Bianca Baldi

Bianca Baldi
© Dries Segers 2019

Bianca Baldi (born in Johannesburg, South Africa) is based in Brussels. In her work she deals with the role of narrative as a means of knowledge production in both fictional and historical contexts. She is interested in the staging of identity and history and explores these themes in photography, film, writing and publishing, which she often combines and exhibits as installations. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in 2007 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town, South Africa, and completed her studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Her work has been featured in large international exhibitions such as the 11th African Biennial of Photography (Bamako), the 11th Shanghai Biennale, the 8th Berlin Biennale of Contemporary Art and group exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bern, Extra City Kunsthal Antwerp, Kunstverein Braunschweig and Kunstverein Frankfurt. Recent solo exhibitions include Cameo at the Grazer Kunstverein (2021), Versipellis at Superdeals in Brussels (2018), Eyes in the Back of Your Head at Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof (2017) and Pure Breaths at Swimming Pool in Sofia (2016).

Report during the symposium:

SICOMORO CENTENARIO

This talk will be about my research on clouds as an example of attentive rethinking of our surroundings and the resulting essayistic documentary called ‘Cloudscapes’. In this work, the cloud is viewed as a non-human actor in the Anthropocene whose
You settle on my image a majestic sycamore-fig tree. Ficus sycomorus. 

Like a constant, I occupy tremendous time, 
a nonhuman witness in the Oromia region, 
west of Addis Ababa. I challenge your entire idea of historical time, its divide into pre- and post-occupation. 

What is a year or even a decade if I was already standing tall to hear the cries of victory travelling south from the battle of Adwa when the Italians were famously defeated. 

An important fact is cemented here for you as you confront your settled view of time. Here her calendar system a year of thirteen months, her clock cycle begins at dawn.

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