Alicia Frankovich’s practice has long explored the equivalency between physical forms and the potential for new modes of imagining both human and non-human form and behaviour. The all-encompassing phenomenon of the body — its insides, outsides, material and immaterial ways— could be considered the underlying fascination of Frankovich’s work. A multi-dimensional practice at the intersection of sculpture, video, performance and installation, Frankovich’s work pits the design and impulses of our primal bodies against radical changes in technology, thought, society and the ecosystem.
Frankovich’s practice investigates how the physicality and behaviour of a body operates within social settings and constructs – including plays of dominance and re-negotiating the audience/performer relationship. She frequently calls on a plurality of existing groups to enact her choreographed performances. These have included the LGBT community, amateur performers, pregnant women, migrants, professional dancers, general individuals, and bush doofers (those who attend Australian outdoor dance parties). The core groups perform a sequence of movements and gestures which the artist has sampled from sources as diverse as team-building exercises, rugby matches, office culture and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Subverting restrictive definitions of gender, race and class-bound codes of movement, and the dynamics of public space, Frankovich proposes a multitude of post-human futures.
Frankovich’s performances are matched by a parallel practice that asks us to reconsider the body as a critical landscape through which various discourses of encounter, technology, and self can be reconsidered. Her most recent body of work has seen the artist direct her practice within a microscopic focus to explore the phenomenon of microchimerism or the existence of the DNA of others within our own bodies.
Alicia Frankovich was born in New Zealand and lives and works in Canberra, Australia. She holds PhDs in Fine Arts from the Australian National University, Canberra (2019), and Monash University, Melbourne (2022). She was the Australian Government Research Training Programme Scholar at the Australian National (2010-2020).
PERFORMANCES
2023
Rich in World/Poor in World, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AU
2022
The Eye, performed as part of Open House Melbourne’s exhibition programme ‘Take Hold of the Clouds’, Brunswick Baths, Melbourne, AU
2020
AQI2020, Auckland City Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, NZ
2019
The Work, Kaldor Public Art Projects, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AU
Atlas of the Living World, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Atlas of the Living World (voice performance), as part of the programme: Out of the Ooze; On the Self-Propagation of Viral Forces, Liquid Architecture at RMIT Design Hub, Melbourne, AU
Twins and Lovers, as part of the exhibition: Alicia Frankovich, OUTSIDE BEFORE BEYOND, Kunstverein für die Reinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DE
Twins and Lovers, as part of the exhibition: Klöntal
Shine Theory at Undisciplinary Learning – Remapping the Aesthetics of Resistance, HAU, Berlin, DE
World is Home Planet, as part of Trans-Corporeal Metabolisms, the 12th edition of the Performance Project of LISTE Art Fair Basel, Volkshaus Basel, CH
Corpus, part of: Studium Generale: Bots, Bodies, Beasts – The Art of Being Humble, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL
As yet Untitled, a live exhibition experience, Monash University Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Melbourne, AU
2014
Defending Plural Experiences, as part of the exhibition: Framed Movements,
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, AU
Sisyphus Now, as part The 12th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition: Le Mouvement: Performing the City, Bienne, CH
2013
Free Time, as part of the exhibition: The Space Between Us; The Anne Landa Award 2013, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AU
Free Time, as part of the exhibition: Nouvelles Vagues: The Real Thing?, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
A Mindful Walker, as part of the exhibition: Nouvelles Vagues: The Real Thing?, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
2012
Human Trophies, as part of the programme: AIR RIVER BAR: DeathRace 2000, AIR Antwerpen, BE
Human Trophies, as part of: A programme of artistic inter-ventions … and they installed the office in the tavern,
Drei Schwestern, Berlin, DE; Gaîté Lyrique, Bar du foyer historique, Paris, FR
Human Trophies, Kunsthaus KuLe, Berlin, DE
Human Trophies, as part of the wedding of Alicia Frankovich and Alex Martinis Roe, Quat Quatta, Melbourne, AU
The Opportune Spectator, Gertrude Contemporary Studio 6, Melbourne, AU
The Opportune Spectator, as part of the performance programme Why Lame Ducks When Dogs Can Fly?, Arratia Beer, Berlin, DE
The Opportune Spectator, as part of the exhibition: The Space Between Us; The Anne Landa Award 2013, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AU
The Opportune Spectator, as part of the exhibition: Heat Death (crazy from the sweat), MAVRA, Berlin, DE
The Opportune Spectator, as part of: Stars and Tribes, performance lecture with Daniel Falb, Kunstverein für die Reinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DE
2011
Jumping Guy, as part of the exhibition: From Blank Pages, Art Space Pool, Seoul, SK
Floor Resistance, Hebbel Am Ufer, HAU 3, Berlin, DE
Floor Resistance (abridged), as part of Davide Savorani’s exhibition: Green Room, C/O care of, Milan, IT
Floor Resistance, as part of the exhibition: The Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, NZ
Undisciplined Bodies; an Evening Dissolving Social and Spatial Conventions, Salon Populaire, Berlin, DE
2010
