LIGHT MATTERS
THE FEMALE WISDOM

News

PHILOSOPHIA ROOM
Organised by Catrine Val, the FISP Committee on Gender Issues and Fabricia Giuliani at the WCP 2024

The PHILOSOPHIA ROOM is defined by its daily open discussion rounds, which take place every day from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. These sessions cover changing thematic focuses that promote intellectual exchange and critical engagement. See below the themes.

Catrine Val presents a daily rotating exhibition that visually captures the thematic focus and offers interdisciplinary perspectives. This exhibition is open to all visitors daily from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM and invites reflection and discourse.

The combination of in-depth discussions and the visual exhibition provides a comprehensive engagement with the presented themes within the heartbeat of the World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) 2024.
A room full of thinking and acting individuals unleashes a power to reshape the world.

Our PHILOSOPHIA ROOM is a unique space where you can experience the power of dialogue, cooperation, mutual learning, and listening. Let’s work together to face tensions, build bridges, revive traditions, and create a more just world.

Listening and learning from each other is the most important thing we can do. It’s the key to creating a more just, peaceful, and harmonious future. Without this exchange, we remain trapped in ignorance ,prejudice and polarization. We believe that only through attentive listening and open learning can we truly grow. It is precisely in this safe space that we strive to enable this communication – far from ‘papers and competition’.

https://wcprome2024.com/

Brunel UNIVERSITY London

Clockwork Bodies

Diving into the Adventure of Body Exploration: A Workshop Inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange”

 This is the place where fiction and reality merge seamlessly, as seen at Brunel University. Here, time, staging, societal reality, research, and discourse intertwine in a fascinating reflection. I will use Stanley Kubrick’s iconic dystopian film as a starting point for a White Paper discussion.

 Historical Parallels and Contemporary Challenges

Just as at the beginning of the 1970s, we are witnessing a resurgence of the social and cultural upheavals that defined that era. The Vietnam War divided society between young and old, much like the pervasive climate catastrophe we are now heading towards with full speed and awareness. We are witnessing a profound counterculture rebelling against established norms and values and fighting against racism. It is alarming that nationalists are once again gaining the upper hand, posing a dangerous challenge to our pluralistic and democratic society. As then, we are confronted with widespread skepticism towards state authority and its motives, exacerbated by the growing digitalization, life in virtual worlds and dating platforms, as well as concerns about state surveillance and the protection of our privacy. These social tensions and political unrest demand answers. They raise fundamental questions about the integrity and transparency of our institutions and emphasize the urgent need to uphold and strengthen the core principles of human dignity and freedom.

 

The Need for Ethical Reflection

Contrary to Stanley Kubrick’s portrayal of women, who are almost always depicted in victim roles, we are designing a new, contemporary image of women. We see women as independent individuals in positions of power, exercising their strength and competence with sovereignty. At the same time, we recognize the importance of women as team players who advance society through collaboration and joint action.

 

A central aspect of my artistic, performative approach is the integration and consideration of the body. I want to visually and performatively highlight this, especially through the figure of the clown. In Kubrick’s depiction of Alex and his gang, the clown was brutally embodied as a symbol of the absurd and subversive, breaking cinematic boundaries. But there are so few female clowns to this day. I will expand and redefine this field. These portrayals emphasize the diversity and power of the female body and the masquerade as a means of expression and as an instrument of social change.

Wiener Library, London
June 23 
Living Memory

Home

Produced during the summer of 2020, the Living Memory project showcases artist Catrine Val’s poignant and astonishing photographic portraits of London’s Jewish community. The project was produced during the profound dislocation caused by the pandemic and as the Holocaust begins to slip slowly from ‘living memory’.

Val’s unique photographic portraits feature Holocaust survivors and those whose parents arrived as part of the ‘Kindertransport’, as well as Jewish families from all over the world who have made London their home. They will be shown at the Library from the 19 – 23 June, marking Refugee Week.

The project has personal resonance for Val, who is engaged in an ongoing process of seeking context and greater understanding of her own German-Jewish heritage, a history which she has only recently been able to acknowledge and engage with.

Living Memory is part of Migration: a public history festival, a series of lectures, exhibitions, workshops and walks around London, supported by the Raphael Samuel History Centre. The exhibition will be shown alongside the Wiener Library’s Holocaust Letters exhibition. 

