Brigitte Jurack  

Brigitte Jurack’s research has two parallel strands; each informs the development of the other. The first explores new ways of creating autonomous sculptures and installations using hand modeling and digital modeling linked to the aesthetic capacity of clay, plaster and composite materials. Currently engaged in developing sculptures, that seek to re-present young people in flux, the work uses allegorical devices and objects that are completed through participation of the user/viewer. The second strand of her research involves medium to large-scale performance projects by the artists’ collective Foreign Investment, that focus on exchange processes, making tangible processes of communication in regards to trade, markets and value, that underpin the post-industrial society.

Both aspects of Jurack’s research involve collaboration, either with specific audiences and sites or with other artists and researchers. Henry Moore Fellow at Winchester School of Art (1993), ICI research fellow at Redcar (1998) and more recently Prince of Wales Artist Fellow at the British School in Athens (2011) Jurack has exhibited in museums and galleries in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Ukraine and Australia. Exhibitions include: Die Tangente beruhrt den Kreis in genau einem Punkt, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2010), Democratic Promenade, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool (2011); Fresh, British Ceramic Biennial, Stoke on Trent (2011); Pink Parachute, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (2012); Everything must go, Chinese Art Centre, Manchester (2011); Gold for Oslo, Mesen (Oslo), 2010; Trajectoria, Telemar Museum, Rio de Janeiro.

Brigitte Jurack studied Fine Art at Düsseldorf Kunstakademie and Protestant Theology at the Universities of Göttingen, Münster and Bonn. Receiving a British Council Studentship, she studied at Glasgow School of Art (Post-Graduate Diploma in Environmental Art) and Chelsea College of Art and Design (MA).

She joined MMU in 2008, following previous posts at Newcastle University, Liverpool John Moores University and Derby University.

Brigitte Jurack is Programme Leader in Fine Art and External Examiner at Leeds University (MA and MFA). She is currently also leading a research project on Wirral into the development of contemporary sculpture as focal point for young people.