Ellie Ga, The Fortunetellers | 2008 – 2010 | 60min | Multi-Media Performance | USA
The Fortunetellers is an autobiographical narrative performance based on a five-month exploration Ga spent aboard Tara, a research sailboat frozen in the ice near the North Pole. The Tara had been intentionally inserted into the ice in Eastern Siberia, at which point its rudders were lifted out, its engines were shut off and the boat drifted with the movement of the ice pack. Owing to Tara’s unique construction, the boat was able to withstand the compression of the ice – becoming the second boat in recorded history to purposefully drift through the frozen Arctic Ocean. Ga was the only artist invited to join the expedition, boarding for what would be the last winter and the release from the ice. The work superimposes live storytelling, fortunetelling, weather forecasting and oceanographic research with the daily-routines of the researchers aboard the Tara to explore the terms and rituals of daily life in the Arctic.
Thursday June 23 8:30pm
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Combining genres such as the memoir, the travelogue and the documentary, Ellie Ga’s projects explore the limits of photographic documentation and span a variety of media that often incorporates exploratory writing and culminates in performative lectures, videos and installations. Her work has been recently exhibited in New York at Bureau; Galerie Agnes B, Hong Kong; and Milliken Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden. She has performed at RISO-Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Sicily; Power Plant, Toronto and The Kitchen in New York. She is represented by Bureau, NY and is a founding member of Ugly Duckling Presse. Ellie Ga currently lives in Brooklyn.
