...Ursula Endlicher's digital snack bar STICKY SNACKS mocks computer games and our expectations of digital media. (The directions caution: "Good manners will serve you well at the table. So move your cursor slowly," and, "Be patient and you will experience a full line of snacks.") The catch is that the "sauces" that emerge from the fragments of snack food and packets of condiments slow the movement of the cursor, until you're eventually caught in a screen that looks like an Abstract Expressionist canvas. But instead of enjoying it as you would a paiting, you become increasingly frustrated as the game bogs down. An infuriating, yelping soundtrack makes matters worse. "In the end you don't get anything - you'll still be hungry," the artist explains. How like real life. But in the digital arena, ordinary pain is mediated and safe, experienced at a distance.

Ann Marlowe in TIME OUT MAGAZINE
BYTE ME - Online, Multimedia, Games, "Are we having fun yet?" -
With "Can You Digit?" a new exhibition of digital art at Postmasters Gallery, computers get contemplative.
March 27, 1996

Die witzigsten Performances finden sich unter den aktuellen Arbeiten: etwa der Auftritt von Ursula Endlicher als Jesus, der beim letzten Abendmahl von seinen Aposteln versetzt wird...

The funniest performances are among the more recent pieces: for instance the appearance of Ursula Endlicher as Jesus, who gets stood up by his apostels at the last supper... [Translation by UE]

Nicole Sheyerer in FALTER, Vienna/Austria
- Vienna is burning -
"Let's twist again" an exhibition at Kunsthalle Exnergasse, shows lesser known positions of Viennese performance art.
October, 2002

The beat of black culture under the electronic gaze was also archived by the performance that followed, Ursula Endlicher's HOT VOODOO which again played within the state of emergency that black culture as representation finds itself in during the midpoint of the 90's. Endlicher's performance criss-crossed the issue by twisting it beyond itself and by interjecting into the old black and white filmic outtakes of jungle drums, grass skirts, and undulating dancers--the real bodies of a cuttie transvestite and a dancing gorilla which then tranformed itself into Popeye the Sailorman--who then sang "Hot Voodoo." Endlicher's use of cartoon colonialism to subvert the history of electronic racism played at the edge of critique and reinvention--without falling to either side easily. The tension was pushed to the limit with a spin that is unique to Endlicher's performative approach.

Ricardo Dominguez in THINGReviews NYC
STATE OF EMERGENCY: A REVIEW OF ONE EVENING OF THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL VIDEO AND NEW MEDIA FESTIVAL AT THE VOID
http://old.thing.net/ttreview/septrev.04.html
September 23, 1996

...Austrian Artist Ursula Endlicher is inviting everyone to sit down at the computer and order an interactive meal on the Internet. Enjoy!

Austria Culture Net
ACI-Gallery project: http://www.austriaculture.net
December 1996/January 1997

WEB PERFORMER mounts an assault on your desktop by spawning yapping, jumping miniature browser windows. The work examines the nature of performance and identity online, though it is experientially similar to the effect of emptying a jar of frogs onto a table. For the performers in "Web Performer," Endlicher chose to work with characters -- historical, fictional, and in-between (actors) -- that she herself has played in previous works or performances. The initial image loops are of the artist dressed as those characters. From there, she uses a novel organizing principle: As you advance through the piece, the picture used to represent each chosen character is itself based on its corresponding Web page's ranking in a search engine (such as Yahoo) for that character. Got it? As the piece reaches its 6th and final level of character transformation, a patient online art patron may be faced with this burning question: "WHAT THE HELL IS THE KEYBOARD COMMAND FOR CLOSE WINDOW?" [Answer: ctrl-w]

Carl Goodman in Reel NY.Web by Thirteen/WNET NEW YORK
http://www.thirteen.org/reelnewyorkweb/endlicher/index.html
June, 1999

...Schließlich versucht "The Thing" [Vienna] auch, elektronische Editionen zu etablieren. Dabei handelt es sich im wesentlichen um künstlerische Grafiken, Fotos u. ä., die als Datei (gegen eine geringe Gebühr) bezogen und anschließend ausgedruckt oder belichtet werden können. Dieses Vertriebssystem zielt also nicht auf Bildschirm-Bilder, sondern auf konventionelle Präsentation. Vielleicht reagiert diese Vertriebsform am deutlichsten auf Original- und Autorfragen;...[ ]...Im Falle der Editionen von Peter Halley, Ursula Endlicher und Karl-Heinz Klopf handelt es sich lediglich um Dateien, mit denen man machen kann, was man will - ohne Signatur, d. h. ohne Rückversicherung auf einen Autor.