 

8 MÄRZ 

Die Ausstellung   “8 März “ beleuchtet die inneren Abläufe unserer diversen Stadt Kassel. Dies erforscht das Projekt anhand des Bildes von Frauen als integrativem Bestandteil unserer heutigen Stadtgesellschaft, indem es zum einen die Polarität zwischen den verschiedenen Biografien der Protagonistinnen und die Gemeinsamkeiten im täglichen Leben auf der anderen Seite porträtiert. In diesem kulturellen Spektrum nationaler Identitäten sucht die international arbeitende Photographin und Filmemacherin Catrine Val nach Protagonistinnen verschiedenster Berufsgruppen und Herkunftsländern, die in Kassel leben und diesen Ort als ihre Heimat begreifen. Die in den letzten  Wochen entstandenen Porträts wurden wie professionelles Fashion Shootings illuminiert. Frauen fühlen sich in diesem Setting oft zum ersten Mal wahrgenommen und entdecken ganz neue Stärken und Wünsche: Jede Protagonistin ist aufgefordert, sich selbst auf den Grundpfeiler eines humanistischen Weltbildes zu präsentieren: Wer bin ich? In was für einer Welt möchte ich gerne leben? Eine weibliche Transformation findet statt, wird gefeiert und neu erlebt.

 

Today 11 März 11-16 Uhr

Angela Dorn, Ministerin für Wissenschaft und Kunst

“Kultur ist das, was uns als Gesellschaft ausmacht. Sie ist das Fundament, auf dem alles steht, was wir aufbauen, ohne Kultur wäre keine Gesellschaft lebensfähig, denn sie ist der Ort, wo wir immer wieder über unsere Werte, Vision nachdenken und manifestieren.  Kultur muss frei sein und für alle offen , zugänglich und erreichbar: nur so tragen sie dazu bei, dass wir uns als Gesellschaft wirklich selbst reflektieren können. Nur so bleibt unsere Demokratie lebendig, wandelbar und damit aus zukunftsfähig .Es ist  auch kein Zufall, dass Autokraten immer zuerst die Freiheit der Kunst angreifen. Und deswegen ist es so wichtig, dass Kultur für alle zugänglich ist, ganz gleich wie alt die Menschen, welchen Geschlecht sie sich zugehörig fühlen, wo sie herkommen, was sie verdienen. Kultur ist für alle da. Das heißt natürlich nicht, dass sie jedem gefallen muss. Das heißt, dass sie niemanden ausschließt.Neue Formen der Publikumsansprache finden”Die Grenzen zwischen Soziokultur und Hochkultur abbauen “Kulturelle Begegnungszentren modellhaft aufbauen.”  

 




LIGHT MATTERS
at the SOLAR  FOTO FESTIVAL
Fortaleza, Brazil
curated by Ângela Berlinde

In this edition SOLAR shines a light on the past with its ancestral narratives in order to build new imaginaries and meanings for the future, proposing a reflection on the importance of dreams and their transformative power. At a time when the world is projected on the basis of algorithms and statistics, reducing dreams to the dimension of daydreaming or delirium, it is urgent to imagine again and to launch clues for possible futures. Not being afraid to DREAM is an indispensable theme for understanding our times and one that spreads to all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life.

SOLAR Photofestival will open December the 7th December  2022 in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
We will be together to cultivate and celebrate the encounter, the embrace, the thought, the dialogue, the joy, and the dream.

https://www.solarfotofestival.com/2022/pt/quando-o-vento-sopra

 

I’m  very exited to announce my new book MEMORY Unsettled is out. 
published by Kerber,

In her work, the photo artist Catrine Val addresses the role of women in diverging cultural and political systems. The project Memory Unsettled is based on the statement of a ninety-four-year-old woman in which she compares the loss of all her belongings in a flood with memories of the experiences of war in her youth, from which she has never recovered. The vulnerability of our existence, but also the power to believe in the future and to fight for it unreservedly, to create a new feeling of security, is the topic of this publication. The project has obtained a particularly urgency against the backdrop of the current displaced persons situation. Authors from various disciplines shed light on the photographs from the perspective of philosophy, history, or image theory, and show how intermeshed our here and now is with the past as well as the future.