The Arena, San Pietro in Lama, Puglia, IT
Bisons, Cracker # 1 Performance Festival, Self Service open art space, Stuttgart, DE
Bisons, as part of the exhibition: The Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, NZ
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Atlas of Anti-Taxonomies, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, NZ Curator: Melanie Oliver
2019
Microchimerism, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
2018
Exoplanets, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, AU
After Blue Marble, KUB Billboards, Kunsthaus Bregenz, AT
2017
OUTSIDE BEFORE BEYOND, Kunstverein für die Reinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, DE; Frutta e Gambe, Le Case d’Arte, Milan, IT
2016
The Female has Undergone Several Manifestations, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
2015
Complex Bodies (with Klara Lidén), Alte Fabrik, Gebert Stiftung für Kultur, Rapperswil, CH
2013
Today this technique is the other way around, Kunstverein Hildesheim, DE
2012
Bodies and Situations, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
2011
Gestures, Splits and Annulations, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
2010
Effigies, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, NZ
2009
Super Segue, Artspace, Sydney, AU
A Plane for Behavers, Artspace, Auckland, AU
2008
Energies, Annarumma404, Naples, IT
Counter/Action, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
2006
Of Stadiums and Construction Sites, Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, AU
2005
Standard Apparatus, CLUBSproject, Melbourne, AU
2004
Alicia Frankovich, Rm 103, Auckland, NZ
A Kelly-Frankovich Production, Conical, Melbourne, AU
2003
Produnova Stadium, MOP Projects, Sydney, AU
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Mein Körper, Ein Korallenriff? / My Body, A Coral Reef?, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, DE
Spring1883, 1301SW, Melbourne, AU
The Sentiment of Flowers, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2022
An eeriness on the Plain, 1301SW, Melbourne, AU
Agent Bodies, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, AU
2021
Romancing the Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, NZ
Fathomless, a screening programme, 8th ASLEC-ANZ Conference Aotearoa, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, NZ
Defending Plurality, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga, NZ
2020
Fluidity, Syker Vorwerk – Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Syke, DE
2018
Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße in Bremen, Kunsthaus Bremen, DE
Can Tame Anything, The Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt , NZ Curator: Melanie Oliver
Image is a Virus, Le Case d’Arte, Milan, IT
Group Show, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
Counternarratives: Performance and Actions in Public Space, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, US
Seeing Voices, Regional Australia; Bathurst Regional Gallery, Riddoch Art Gallery, Cairns Regional Art Gallery, Mildura Arts Centre, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, AU
2017
Shout Whisper Wail! The 2017 Chartwell Show, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, NZ
2016
TarraWarra Biennial 2016: Endless Circulation, TarraWarra Museum of Art, Victoria , AU
Les Limbes, La Galerie Centre d’Art Contemporain, Noisy-le-Sec, FR
THE BILL: For Collective Unconscious, Artspace, Auckland, NZ
2015
A Space is a Space is a Space, Deutschen Architektur Zentrum (DAZ), Berlin, DE
Test Run: Performance in Public, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
Art as a Verb, Artspace, Sydney and Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, AU
Heat Death (crazy from the sweat), MAVRA, Berlin, DE
In Search of an Author, UKS, Oslo, NO
2014
Framed Movements, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, AU
Cold Intimacy, Anna Schwartz Gallery, Sydney, AU
12th Swiss Sculpture Exhibition: Le Mouvement: Performing the City, Bienne, CH
2013
Unknown Forces, MSGSÜ Tophane-i Amire Culture and Arts Center, Istanbul, TU
Brigadoon, La Tôlerie, Clermont-Ferrand, FR
Nouvelles Vagues: The Real Thing?, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR
The Space Between Us; The Anne Landa Award 2013, The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, AU
Material Traces: Time and the Gesture in Contemporary Art, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal, CA
Direct Democracy, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne, AU
2012
The Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, NZ
City Within the City, Artsonje Center, Seoul, SK; Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, AU
2011
Dublin Contemporary 2011 – Terrible Beauty: Art, Crisis, Change & The Office Of Non-compliance, Dublin, IE
Burn What you Cannot Steal, Galerija Nova, HR
From Blank Pages, Art Space Pool, Seoul, SK
If Sameness is in the Centre then Difference is on the Periphery, Starkwhite, Auckland, NZ
2010
The 4th Auckland Triennale, Last Ride in a Hot Air Balloon, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, NZ
NEW010, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, AU
Still Vast Reserves II, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, AU
2009
Still Vast Reserves I, Magazzino d’Arte Moderna, Rome, IT
Picturing the Studio, Sullivan Galleries, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, US
2008
Body Work, Le Case d’Arte, Milan, IT
2007
Invisible Miracles, Neon FDV, Milan, IT
Too Near Too Far; an insight into the Australian Independent Art Scene, C/O careof, Milan, IT
2006
Busan Biennale, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, Busan, SK
An Occupation (of a House), private address, Carlton, Melbourne, AU
2005
Gertrude Studios 2005: The Air Between Us, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, AU