Interview: Bernadette Felber
Luca Curci talks with Bernadette Felber during the 6th Edition of LONDON CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR 2022, at THE LINE Contemporary Art Space.

Bernadette Felber is an Austrian artist born in Judenburg, 1966. She studied Painting and Installation at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien and received an MA in Scenography at Central Saint Martin School of Art&Design in London. Receiving a scholarship from Mexico she prepared the video Tale of an immigrant, which was presented in 2001 at the 49th Biennale of Venice Plateau of humankind with an invitation from the Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa. In 2003 she was invited by Robert Wilson to participate in the Artist in Residency Programme of Watermill. She did present her work at the IV. Biennal for Contemporary Art in St. Petersburg and the II Biennal for Experimental Art and Performance in St. Petersburg, the Kochi Biennale in 2019 in India, the Fotoseptiembre of Mexico City, Fotograma Montevideo Uruguay and the European Month of Photography in Vienna. As an artist, she is interested in social and political zones of conflict or great changes in different levels of society in different cultures. In the centre stands always the person she meets or the situation she observes. Global changes and how they affect the life of the individual are at the center of her attention. Her focus is post-colonial situations and their historical background. Having this in the background the actual motive can be a small detail, a moment, or a composition in space. How people create their living spaces, and how they confront their daily living, is always the moment, the light situation she tries to capture from her artistic point of view. Bernadette Felber works as an assistant to set design and participated in many Austrian and International Film- and Theater productions. At the moment she finished a serial on the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan.

Luca Curci – Which subjects are you working on?
Bernadette Felber – In the last years my work consists of photographs, travelling and living in countries of great social changes as India and Jordan, I reflected on special themes, for example in India I did a serial on the traditional tailor crafts and the dyeing of silk in an old district of New Dehli and the impact and importance of the remaining cast system in the economic stability of the country. In Jordan, I did a serial on the desert of Wadi Rum, a homage to the eternal beauty of that landscape, and I learned how this region of the world uses old and new technologies to provide surviving in extreme climates.

LC – Where do you find your inspiration?
BF – My inspiration mainly comes from the persons and artists which I remember and which I meet in my journeys, their cultural heritage, and their approach to nowadays society.

LC – How is being an artist nowadays?
BF – I think that artists still have to find their recognised position in our society. With the rising of the economic crises, being an artist is interesting, but many just see in it something useless, there is missing a lot of appreciation to see the real value of producing art, as well for the economy.

LC – How do you feel when you see your work completed?
BF – Completing a production is really giving me a feeling of having done a step forward, of having done something for the people I met.

LC – What do you think about the concept of this exhibition? How did it inspire you?
BF – I find it very inspiring to be able to present my work in a city such as London, which can be a real hub for an artistic career. I always appreciated the work of others who make this possible. Imagine the world as Big Ben, we are like a clock, if one wheel is missing the whole clock will not work.

LC – Do you agree with our vision of art and what do you think about the theme of the exhibition?
BF – ITSLIQUID is a web-based platform, it’s a different approach to making art visible to a huge public. It’s more the public which decides if they like the exposed artwork.

LC – Do you think that ITSLIQUID can represent an opportunity for artists?
BF – Definitely it’s an opportunity for every artist to be introduced to a broad public, especially online.

LC – Would you suggest a collaboration with us? What do you think about our services?
BF – I like that ITSLIQUID has a huge group of followers, and I think it is really a chance to be part of their exhibitions.

LC – What are your suggestions about our services? Is there something more we can provide to artists?
BF – Service was fine, I always got quick answers to all my questions. I hope that ITSLIQUID will grow and give many artists an international platform.