Look inside the BOOK

 

 

Heartfelt thanks is expressed to my protagonists:
Svetlana Smerti, Vika Kukla, Marie J. Schröder, Marsha Maria Miessner
Kate Fierley, Clarissa Karrasch, Katja Conker-Jansen, Keti Fenske Ilse Kley, Hildegard Kretzschmar, Heli Rödder, Dagmar Hempelmann, Liv Westermann, Lisa Eiling Waltraud Wieditz, Ursula  König, Röver Elizaveta Vasileva, Sabrina Spinnrath,  Polina Kramarenkos, and Ольга Першина.
And in particular to all the women and men from the Ahr Valley who trusted me and opened their souls: Dieter Glasner, Verena David, and Garip Serif.
The authors
Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir, Sophie Opitz, Matthew Shaul,  Anna Lattmann
Graphic Design Verena Gerlach

 

deeply delighted that I’m invited
to the WOMEN 4.0  at the WORLD FORUM 

WF4 is the leading platform of South America that deals with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and has renowned speakers from across the globe sharing their ideas with the continent. The participants are the
policymakers, international development community, businesses, academia, media etc.

As we all know, the First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

 

 

 

Light Matters 

An iconography of women confronting the dark

Catrine Val’s multi-media project Light Matters, centers on exploring the complexities of the female experience across cultures, borders, and often fraught realities. Val has created a site-specific installation of multi-channel videos and performative photographs that are grounded in her deeply engaged dialogue with women of Hong Kong since 2019, and with Ukrainian women seeking asylum in her home country of Germany more recently.

 


Grand Opening Tuesday, June 14th, 1900

June 14th – July 29th, daily 13:00–21:00

Grand Opening Tuesday, June 14th, 1900

Location
UK 14
Untere Karlsstr. 14
34117 Kassel

 

 

 

FELD+HAUS proudly presents Catrine Val´s latest project BANG BANG from November 6 until December 18, 2021 in Frankfurt. The exhibition features a video installation and photography.

The key moments for her concept are natural catastrophes, which leave the affected people behind with their whole existence in ruins. Also Val’s experiences of the political upheavals in Hongkong 2019/2020 which she followed only as an observer inspired her. Now she picks up the camera as a tool for remembrance and commemorates female war photographers, who “regard the pain of others” (Susan Sontag) to point out injustice and suffering. She highlights the women, who find the strength to create something new out of destruction. She quotes the so-called “Trümmerfrauen”, who rebuilt this country without celebrating themselves, asks for the topicality of those characters and exhorts the urgency of remembrance. 

By converting helplessness into courage, Catrine Val ties to her work cycles FEMINIST and PHILOSOPHERS and brings female actions to the fore. Between the tension of façade and identity, the omnipresent question of the significance of photography pinnacles and elevates the answers into art itself. 

 

http://https://youtu.be/Xb4K7oA-qgo

04.09.2021

光 LIGHT MATTERS 
Seen Fifteen Gallery, London
curated by Monica Allende and Valerie Doran

Light Matters is an evolving multi-media project created by the artist Catrine Val, referencing the WMA thematic cycle of “Light.” Conceived in 2019, the project reflects Catrine Val’s commitment to creating, through her artmaking, platforms of connection and communication for women in different parts of the world, highlighting both their strengths and their challenges within the given gender politics of their societies. For Light Matters, Val’s original focus was on exploring the active roles and personal ideologies of Hong Kong women in the mass protest movements that  began in June 2019, in opposition to the government’s proposed “Extradition Law Amendment Bill.”  At this time, Val’s intended working methodology was to undertake, during a several-months’ residency in Hong Kong, on-the-ground interaction with Hong Kong women, involving extensive interviews, both written and recorded, and subject-participatory photography and video work that would explore the ideas of “illumination”, of “shedding light” on the daily realities which they faced and on the sources of inspiration to which they turned during this turbulent period. The resulting materials, of voice, image and text formed the basis of Val’s 9 screen multi-media installation.

However, the international spread of COVID 19 and resulting shutdowns and travel restrictions, followed by the ruthless imposition by the Chinese government of the so-called “National Security Law” in July 2020, essentially criminalizing freedom of speech and of assembly in Hong Kong, dramatically changed the landscape of the project, requiring that I conceive new ways of connecting and of opening visual and textual channels that would still allow Hong Kong voices to be heard—particularly those of women—while at the same time protecting the subjects as much as possible given the new dangers of the morphing political landscape.

