Published on the occasion of concurrent exhibitions held in London and Bonn featuring recent work by Franco-German artist Ulla von Brandenburg, and including the new Whitechapel Gallery commission for 2018/19.

Ulla von Brandenburg, who lives and works in Paris, is one of the most innovative contemporary artists in France, whose multifaceted practice includes black-and-white film, installation, performance, drawing and painting. Her work explores approaches to theatre and the stage, and uses rules of performance to engage with moments in history through stories, rituals and symbols.

This lavishly illustrated catalogue comprehensively documents
three recent projects by von Brandenburg which will be exhibited between Whitechapel Gallery and Kunstmuseum Bonn: It Has a Golden Sun (2016), Quilts (2017) and Sweet Feast (2018).

Sweet Feast is a major new film and sculptural installation commissioned by Whitechapel Gallery for 2018–19. The work takes previous Whitechapel Gallery exhibition ‘Sweets’ (1973) as its inspiration, an event which marked Britain’s entry into the European Common Market and featured confectionery from nine countries of the enlarged EU community. At the close of the show, children were invited to sample a selection of sweets. In their enthusiasm, they devoured the exhibition. Von Brandenburg has filmed a re-enactment of this unexpected feast with the participation of 100 children from a local primary school, initiating timely conversations with the children about our current changing relationship with the European Union and shared food culture issues and histories. The artist has also made a new immersive and colourful seating structure, which playfully aligns the audience with the film’s protagonists.