Miss Universum started out as a choir girl in the band Doktor Kosmos in 1991. The name Miss Universum originated in the band’s fascination in everything space. As Miss Universum began performing as a solo artist with a feminist agenda, the name Miss Universum came to allude on her aspirations on becoming a universal leader. Miss Universum’s solo career took off in 1997 with the video An ordinary day. It describes a day in Miss Universum’s suburbian life, in a flat with four servants tending to her every need. 1997-2000 Catti Brandelius studied at the Institution of Fine Arts at Konstfack, Sweden. During her years at Konstfack Catti Brandelius began working more with performance art and less with her former favourite means of expressions: photography and drawing. Her performances developped from her will to see the immediate reaction from her audience. She performed at Lydmar Arthotel,Uppsala Art Museum and the Gallery Ynglingagatan 1 with readings of All the alcoholics in the streets of the city, Sports Fashion and On the Underground. Also, she showed slides of men and dogs. The performances can be described as a mix of music, poetry, dance, photography and political agitation. She was a regular on the Swedish radio show Flipper and had her own column in the daily paper Arbetarbladet. The point was to move Catti Brandelius personal borders and use the alter ego Miss Universum to cross the boundaries of the regular exhibition room – the so called white cube. During the Konstfack years Miss Universum agitated through flyers handed out to teachers and students where she protested against the male dominance amongst the teachers. The fact that the Art theory classes were almost solely focused on male philosophers resulted in the text: Stop pushing Freud in my face, he gives me acne which she performed live and published in her fanzine Miss Universum no 1. In 1999 Catti Brandelis participated in a project called Public Service. As Miss Universum she posed as a guide at The Modern Museum in Stockholm. The tours were highly personal aiming to question the idea of concepts such as life and work, maestro and muse and to draw attention to the differencies between how men and women are pictured the works of art and how differently an artists life is described by a regular guide depending on if it’s a man or a woman. During the spring 2000 Catti Brandelius studied at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. She had an exhibition there, where she showed art work by her servants (à la Rubens and Rembrandt). Miss Universum performed several times on the streets of London; Missand Bobby, Miss and doubledecker and Miss is cleaning (Photo: Tove Lamm Stråhle) and performed at Goldsmiths College of Art with slides from her hometown Bredäng. At the end of her education at Konstfack there was a group exhibition at Enkehuset where she showed Brains of Bredäng and London, the video Streets of Bredäng, and the tapestry It’s not necessary to be anyone but oneself, inspired by a royal tapestry in Saint Pauls Cathedral. In the summer of 2001 Cattis got a scholarship at IASPIS (International Artist Studio Program in Sweden) where she produced video clips for her songs On the Underground, Ellen Key and Ah – det är konsten. MNW published an EP with the songs and the clips. She also participated at the daily summer radio show Sommar, a highly anticipated program where different handpicked people get to talk about whatever they want for one hour. 2002 Catti Brandelius became a columnist in the daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. In spring 2002 Miss Universum collaborated with Riksteatern JAM and produced Modern Fart, a one-man-show to tour the country. In the show she danced with a giant penis which also served as a medium to the great thinkers like Platon and Aristoteles. Miss Universum talked to the penis/Platon/Aristoteles about their views on women, sang about fertilization and called out for the stars Phoolan Devi, Hildegard av Bingen and Aung San Suu Kyi amongst others. Parts of the show where performed at the Yuerba Center for the Arts in San Franscisco in January 2003. Some of the songs performed in Modern Fart can be found at the album Selfelected released 16th of May 2003 (MNW). The album was recorded at Gula Studion in Malmö, Sweden by producer Jens Lindgård. Jens produced and mixed the album and played additional instruments. Uje Brandelius wrote the music, Catti Brandelius sang and wrote the lyrics. Uje Brandelius played all the instruments during the recording except the guitar played by Henrik Svensson. To perform the songs live I needed background vocals and that’s when Mister Jönköping (Fina Sundkvist) and Miss Kebab (Lisa Partby) entered the picture. On the stage you will also find Mister Dick (Henrik Svensson) on guitar and vocals. Some Exhibitions 03/2001 Gävle Länsmuseum, Miss Universum – The Man Photographer 04/2001 Konstakuten, 176 centimeters 2001 Kulturhuset, My Generation 2001 Galleri Box, Miss Universum 02/2002 IASPIS, Populated 2002 Kulturhuset After Shopping, Mixing High and Low Discography: 2001 EP, Miss Universum 2003 Single, Fertilize 2003 Album, Selfelected For more pictures from performances click on Pictures on the main page.