To this end, in Val’s photographs and videos she now works with her subjects using primarily the language of gesture and dance to articulate and illuminate their inner worlds and emotional landscapes at this moment in their history. Finally able to do a two-month residency in Hong Kong in late 2020, Val connected and worked with a range of people committed to the right of Hong Kong people to be heard, including a community of dancers, many active on the Hong Kong hip hop scene. Others are writers, artists,  journalists, students or teachers, who express themselves through gesture rather than dance per se, sometimes using a gesture as simple and evocative as the closing of the eyes—addressing the absence of light as well as its presence. Text and voiceover are sometimes used, but the identity of the source is always protected. The settings are places in Hong Kong that have a special significance to the subjects, and the props they sometimes hold are often discovered and used in the moment. What messages they are conveying to us are ambiguous: they can be read overtly or subliminally. The limitations on the freedom of speech become apparent through their movements. Their body language conveys subtle messages, revealing emotions and evoking memories in an intensely personal way.

In Light Matters, Catrine Val draws inspiration from Hannah Arendt’s concept of “political acting,” premised on people’s ability to act spontaneously and to start something new. As Olivier Marchat puts it: “We are able to begin because we are, existentially speaking, all beginners. “

AddressStudio DG1 The Bussey Building, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, United Kingdom

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News:
19.06.2021

Stiftung Kunstfonds
 project funding Feld +Haus Gallery  : 

BANG BANG  Miraculous / Vulnerable World
concept 2021  

Humans have lived with war throughout history. Bang Bang examines how violence in war is translated through the medium of photography.  The materiality of the camera described, by Vilem Flusser, as ‘the mother of all objects’ is the key to my project – war and camera.  Behind their lens’s I offer a panorama of female war photographers who have helped shape our memory of war.

Despite the perception that war photography is a male dominated field there is a strong tradition of female war photographers dating from birth of photojournalism to the present.  As I show all these diverse women are courageous and magnificent examples of female empowerment.  Today more women report from crisis areas than men and many of them enter locations denied to men.  Few female war correspondents escape unhurt; many have died too young.

BANG BANG highlights female action. In this tension between façade and identity, the omnipresent question of the expressiveness of photography comes to a head and clearly elevates the answers to art. Between the intentions of the photographer, and me as “duplicator” and the viewers’ perspective, the image will follow its own path, and yet the question of the ultimate truth of the photography remains?  What can we today still expect and trust regarding photography? After all, the expectation of the real is as old as photography itself.

04.03.2021

TV portrait:
Ihr seid angezählt – Wie Catrine Val die Kunst zur Revolte macht

www.ardmediathek.de

Was bedeutet es, Frau zu sein in einer Welt, die immer noch von Männern bestimmt wird? Catrine Val will zeigen, dass sie als Künstlerin auch Frau sein kann.

 


23.11.2020

Winning project of
‘Stand Together and Go Virtual’, supported by the German Embassy London and the Goethe-Institut London.
Curated by Jana Riedel and Matthew Shaul

https://livingmemoryproject.org

Katharina von Ruckteschell, director of the Goethe-Institut London and head of the Northwestern Europe region, said “We would really like to thank the German Embassy London for this wonderful cooperation. The “Stand Together and Go Virtual” projects showcase the untold, shared histories of UK and Germany through art and culture and navigate the creative potentials for a shared future – despite Brexit.”

Catrine Val said “What I encountered in London exceeded all my expectations. The different conversations, transcending the generations, evoked emotions and seemed to bring ‘living memories’ into sharp focus. I came humbly and as a stranger bringing with me a smorgasbord of different half-remembered impressions from my own Jewish background, and was immediately welcomed. At this profoundly difficult moment in our history, nothing seems as fragile as the question of nationality and belonging, with the printed and written word offering us a place of refuge and escape. I wanted to present a counterweight to melancholy, I wanted all my subjects to behave playfully, if only for a moment, to perform and to celebrate the dynamism of just being alive.”

 


Curators Jana Riedel and Matthew Shaul said: “During the summer in London Catrine Val has captured the diverse voices of a community that, after many years in the UK, is still engaging with questions around identity and belonging. These extraordinary portraits, made at a time of profound disruption to normal human interaction also tell the stories of people coping with a resurgence in anti-Semitism, the dislocations of Brexit and COVID-19. We are extremely grateful for the support of the German Embassy London and Goethe-Institut London and hope that the project will evolve, Covid-permitting, into a physical exhibition accompanied by a conference, making a valuable contribution to the process of re-establishing Germany’s identity as a cultural ambassador and its role at the heart of Europe in the post-war era.”

