Maybe this lecture shouldn’t happen at this point, in preparation of a defence of her artistic research project Agential Matter (Invisible Landscapes) shortly after* for a committee and a public. Not so different from any other moment of presenting a “final result” the question arises “What is left and what is left out?” What stays between the lines? What would be the issues not focused on in the defence? Sabine Popp would like to use the opportunity to touch upon points of indecision, discomfort, and tools and methods to stay with them. On small doings and tactics to get in touch with the matter of research, on the role of the camera, scores and diagrams in it.

Agential Matter (Invisible Landscapes) examines performativity of algae, objects and bodies in instances of observation in scientific research, industrial production and artistic encounter. Spaces of investigation are seen as sites of social practice, and performativity as an ongoing dialogue and interaction between different parts involved, including materiality as an important actant.

Sabine Popp’s practice has been mainly based on site-specific, temporary projects, with an interest for life in the High North, and a belated appreciation of the studio as a laboratory. She finished her studies in Bergen in 2001, left for a base in the periphery, and returned in 2012 for a position as assistant professor in clay and ceramics, through which she focused on practice and discourse around the object — its reading, application, format and context, and issues of materiality and its processes in a broader sense. In parallel she continued to develop her interest for camerabased work and performative approaches. In 2012-16 she was partaking in the artistic research project “Topographies of the Obsolete” at KHiB (Bergen Academy of Art and Design, today known as KMD), investigating the post-industrial landscape. She has also contributed to “Oslofjord Ecologies”, initiated by Kristin Bergaust at OsloMet. Since 2013 she has been a member of Bergen Ateliergruppe.

*Sabine will be defending her research project on april 16, 2021. Read more about it here: https://kmd.uib.no/no/kalender/disputas-og-midtveisevaluering/sabine-popp-disputas 

Learn more about Sabine’s work:

Sabine's project in the Research catalogue

http://bergenateliergruppe.no/sabine-popp/