Amalia Ulman
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Amalia Ulman

Amalia Ulman (born 1989 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an Argentine-Spanish artist and film director known for her multidisciplinary practice encompassing performance art, installation, video, and net art. Her work frequently blurs the lines between reality and fiction, often using humor and gentle deception to explore themes of class, gender, sexuality, identity, consumerism, and middlebrow aesthetics. She is particularly interested in how these themes manifest in the digital age and through mass media.Ulman gained significant international recognition for her 2014 Instagram performance piece, "Excellences & Perfections," where she meticulously staged a fictional alter ego over several months, successfully deceiving thousands of followers and sparking widespread discussion about authenticity and online persona. This work has since been archived by Rhizome at the New Museum in New York and exhibited in prestigious venues like the Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery in London.In 2021, Ulman made her feature film debut with "El Planeta," a black-and-white absurdist comedy loosely based on a real-life mother-daughter duo scamming their way through post-crisis Spain. The film, which she wrote, directed, and starred in alongside her own mother, garnered critical acclaim and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.Her second feature film, "Magic Farm" (2025), is another absurdist comedy that continues her exploration of constructed realities and societal critiques. In this film, she again served as writer, director, and also appeared in a role. "Magic Farm" satirizes exploitative media and the "ugly American" trope, while subtly addressing a serious health crisis in a rural Argentine community.Ulman's distinctive artistic voice and unconventional approach have made her a compelling figure in contemporary art and cinema, consistently pushing boundaries and challenging conventional narratives. She graduated from Central Saint Martins in London in 2011 and is based in New York City. Ulman is also openly autistic and has incorporated her personal experiences and observations into her artistic practice.

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