Marion Urch

Marion Urch is an award-winning artist and writer. She studied at Brighton Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art in London. She was part of the second wave of British video art in the 1980’s, gaining a significant international reputation for her work in single screen video, video installation and tape/slide. In 1987 she won first prize at Il Bienal de Video Mamm, Columbia for Out of the Ashes, which was also broadcast on TV Finland: in 1989 her installation Distant Drums was showcased at Tate Liverpool. Individual works are held in collections around the world including Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Illeanna Toynta Centre, Athens and Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam.

Throughout the 1980’s she was actively involved in London Video Arts/London Video Access and was distribution manager from 1987-89. In 1988, she devised and compiled History of British Video Art. Part One – the first attempt to contextualise, market and promote the first ten years.

More recently, she has written two novels Violent Shadows (Headline Review 1996) and An Invitation to Dance (Brandon 2009), which has also been translated into Russian and German.

‘Her work is rooted in a strong visual tradition and enriched with moments of poetry and ambiguity… Accessibility, lyricism and the evocative use of symbols have been a feature, most notably in tapes exploring her Irish heritage.’
Catherine Elwes
Directory of British Film and Video Artists
(Arts Council Arts + Media. 1996)

www.marionurch.com