wool, tinfoil, masks, stones , glitters , mannequins. In this sculptural installation Morena introduces ‘’an ancient breed’’ to her audience, named the ‘Canis Lunatics’. We see four pink alien-like beings covered in tinfoil and wearing glamorous masks. They walk in a parade while colorful threads of wool are shooting from their fingertips. ‘’These threads represent streams of invisible energy’. At the front of this parade you’II notice a funny element of small dinosaur-figures leading the way like dogs on a leash. Also in this installation Morena played with a surreal scenery, spectacular lights and moving threads driven by windblowers. ‘’We humans are not the only ones in this never-ending universe. The Canis Lunatics tell an ancient story about another way of perceiving and connecting with multiple realities. They inspire us to activate our hidden sensory forces and to expand our intuitive consciousness. If dinosaurs walk as dogs on a leash, then the Canis Lunatics must be the ones who domesticated them. Does that mean that these giant Lunatics observed the earth for millions of years? Then tell me, who are we’’?
Ethereality
Ethereality 2019 – Mixed media installation - 12x5 meters - at Bonnefantemuseum Maastricht Materials: Styrofoam, fabirc,wool,daily objects, videoprojection, paper, glitters, stones, sand Morena Bamberger (1994,Roermond), a recent graduate yet already highly acclaimed, is a master at transforming a space into a magical universe through simple interventions. Her first museumproject is aptly entitled Ethereality, a contraction of two words with opposite meanings: ethereal and reality. And indeed this installation of video images shows an alienating mix of boundless, intangible imagination and everyday normality, which is so characteristic of this artist. Bamberger needs little to achieve this. She conjures up her mysterious worlds with simple materials like plastic sheeting, glitter, fabrics, and polystyrene sheets that she paints pastel colors, with turning windmills that scatter moving gleaming lights through the space like stardust. Here and there, projected videoimages show a world between reality and dream.’’My installations’’, says Bamberger, ‘’are a reflection of how I experience reality and how I want to share this experience with my audience’’. For he film, Morena Bamberger went on a spiritual journey to the Swiss mountains - a sort of ‘vision quest’, as she calls it - in order to get closer to her intuition and to experience her vulnerability and her strength. We see images of green mountain meadows and lowing cattle, but also a surreal masked figure ( the artist ), who bangs on a shaman’s drum beside a calm mountain stream. In her work, Bamberger does not want to broach or judge anything. In her own words, she wants to move with rather than against. She takes her range of materials outdoors, to parks, woods and squares. People and animals gravitate towards her, curious about what she is doing. They ask questions, and Bamberger invites them to take part. On the basis of pure improvisation, they then get caught up together in ‘’a movement of spontaneity, expression and adventure’’. In her installations, too, she aims to integrate her audience, as it is all about the interaction between film and environment. Bamberger say’s ‘’I sometimes call myself the alpha she-wolf, who runs at the front and-through artistic practice - wants to show the pack members, people and animals she’s created the way to a land where everyday rhythms and patterns are transformed into moments of attention, connection and astonishment. If they dance along as masked creatures, they belong in my world of astonishment, where everything feels like home’’. Morena is the first recipient of the Limburg Beeldende Kunst Stipendium, a new grant initiated by the Province of Limburg. The grant wants to stimulate the work of young Limburg artists and bring it to the attention of a larger audience. The grant includes a residency at the Jan van Eyck Academy, an exhibition in ‘ The studio’ and a cash prize of €5000,- The Limburg beeldende Kunst Stipendium ( Limburg Visual Art Stipendium) was initiated by the province of Limburg in 2018 as the ‘’Lex ter Braak stipend’’ for Lex ter Braak on the occasion of his retirement as director of the Jan van Eyck academy. The grant was later renamed the Limburg Beeldende Kunst Stipendium, after a committee was formed with Lex ter Braak, Stijn Huijts, director of the Bonnefanten Museum and Joep Vossebeld, artist, curator and writer, who are jointly responsible for the selection for the visual art Stipendium. Written by Paula van den Bosch Senior conservator Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht 2019