 

 


20.07.2020

Methodological Reflections on Women’s Contribution and Influence in the History of Philosophy

Catrine Val: Female Wisdom in Philosoph

book
chapter catrineval

Introduction to the art of Catrine Val on women philosophers of the past.
By Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir

Catrine Val is an artist and researcher who has in the past decade studied women philosophers of the past and the present. She has travelled to Asia, Africa and South America to explore traditions of women’s wisdom. Her work coincides with the present growing research into women philosophers. She was invited to present her pictures at the Helsinki conference on Women in the History of Philosophy: Methodological Reflections in 2015 where the main focus was on her works on women in the Western philosophical tradition.

In her works, Catrine Val celebrates the powerful presence of women thinkers throughout the ages. She reimagines their reappearance today with her artistic interpretations of them that are based on her research into their ideas and their times. Her work displays concretely how artistic and scientific research can complement each other as well as shed light on each other. Her artistic presentation of different thinkers and wisdom figures shows what she captures as an essential aspect of their philosophy, and how she translates it into modern imagery and styles of comportment, clothing and props to complete the picture. With her works, Catrine Val counters two tendencies that she views as paradigmatic of contemporary mass- and popular culture. We live in aesthetic times in which we realize our individuality through self-expression, almost as if we create ourselves as our own works of art. She claims that our times are afflicted by a flood of narcissism, and an obsessive cult of self-expression. Our efforts of self-expression hence have an ambiguity to them.


They may make us all similar, undermining strong individuality because narcissism disconnects ourselves from ourselves by mirroring ourselves primarily in others. Self-expression that is not narcissistic can, on the other hand, strengthen us in being ourselves. It is therefore not paradoxical that Catrine Val implements the imagery of the cult of self-expression, of staging of the self to portray women thinkers. She confronts narcissistic tendencies of self-expression with their own means for her explicit goal is to produce authentic work in a world where everything is staged. There is therefore often an idiosyncractic feature to her figures, underscoring how these women thinkers were fiercely independent and true to themselves and ahead of their times in their outlook. Nevertheless, most of them became historical outsiders by not being admitted to the gallery of canonical figures in the history of philosophy.

These philosophers have therefore not been properly acknowledged and appreciated for their contribution to philosophy. To address this imbalance Catrine Val offers an exclusively feminine perspective by presenting ‘herself’ through a series of images as the embodiment of various female philosophers, whose wisdom deserves recognition. In her words:
I present the philosophers in an iconographic way consistent with modern media discourse. This approach enables me to show how female philosophers have shaped their reality and defined what it means to be a female philosopher. By exploring the visual similarities between past and current philosophers I reveal a timeless vision of the female philosopher. I present the images as realist fictions using transformations and replications to show the women in different contexts that cast light on the meaning and value of their ideas.


25. – 27.11.2020

FOTO RIO 2020

www.fotorio.fot.br

Thrilled to be part of FOTO RIO 2020 designated to donate an association that takes care of slums in Brazil. If you want to support this Festival, please to feel free. Muito obrigada!


31.03.2020

What’s new, Catrine Val? Interview by Nadine Dinter

 

L’Œil de la Photographie

https://loeildelaphotographie.com/en/whats-new-catrine-val-interview-by-nadine-dinter-pp/

Catrine Val (Cologne, Germany) is a pure powerhouse. Once you’ve met her, you’ll never forget her. Her personality is one with her art. She is her art.
After a career in advertising in Vienna and assisting Valie Export and Bjørn Melhus during her studies, she embarked on her own career as an international conceptual artist, working in the fields of photography, film, and performance. With projects focusing on the role of women within diverse cultural and political systems, Val has collaborated with women in India, South America, Asia, and Europe, and often takes up popular etymology in her work.

In 2018, she was invited to the 24th World Congress of Philosophy held in Beijing. Shortly after that, Catrine Val was nominated as the recipient of the WMA Commission in Hong Kong, for her contribution on the 2019/2020 topic of “Light”. While preparing her monumental exhibition in Hong Kong as well as openings for two exhibitions in Germany, the artist also found herself dealing with the impacts of the corona virus crisis. This interview reflects her current mood, her past inspirations, and her thoughts on the future.

