Mandy Morrison

Mandy Morrison

Brooklyn, New York

Known as the mandymachine, the premise for Mandy Morrison’s performance and video work is an inquiry into how we structure our lives through thought and action. Whether working individually or as part of a collective, Mandy’s investigations focus on the outward manifestations of the self.

Morrison has generated site-specific video installations as well as performances in a variety of gallery, performance and public settings in the US and Europe. In 2000 her video work was featured in the 2000 Whitney Biennial. In 2006 she completed a feature length documentary “Potential Partners” that wove narratives into a compilation of over 50 interviews. The subject was relationships and the various structures that both support and undermine romantic love.

Mandy has received funding from the Illinois Arts Council, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota as well as through the Cuts’ N’ Burns Residency Program in New York. She has been a guest Lecturer at Illinois State University, Rutgers University, and a Visiting Artist at University of Wisconsin, Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Mandy is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute.

Mandy holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the University of Illinois, Chicago.

To see samples of Mandy’s work, please visit: www.mandymachine.com and www.potentialpartnersthemovie.com

Blue Sky Insight

Blue Sky was a unique way for me to explore and experiment with ideas within my areas of interest over a substantial period of time. I view this as a building block for future work.

By sharing concepts with youth who were open to bringing their energy to unfamiliar creative practices, we generated some very exciting work. The most fascinating aspect of the experience for me was how a suggestion or idea would spawn a succession of ways to approach a concept, sometimes radically altering the initial piece. This is what I had hoped for and in this way the project was very successful.

In addition, it was great to have a structured environment in terms of facilities and a ‘base’ to work from. Because my work is so physical it requires participants to acclimate themselves to differing environments and spaces, working (psychologically) from the inside out. This ability to have access to various sites proved to be very fruitful.

I was very pleased to be amongst a mix of serious artists of varying disciplines whose skills and energies complimented my own. The communal environment gave us a lot of time to casually get to know one another and offer guidance as well as counsel and assistance when needed.

Among this particular group of artists, there was a genuine shared consciousness concerning global issues. As a result of this experience, I feel my world and outlook has been greatly expanded.