PRELUDE TO NEVER LOVING AGAIN
Madeline STILLWELL

“Prelude to Never Loving Again” is a Performance Video featuring the artist singing and performing her version of Wagner's first scene from “Das Rheingold.” In the video she plays the roles of 3 river nymphs, a greedy dwarf, and Wagner himself. She collages herself into the imaginary landscape of an urban construction site, where the “stage” becomes the street, and the props she uses seem to grow out of the space behind. The artist appears as though she is draped across a water tank, digging up treasures from under a compression pump, or floating above rows of arched water pipes while conducting an orchestra. In this work, she explores simultaneous emotional states of being both in and out of love, both in and out of the process of making art.



Madeline Stillwell (USA, b. 1978) received her BA in Studio Art & Women's Studies from St. Olaf Collage (2000), where she also trained in Music, Dance & Theater. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2008). Her work has been performed & exhibited internationally, including the Kassel Kultur project of "dokumenta 13," the Berlin Biennale 7, Wilde Gallery Berlin, and Kunstverein Göttingen. She has been a guest lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Art & Design, College for Creative Studies, European College of Liberal Arts, & Lüdwig Maximillians Universität. Her work is included in collections such as the Deutsche Bank Collection (Amsterdam), RCK Kunststiffung Collection (Berlin), Stoffel/Young Collection (New York), and Janet Oh Collection (Seoul). Since 2009 she has been teaching Performance as part of the Theater Education Program at the Evangelische Hochschule Berlin für Soziale Arbeit. She lives and works in Berlin.

www.madelinestillwell.com