Nadine Dinter : Your photographic series Feminist was produced and published in 2013, and recently exhibited in 2019/2020. In those works, you dress up in various roles as different women. What inspired your idea?
Catrine Val : With Feminist I confronted the existential question – Who am I? Thinking back on that time, it was a decade alive with the spirit of a young and vibrant Europe in full swing; boundaries were overcome. I chose to become a performer as a rebellion against the self-imposed constraints that limit our possibilities. I started out in the field of advertising. At my core, it’s still a part of my handicraft and it illuminates the structures of my visual language.But it seems to be falling apart now. Where is this spirit of optimism? The virus and theTrump phenomenon set our course towards dangerous and weak perspectives. Back then, I wanted to assert my creativity and decided to move out of advertising to study art. The advertiser in me, however, kept silent. After postgraduate studies at the KHM (Academy of Media Arts Cologne), I started teaching straight away. I taught for six years at the University of Kassel where all my female students were my friends. It was a very rich, creative environment at a time when I had yet to inscribe my own signature on the art world. When my contract with the university expired, the freedom was daunting. I asked myself: Who am I? Without any income, a quite unknown female artist, a woman – not a girl – and mother of three children, based in a sleepy province. Was I jobless or self-employed? The future was uncertain. Despite my fears, I decided to invent my own personas and make myself part of the seemingly exclusive art world. This became my project Feminist. I invented a new identity every day, like a daydream. It was the identity of fashion that brought the female body into the public eye. How much body is allowed? The terrain of the body is constantly changing. With my projects I try to simulate my experiences from my past, polished world of advertising. I work with my own professional team of photographer, fashion designer, stylist, and make-up artist – intoxicated by all their fresh knowledge and the synergies on the set. The only deviation is me as a model at only 165 m and 65 kg! We are not allowed to age. In our modern society ageing is almost treated like a disgrace. These days, our 40s are the new 20s. Only it isn’t. Longings and desires shift and new challenges arise. Our thoughts reflect our longer personal history and life experience. Each day of our existence enriches the world a little bit more. New developments suchas #MeToo, artificial intelligence, the ability to have their eggs frozen, cosmetic surgery,Snapchat – they all enable us to interpret our identity anew. Unfortunately, we do not have an unbiased view of our corporeal selves. For various reasons, both historical and emotional, our body is sometimes believed to be incomplete – a body minus clothes. Through the media, the body has become increasingly visible: “I believe in plasticsurgery”, said Andy Warhol already in the year 1975

ND : We often see you in self-portraits, sometimes in disguise, dipped in surreallandscapes, bereft of time and space…
CV : Nothing is as spontaneous as it seems. The confusing, humorous and fragile nature, – what defines the combination of garments and settings, are more than a string of fortunes. My whole attention is dedicated to fabrics in the long tradition of fashion. Far from any snapshot, I define locations by the structure of their surfaces. Interplay of staged materiality such as concrete, granite, gardens, or the play with seasons. My love for solitude, all these images deal with the search for happiness. We live in a digital age in which the mobile phone has long become our second nature. The intimate and the public are strangely mixed in our constant companion, the smartphone, and offers a parallel representation of the self. Gradually one leaves the territory of the freely unfolding daydream. In our everyday life, nature is shifting into the screen. As a calculated fusion, only then the person emerges. It has some autistic features: slipping into roles helps me to survive mentally. Free to be who you are.

ND : Do you have certain idols whose work you admire such as Cindy Sherman, or Francesca Woodman?
CV: I highly admire those two artists! You might say that one thing we have in common is our attempt to engage with the principles of the male gaze and thereby deconstruct it. We also point to the ideology of consumption, fueled by mass media, to highlight the objectification of women’s bodies and ourselves. I have always been interested in questioning the gap between appearance and the self – driven by the search for my own identity. I guess you could say that like Francesca Woodman’s pictures, I’m always someone else – but double her age.

ND : Do you feel influenced by Valie Export, whom you assisted for a while? If so, in which ways?
CV : In the 1990s, “beauty” was a dirty word in the art world. It took me years to find my own vision. Shaken up on the inside, moving and raging on the outside. I wanted to show that I could be both a woman and an artist. This is still not self-evident. For four years I worked as a tutor in Valie Export’s class and as her assistant. Her own struggle for recognition represents that of so many other female artists. She was shocked by the birth of my third child – she considered it a failure on my part. She had to make personal sacrifices but in terms of art she succeeded: Valie is one of the very few female artists who is present in most museum collections.

