Merlin Spie

Merlin Spie

°1969, lives and works in Willebroek

Merlin works as a multidisciplinary artist since 1994. Her search for the smallest element of emotion or matter in the last 18 years led to Live Art Performances and installations focusing on the body.
As a visual coach for theatre/Dance productions and for Live Art Performance Merlin held workshops/worked with universities, colleges and higher institutes in Antwerp and Brussels (e.g. University of Antwerp/Postgraduate Master’s degree (2011), Sint-Lukas in Brussels (2010), Higher Institute for Dance in Antwerp (2009), Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent (2007).
She is also specialized in Creative Graphic Design.

Selection of exhibitions:
2007 The Light of the Body is the Eye, Gorgel, Museum for Modern Art, Antwerp (B)
2008 Performance/Dance, Josaphat, Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht (NL)
2009 Masturbated Cupidity, Arsenic, Lausanne (CH)
2009 Le Silence des Danse, Memory of Thought, Recollection of the Mind, Kaaitheater , Brussels (B)
2010 Pervertical Issues/Carrousel de l’Art Provocant, CC De Spil, Roeselare (B)

Projects

Recollection of the mind
2009
Only available in Dutch In het werk the Recollection of the Mind wordt aan de hand van hedendaagse technologie voortgebouwd op deze fundamenten.Zelden wordt in het werk van Merlin Spie gerefereerd aan de kunstgeschiedenis. De op haar rug in stroop uitgespaarde cellovorm tijdens de performance La Petite Musette, Casquée (verwijzend naar Jean...
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Cornutus de hoorndrager
2009
Only available in Dutch Installatie in omgeving Een mythe gebasseerd op een verhaal over een overspelige mandie zijn vrouw het leven onmogelijk maakt haar wereld tormenteerthaar stelselmatig verlaat en mentaal toetakeltTerwijl zij toegewijd met liefde en zorg trouw loyaal zijn zonden voor anderen verbergtmanipuleert hij zijn omgeving met...
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Le silence des danses
2009
Le silence des danses, comprises three performances in three different places in the Kaaistudios.In this work Spie is taking a new direction. She departs from the purely visual and enters into confrontation with other media: digital images, soundscapes, text, dance, etc. This choice has led to a different way of organising her work: it implies...
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Memory of thought
2009
Only available in Dutch In Memory of thought zit een figuur als een levende kariatide tussen twee zware blokken.Samen met danseres Karolina Wolkowiecka ontwikkelde Merlin Spie een ‘choreografe voortwee armen’, de enige ledematen die deze figuur echt kan bewegen. Deze zittende vrouw lijktzich niet verpletterd of onderdrukt te voelen door de...
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The light of the body is the eye
2007
Seven adults, three children, a layer that floats above the floor, a bunch of hands that float above a woman, shadows of a woman on the floor, a broken man against the wall and a spine. Artificial air floats in a tank and there's a black circle. This work talks about death (black) and live (circular air). The life as an element in an abstract...
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Danger//Do not feed
2005
A polyester sculpture is enclosed in a timber chest. During the performance the artist breathes through a diving gear.The title refers to the small signs one can read in a zoo.The body of a man feed by material and/or spiritual ingredients, appears at a given moment thanks to external and internal sensory receivers, through artificial breathing,...
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Swallow
2005
To swallow means to inhale sensory experiences through the environment. There are things that determine our lives that we have to emotionally swallow. The external side is connected to the throat and goes down to the function organs. The performance is particularly hard physically speaking and painful. All senses are switched off. The penetration...
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Masturbated Cupidity
2004
Two characters are hanging side by side from a wall: there is an adult and a six-year old child hanging from two thin steel cables at a 45° angle from the wall. Their feet are fixed to the wall 1 meter above ground. During the performance, the protagonist wears polyester overalls and his arms are hanging lose in the air. He is breathing through a...
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Bombed Shell Falling
2004
The character and the empty polyester overalls both represent two individuals who influence each other. The horizontal mannequin is pushing the character seated behind him; it gives a feeling of space, openness, and beauty. The head is joint, common; it is the symbol of a spiritual link tied to external coexistence. The seated position is...
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La petite musette, casquee
2003
A character sits on a chair, quiet and tranquil. His face is stuck to a mask set in a cylindrical pipe full of pear syrup. The face is turned to the wall as if encapsulated. The performer breathes through a diving gear. The character and his environment are coated in Liege syrup. His back bears a violin-shaped carving; his arm shows the writing '...
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• Past dates •

09.11.2011 - 28.11.2011
Le silence des danses • Merlin Spie
De markten • Brussels • Belgium
14.05.2009 - 14.06.2009
Cornutus de hoorndrager • Merlin Spie
Durmetuin
26.03.2009 - 28.03.2009
Le silence des danses • Merlin Spie
Kaaistudio's • Brussels • Belgium
08.01.2009
Le silence des danses • Merlin Spie
Kaaistudio's • Brussels • Belgium