EXHIBITION · Life-Death · Katharina Sieverding
EXHIBITION · Life-Death · Katharina Sieverding
EXHIBITION · Life-Death · Katharina Sieverding
Katharina Sieverding (f. 1941) er en af Tysklands største kunstfotografer, og vendte selfien på vrangen, længe før begrebet overhovedet fandtes.
Sieverdings arbejde med fotografi og video er helt enestående for den europæiske kunsthistorie og skriver sig samtidig ind i en feministisk tradition, hvor især selvportrættet granskes. I 1970’erne opnåede Sieverding hurtigt international anerkendelse for sine ikoniske close-ups af sit eget ansigt, som hun blæste op i fotografiske storformater.
I videoværket Life–Death fra 1969 undersøger Katharina Sieverding identitet og transformation. Værket introducerer flere af de kunstneriske metoder og greb, der senere bliver karakteristiske for hendes praksis. Centralt står kroppens relation til tid og død – temaer, som Sieverding arbejder med gennem hele sin karriere. Fotografiet spiller en afgørende rolle, særligt gennem brugen af ansigtet og tætte close-ups, der intensiverer værkets eksistentielle og performative dimensioner.
Life-Death er optaget uden manuskript og filmet med håndholdt kamera, som giver scenerne et eksperimentelt præg. Filmens scener og motiver hylder relationen mellem modsætninger. Nat bliver til dag, den vågne hviler sig, et nøgent ansigt sminkes. Hele vejen igennem forbliver billederne på mærkværdig vis både døsige og intense.
Filmisk understøttes de forskellige tematikker af tekniske virkemidler, hvor klip og kontraster bevæger sig flydende mellem det slørede og det skarpe, gentagelse og fornyelse samt det autentiske og det påtagede. Filmens slutscener kredser om Sieverding selv, der leger med kameraets skarphed, vinkler og lys i lange og filmiske selvportrætsekvenser, der danner grund for det selvbillede, som hun igennem årtier er blevet ved med at udforske.
Katharina Sieverding (b. 1941) is one of Germany’s leading art photographers, and she turned the selfie on its head long before the concept even existed.
Sieverding’s work in photography and video is entirely unique in European art history and simultaneously aligns with a feminist tradition that scrutinizes the self-portrait in particular. In the 1970s, Sieverding quickly gained international recognition for her iconic close-ups of her own face, which she enlarged into large-format photographs.
In the 1969 video work *Life–Death*, Katharina Sieverding explores identity and transformation. The work introduces several of the artistic methods and techniques that would later become characteristic of her practice. Central to this is the body’s relationship to time and death—themes that Sieverding has worked with throughout her career. Photography plays a crucial role, particularly through the use of the face and tight close-ups, which intensify the work’s existential and performative dimensions.
Life-Death was shot without a script and filmed with a handheld camera, giving the scenes an experimental feel. The film’s scenes and motifs celebrate the relationship between opposites. Night turns into day, the awake person rests, a bare face is made up. Throughout, the images remain, in a strange way, both drowsy and intense.
Cinematically, the various themes are supported by technical devices, where cuts and contrasts move fluidly between the blurred and the sharp, repetition and renewal, as well as the authentic and the artificial. The film’s final scenes revolve around Sieverding herself, playing with the camera’s focus, angles, and light in long, cinematic self-portrait sequences that form the basis for the self-image she has continued to explore over the decades.
HVEM | WHO
Katharina Sieverding
HVORNÅR | WHEN
05.03.2026 - 30.08.2026
Tuesday - Wednesday: 10.00 - 17.00
Thursday: 10.00 - 20.00
Friday - Sunday: 10.00 - 17.00
ENTRÈ | ENTRANCE
100 kr. | DKK 100
OM
Gammel Strand er en lokalt forankret, internationalt orienteret kunsthal og kulturelt samlingspunkt i hjertet af København. Kunsthallens udstillingsprogram præsenterer kunst, der forholder sig kritisk og nuanceret til samtiden og sætter fokus på tidens store spørgsmål – fra det intimt personlige til globale dilemmaer. Gammel Strand er samtidig en platform for samtaler, debatter og aktiviteter, der bringer mennesker, kunst og kultur sammen i nye fællesskaber.
ABOUT
Gammel Strand is a locally rooted yet internationally oriented art space in the heart of Copenhagen. Its exhibition program presents art that engages critically and thoughtfully with the contemporary world, addressing the defining issues of our time—from the intimate and personal to broader global concerns. At the same time, Gammel Strand serves as a vibrant platform for conversations, debates, and activities where art, culture, and people come together to form new communities.
Image credit: © Katharina Sieverding
