Ingela Ihrman
∗1985, Kalmar, Sweden
Ingela Ihrman’s works may take the form of sculptures, performances, videos or texts. Her research attempts to activate empathic relationships between humans and the animal and plant worlds, to “open up new horizons and perspectives on what it means to be alive,” in the Swedish artist’s own words. In the performanceGiant Otter Giving Birth(2012), for example, Ihrman wears an otter costume and, crouching in a corner of the exhibition space, simulates the birth of three cubs, which struggle to make their way out of the giant animal’sbody. The mother then tries to wipe away the slime and help the cubs find her nipples. Audience reactions range from disbelief to laughter, but no one remains indifferent. ForThe Parliament of Marmots, Ihrman presents a performance and a sculpture. During the opening days, she stages The Wandering Spruce in which the artist impersonates a spruce cone – like those found in Val Gardena – that walks from north to south, dropping seeds made of thin brown paper on the ground. The installationFirst Came the Ocean, on the other hand, consists of a gigantic skeleton of a marine animal – like those that inhabited the Dolomites two hundred and fifty million years ago – made up of trunks and branches of local trees, weakened by the bark beetle epidemic and having fallen as the result of recent storms. In the work, Ihrman relates ancient marine fossils to the fallen trees, returning to when the Alps were coral reefs, the valley was filled with water and meadows were the seabed.
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