2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Body of Evidence: Synergy, billionaires and transhumanism (2022), performance for moving image, 02:45 min

Body of Evidence: Twinkle twinkle (2022), performance for moving image, 01:16 min

Body of Evidence: Waste / Desire (2022), performance for moving image, 00:43 min

Body of Evidence: Humanoids (2022), moving image, 01:21 min

Body of Evidence

As we are flesh, so we are transient and ephemeral – or are we?

My name is Lisa Hennig-Olsen and I am an interdisciplinary artist. Probing ethical discourses, I create activist and feminist statements through performance, moving image, sculpture and installation. 

Body of Evidence consists of multiple video essays and sculptures,

exploring our current advancements in the Anthropocene. Audio components, monologues and soundscapes, are influenced by science fiction, planetary and womb sounds. From zooming in and observing dust particles to zooming out and seeing human existence through the lens of galactic wonder, academic texts and reports on topics such as climate change, humanoids and Cyborgs, are turned into self-authored poetic writing, summaries and reflections.

My sculptural work flirts with material meaning, from prunes dipped in concrete, repurposed construction materials such as pipes and metal frames becoming vessels for light strips and LED signs, to deconstructed ready-made objects taking on alternative use such as an astronaut helmet visor becoming a screen. The meanings derived from the material use, speak of material hierarchy, antagonistic functions and play.

The installed work for Matter as fallen light creates a space for a proposed future: pipe sculptures taking on a creature-like presence surrounded by emigrating prunes, a droning soundscape, and vertical TVs screening digitally morphing and disintegrating physical flesh in oil-looking dark matter – humanoids in digital wombs – looming as a monolithic spirit. 

Research sources include Neil Harbisson, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Kathryn Youssef, Erin Striff, Donna Haraway, Legacy Russel, Eugene Thacker and UNESCO

The work has its genesis in inquiries and queries:

Is ephemerality a synonym for humankind?
As we are flesh, so we are transient and ephemeral – or are we?
As both the cause and recipients of Climate Crisis, who do we look to for rescue? Improvement? Salvation? – Astronauts or archaeologists?

Are you experiencing the uncanny feeling of being aware of the implications and consequences of your actions, and their world-altering reverberations?

Will I be a fossil? Will I be fuel, as we know it? What will become of my bodily remains? Of my spiritual ones? 

How will the Anthropocene alter my fossil to-be state and use? Do I have any agency in this?

If Space was the final frontier, are we sensing our finitude as both a world-forming and a world-destroying species? 

The complete collection of essays will, during the exhibition, be available to view online at lisahennigolsen.com/bodyofevidence

Lisa Hennig-Olsen holds an MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art in London, and has studied at the Amsterdam University of the Arts and the University of Amsterdam where she focused on contemporary dance techniques, composition, music and rhythm, light design, philosophy and critical thinking. In May 2023, she will graduate from Parsons School of Design – The New School with an MFA in Fine Arts and a Minor in Design.

Lisa’s artworks and performance engagements have been distinct, ranging from dancing with excavators in the Arctic Circle, perfume-making based on DNA research, to a guerilla protest outside the Royal Academy on International Women’s Day. In 2018 she curated A Sustainable Future, a Dyson Gallery exhibition showcasing pioneer artworks and artistic methods focused on sustainable practices and materials. 

She has performed at venues such as South London Gallery, EYE Film Museum, Cork Street Galleries and Kristiansand Kunsthall, and has collaborated with artists, musicians, designers and companies including Mojmir Bures, Iris Woutera, Morten Poulsen, Panic Attack Duo, Orian Dance Theatre and Maya Njie Perfumes.

Lisa has received scholarships, grants and certificates for her studies, artworks, studio practice and residencies from amongst other the City of Amsterdam and Arts Council Norway.