Reinhard Braun in Camera Austria (51-52/1995)
AM RANDE DES NETZWERKS
Aktuelle Projekte aus Österreich: Teil 2
1995

...Finally "The Thing" [Vienna] tries also to establish electronic editions. These can be described as artistic diagrams, photos etc., which can get downloaded as a file (against a small fee) and printed out or exposed afterwards. This marketing system does not aim for screen imagery, but for conventional presentation. Perhaps this marketing form reacts most clearly to originality and author questions;...[ ]...The editions of Peter Halley, Ursula Endlicher and Karl-Heinz Klopf are basically files, with which one can do, what one wants - without signature, therefore without reinsurance of an author. [Translation by google and UE]

Reinhard Braun in Camera Austria (51-52/1995)
AT THE EDGE OF THE NETWORK
Current projects from Austria: Part 2
1995

...Es ist etwas Müßiges an all den Leuten, die immer wieder einen ersten ursprünglicher nehmen wollen als seine Nachfolger, ja als er selber; man kann immer nur ein einziges Mal der erste sein, jeder nur in seiner Sache. Es ist aber auch was Läppisches an all denen, die einem ursprünglichem Befehl durch Wiederholung immer wieder gehorchen, nur um ängstlich zu beweisen, daß sie ihn verstanden haben und selber nicht beanspruchen der erste zu sein. Das ist ja nicht immer ungefährlich. Gegenüber den noch immer Ursprünglicheren und gegenüber den ewigen Wiederholern halt ich es, so gut es geht, mit der Treue in der Abweichung. Ich glaube nämlich, daß diese Treue in ihrer Spannweite Nachfolge, Wiederholung und Neubegründung übersteigt. Denn Treue ist etwas für Wesen im Werden.
So ist auch meine Freundin Ursula. Und eines dürfte feststehen: sie ist wohl die erste Frau, die im Video Jesus und Freud an einem Tag selber darstellt. Ich hoffe, sie löst für sich das Problem, die erste zu sein.

Catherina Zakravsky
Jesus und Freud: Das Problem der erste zu sein.
Auszug aus der Eröffnungsrede zu "Jesus Freud sich", Kunstraum Brasilica, Vienna
October 31, 1995

...There is something strenous about all those people, who want to believe again and again that the first one is more original than his successors, even than himself; one only can be the first once, only in his field. In addition there is something foolish about those, who obey an original instruction repetitively again and again to only prove fearfully that they understood it and not stress to be the first themselves. That's not always harmless. In regard to the always more and more original people and in regard to the eternal repetitors, I keep it, as much as possible, with loyalty to deviation. I believe that this loyalty in its full extent exceeds the question of succession, repetition and new foundation. Because loyalty is something for beings in the making.
So is my friend Ursula. And one thing is certain: she is for sure the first woman, who represents Jesus and Freud on video on one day. I hope, she will solve the problem of being the first for herself. [Translation by UE]

Catherina Zakravsky
Jesus and Freud: The problem of being the first.
From the opening speech for "Jesus Freud sich", Kunstraum Brasilica, Vienna
October 31, 1995

"Emperor Franz Joseph" is an ambitious attempt by Ursula Endlicher to present performance art on the web and it works. We see a women with a military helmet late Habsburg style, a handlebar moustache, and an accordion play some Abba tune. The audience applauds. Here the idea of a "clip" gives some sense of the actual performance and seems much better suited to the task than the standard stills one is used to in gallery presentations.

Gerard Hovagimyan in THINGReviews NYC
I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE AND IT WORKS (SORT OF).
WEB TV and Quicktimes on The Thing.
http://old.thing.net/ttreview/augrev.01.html
August 1, 1996

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