#stephaniemann

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Stephanie Mann and I live and work in Edinburgh, Scotland. I do things involving things in my studio at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop.

“Tea Run” (2013) Still from video

Describe you practice in 5 words.

(Oh this is tricky…) Handsy objects arranged, sometimes performatively.

“In Possibility” (2015)

Who or what inspires you?

I’m inspired by lots of things. Generally, I’m most inspired when I’m running late for something and most certainly shouldn’t be stopping to take photos of a really amazing leaf or flaky piece of paint on a railing... I think there’s something about the adrenaline of being under pressure that makes my eyes more perceptive to the things around me.

“Still Life on Face” (2012)

Can you talk us through your making process?

At the moment, I tend to collect things which I find interesting on an aesthetic or conceptual level, and store them either physically or internally, where they sit and linger amongst each other. Then I get them out, so to speak, and play with them, creating compositions for stills or moving image. Sometimes the objects are manipulated or juxtaposed against others. Currently I’m exploring sculptural principles of balance and weight with these objects and fixing them in non-hierarchical arrangements.

“Double Double” (2014)

Do you approach performance and writing in the same way than you approach your lens based media work?

I suppose I do. All the things I make and do come from the same place, from what I think is the new unconscious, so are brothers and sisters birthed from the same environment. For me, performance and writing are a means to examine the less physical things that live in that place. 

“Keratin” (2015)

There is a very strong element of playfulness in your work. How important is it for you?

So important! Without play I’d only be doing the same things as I’ve done before. Play is fluid, and explores new pathways and untrodden land. Without play, I’d only be working inside the logical, reasoning part of my mind. That bit is much more critical and the editing voice there is very loud- so loud, in fact, that it stops me getting anything new done. For me, any work worth doing needs to be born from deep in the gut to allow it time to grow muscles before the big noisy editing voice destroys it. Some work makes it through that voice, the gatekeeper to the world, but most of it doesn’t. So play, in a way, prepares new work to fight that voice.

“Still Life on Safari” (2014)

What are you working on next?

I’m showing some videos in Retramp Gallery in Berlin this month, organised by two lovely ladies, Beckmann and Gaspard. The first time we met over Skype we were coincidentally wearing the exact same striped t-shirts. I’m also making some new work for a show at Glasgow Sculpture Studios in January alongside Eva Berendes, Rallou Panagiotou, Vanessa Safavi and Samara Scott.

Which question would you have like to be asked?

Right now? Steph, would you like to eat some of these delicious pastries that I just made?

Stephanie Mann   www.stephaniemann.org/

‘In Possibility’, 2015. Framed digital print, 103 X 72cm

(part of)  Keratin, Moving image, 2015 (1 minute 58 seconds)