Katharina Sieverding
Encyclopedia
Katharina Sieverding is a photographer known for her self-portraiture. Sieverding lives and works in Berlin and Düsseldorf. She is a professor at the University of the Arts, Berlin.

Early life and education

Sieverding was born in Prague. She began studying art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...

 in 1964. There she started studying stage design under Teo Otto
Teo Otto
Teo Otto was a Swiss stage designer. He trained in Kassel and Paris and in 1926 taught at the Bauhaus in Weimar. In 1928 he became an assistant at the Berlin Staatsoper...

, but later joined the sculpture class taught by Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...

 in 1967. Her fellow students included Blinky Palermo
Blinky Palermo
Blinky Palermo, was a German abstract painter.-Early life and education:Palermo was born Peter Schwarze in Leipzig, Germany, in 1943, and adopted as an infant, with his twin brother, Michael, by foster parents named Heisterkamp, became Peter Heisterkamp, and moved to Münster in 1952...

 and Imi Knoebel
Imi Knoebel
Imi Knoebel, born Klaus Wolf Knoebel , is a German artist. He is known primarily for his minimalist and abstract painting and sculpture. The "Messerschnitt" or "knife cuts," are a recurring technique he employs, along with his regular use of the primary colors, red, yellow and blue...

. Between 1971 and 1974, she was part of the film class at the Kunstakademie
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...

. In 1976, she took part in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...

.

Work

Sieverding's works consist of self-portraiture and most have an abstract quality. She uses the techniques of silhouette, contrast, and extreme close-up to make the photograph more revealing of herself. Her work often makes statements about society and the individual, such as showing the familiarity of the self and the distance of others. Often she puts multiple portraits together in one piece. Each portrait fills the frame in a way to show the presence of self.

Since 1975, Sieverding, along with her partner Klaus Mettig, has also made political statements through her photography using both German and American history as the basis. Her work has therefore frequently triggered debates on contemporary society, politics, social and cultural issues, one example being her poster installations “Deutschland wird Deutscher” of 1993 and “Die Pleite” of 2005 in Greater Berlin. The “Stauffenberg-Block” was named after Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, an officer who tried to assassinate Hitler. “The Great White Way Goes Black” is a piece that refersto the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 blackout of summer 1977.

In 1992, Sieverding was commissioned to design the memorial to the parliamentarians persecuted in the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...

. It is on display at the Reichstag
Reichstag (building)
The Reichstag building is a historical edifice in Berlin, Germany, constructed to house the Reichstag, parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894 and housed the Reichstag until 1933, when it was severely damaged in a fire. During the Nazi era, the few meetings of members of the...

 in Berlin.

Notable photographs

  • “The Great White Way Goes Black”
  • ”Stauffenberg-Block”
  • ”Motorkamera”
  • ”XVII”
  • ”Die Sonne um Mitternacht schauen”
  • ”Untitled (Ultramarine)”
  • ”Maton”

Major exhibitions

Sieverding took part in documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...

 in 1972, 1977 und 1982, and in 1997 she exhibited in the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...

. Her solo exhibitions include: Deutsche Guggenheim
Deutsche Guggenheim
The Deutsche Guggenheim is an art museum, located in the ground floor of the Deutsche Bank building, a sandstone building constructed in 1920 on the Unter den Linden boulevard in Berlin, Germany....

, Berlin (1998); Stedelijk Museum
Stedelijk Museum
Founded in 1874, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam is a museum for classic modern and contemporary art in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It has been housed on the Paulus Potterstraat, next to Museum Square Museumplein and to the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and the Concertgebouw, in Amsterdam Zuid...

, Amsterdam (1998); Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf (1997-8); Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art
Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art
The Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art is a contemporary art institution in Berlin’s Mitte District. It is located at - Auguststrasse 69 D-10117 Berlin....

, Berlin (1993); Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin...

, Berlin (1992). Collective exhibition: Les Rencontres d'Arles, France (2010). In the US her works have been shown at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...

, New York; Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...

, Dallas; Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...

, Minneapolis; and ICA, Boston. In 2004/05 New York’s MoMA PS1 and Kunst-Werke Berlin
Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art
The Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art is a contemporary art institution in Berlin’s Mitte District. It is located at - Auguststrasse 69 D-10117 Berlin....

presented an extensive survey of her work.
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