Monumental down to the depths

Katharina Sieverding has given large-scale photography a face. This is to be taken literally, as her work repeatedly revolves around self-portraits. Sieverding discovered the large format for herself even before the founders of the Düsseldorf School of Photography, Bernd and Hilla Becher, elevated it to a new paradigm. In an extensive survey exhibition, the K21 of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is paying tribute to the photographic art pioneer who has lived in Düsseldorf for around six decades.

The fact that Sieverding's early self-portraits, her Polaroids from 1969, can be discovered as the "nucleus" of her work is not only exciting from an art historical perspective, but also a great show. The artist, whose likeness greets visitors above the stairs to the exhibition rooms - severe braid, red lips, sunglasses - is a magnificent performer. At the same time, she and her work remain mysterious. For the most part, the works of the 80-year-old artist defy definition and yet are very concrete in their references. A feat.
Born in Prague and raised in the Ruhr region, Katharina Sieverding began studying at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1964, initially as a stage designer. In 1967, she switched to the sculpture class of Joseph Beuys, whose master student she became. Before taking up her studies at the academy, Sieverding had already worked in the theater, initially in the painters' hall of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg under director Gustaf Gründgens. She later worked as an assistant to the great film and theater director Fritz Kortner, whom she followed to the Burgtheater in Vienna, among other places.

Katharina Sieverding and the experiment of empowerment

Katharina Sieverding's work is characterized by both a visible desire for self-expression and the questioning of many things: political systems, society and its role models, the cultural and media interpretation of the past and present. A self-empowerment and simultaneous self-foundation, often through experimentation, which spares neither the chosen media of representation nor her own identity. As a young woman, Sieverding not only stood behind the bar of the legendary artists' pub Creamcheese for a time, she also worked in the trendy Mora's Lovers Club in the Kö-Center. She once said in an interview that she gave a performance there that emancipated her from any gender affiliation. Black and white photos from a passport photo machine in front of the club bear witness to this - the artist as an androgynous figure, heavily made up and with black curls.

"The Photomaton (the machine manufacturer's own name/author's note) became a studio replacement for me, it is the smallest unit - photo studio, camera and laboratory in one booth," says Sieverding. She later took the serial vending machine photos on a large scale. At K21, "Maton I - III" are combined with mirrors for viewing herself. For the "Transformer" series, the artist uses double exposures to superimpose her own face with that of her partner Klaus Mettig. In the exhibition parcours, an entire room on all four walls is filled with changing projections of these fluid portraits. Identity, gender and also race: as an artist in an art world dominated by men, Katharina Sieverding examined the meaning of categories such as these and confidently expanded them - long before others did.

What exactly is "German"?

It is not only her artistic methods, from multiple exposures and superimpositions to reflections and solarizations, that make her art so contemporary. It is her critical view of society and her willingness to get involved. "Deutschland wird deutscher", one of Sieverding's best-known works, was created in 1992, shortly after reunification and the racist pogroms in Hoyerswerda, Rostock and Mölln. Here the artist can be seen with a wreath of knives around her head, the target in a gruesome circus act. The title of the work is printed in white letters across the picture - Sieverding borrowed it from "Die Zeit". The work was originally developed as a public poster campaign for the cultural project "Platzverführung 1992/93" in the Stuttgart region, but met with too much political resistance there and was finally put up in Berlin. What exactly is "German" and is it worth striving for? Another pressing question these days.

Bande with Beuys, Connection with Kraftwerk

What can art achieve? What responsibility do artists have, politically and morally? In her monumental "Stauffenberg Block", which bears the failed Hitler assassin in its title, Sieverding once again shows her own face. The links with Beuys and his social sculpture shine through again and again in her work. In the form of a wall newspaper consisting of black and white laser prints, her work "Eigenbewegung" documents the actions of the Beuys class during the politically turbulent years of 1967 to 1969. In this contemporary document, visitors encounter not only Joseph Beuys, but also Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Chris Reinecke, Johannes Stüttgen, Jörg Immendorff - and once again Sieverding herself. Sieverding's private archive will also be included in the exhibition. A premiere.

The soundtrack to the artist's first sound film was provided by Kraftwerk. "Life - Death" from 1969 bears its central theme in its title - life and death as polarity and great complexity. Katharina Sieverding also uses cinematic means to reflect on the feminist discourse of the 1960s. What does it mean to be a woman - what does it mean to be human?

Information

The exhibition "Katharina Sieverding" at K21 of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen runs until March 23, 2025.

kunstsammlung.de

Text: Eva Westhoff
Photos: Kunstsammlung NRW