Alena Ahrens is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the phenomenon of denial: as an exploration of illusion, as a mechanism of defense, as a philosophy of subjectivity, and as the dynamic encounter between the subconscious and physical realm
She studied performance art at MoMA PS1 under the tutelage of Marina Abramović and was part of the inaugural class of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago residency program developed by Gregg Bordowitz (director of the Whitney Independent Study Program) In her MFA thesis, Poetics of Denial: The Political Unconscious, Alena developed an experimental writing method that combined discourse analysis practices, psychoanalytic theory, and contemporary news sources to explore denial on an individual and social level. She later developed a transdisciplinary method that fosters empathy through combining performance, mindfulness, and autobiographical writing practices that was published as a dissertation
Alena has presented work at the Zhou B. Art Center (Chicago, IL), the Tipi Project (Brooklyn, NY), the Bruno David Projects (St. Louis), MoMA PS1 (NYC), and the DAMU Theatre (Prague, Czech Republic), Paris (FR), and featured in British Vogue Interiors She has work in private collections and in the Museum of Encaustic Art
Untitled For Now (IV)
Mirage graphite, encaustic, washi, 18 x 32 inches