ND : What’s the difference for you between working with yourself (for your selfportraits) and working with other models?
CV : I love to be behind my camera and I love working with people. For years, my works focused mainly on the role of women within different cultural and political systems. A central idea is the struggle between strength and authenticity. We can be light and playful, fearless and fragile, free just to be. We should express ourselves, wear what we want, play with being different, showing difference, different should be celebrated. We all should be far more fearless to break the rule of standardization, not afraid of highlighting the unknown. Emotions are a source of desire and a sinkhole at the same time, leading to grand and compelling activism. Embracing cultures and blend all of their beliefs to form their own unique, multicultural environment. The rising issue of gender equality and body positivity is just the beginning. A dialogue is growing that transcends geography and connects the global north with the global south. It even rises above humanity and deals with equality between humans, animals, and things. The intensity of senses of shame varies not only in history but in our contemporary society, where sameness is safeness; using something as simple as what we wear and how we wear it, we can draw attention to our
differences in this world.

ND : You have worked with many women all over the world (India, South America, east Asia). How do you prepare those projects? How do you cast your models in foreign countries? Do you work with a local scout?
CV : Flying solo is not an option. For me, collaboration allows for new constellations and inspiration, and working with strangers opens up new and creative perspectives. All my protagonists represent a new generation of rebel. I approach them randomly on the streets, or meet them through word-of-mouth recommendations. Or I’m invited for conferences, festivals or other events where I take a closer look at the participants, thinkers and activists. I can’t photograph a person I don’t feel a personal connection with – otherwise the images will appear totally flat. We sacrifice millions of photos every day on the altars of social media. Now it’s time to stand up. To stand out.

ND : Your Instagram posts are often accompanied by poetic phrases and metaphorical comments. What do you think about poetry?
CV : What appears on the surface as a merely mechanism of identity is a constant flow of inspiration. For the market, Instagram is a potent instrument of power: Peppered and blended to create fresh demands of desire. Once one is immersed in this enchanting world it is hard to tear oneself from it. What kind of world we live in is a fundamental question that most of us are asking? Not only since the outbreak of this corona virus the real, world is getting more and more a real counterfeit. In so far, I treat my Instagram like a butterfly. Or a sketchbook in which you can flip back and forth. Drained, cluttered, rescrubbed – a widely branching archive of personal memories from a women’s perspective. Each click is an index of coordinates and an algorithm that feeds the soul. We are increasingly forgetting how to trust the wide radius of our eyes, our own memories. Sleepwalking in these constant odorless clicking. Filtered, we breathe in this virtual world like our own circulatory system. Paradoxically, we wish for more privacy. In the blink of an eye, it’s over. Dreamland. I love these unspectacular moments of the present. There is this beauty about Instagram, the awakening of  memories, falling out of place and time. Trying to mirror words with playful, calculated lightness in the same fragmentary aesthetic approach – maybe this is what gives an impression of poetry? I appreciate this immensely, as I trust words much more than photography. Though their rhythm I feel understood. These sketches of the written provide a playground for a universal language veiled in the world of hashtags – a constant overwhelming challenge. A poetic journey into the everyday. With our increasing intellectualisation, one has come to the conclusion that man can master all entity by calculation. According to the warning philosopher Max Weber, this resulted into the “demystification of the world”.

ND : Who are your favorite poets?
CV : In the last few years, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many female philosophers, poets, and thinkers from all over the world. It is their love and devotion to language that has shaped, enriched, and inspired me. Everyone has their own talents and mine are definitely more anchored in visual language. I adore Maya Angelou, for example – her political activism shines brightly through her words and inspires action. And there’s my own powerful Indian collaborator, Divya Dureja. Our powerful poetry film on sexuality and female sexual dysfunction got a lot of attention worldwide.ND : You were recently awarded the WMA Commission in Hong Kong.
Tell us alittle bit more about this project.
CV : I’m so delighted about this precious grant! Despite the corona virus emergency, this morning I decided in consultation with the WMA team that I will go into voluntary quarantine and hopefully start my vision from there. For the project MANIFESTO, I want to spotlight female activists in Hong Kong demonstrations. Women have played a significant public role in the demonstrations. I will cooperate with the visionary  philosopher Eva Man and her students. They will be my guides for exploring Chinese feminist thought. The goal of the project is to make the heavily mediated identity of the political crisis in Hong Kong more tangible. It will represent difficult and controversial ideas about the politics and emotions of the female experience. Observations of commodity fetishism meet gender politics. An interdisciplinary laboratory will be created. As there seems to be no end to the Corona virus epidemic, these days I feel like I’m in the middle of a science fiction story. It’s a standstill for the first time in our globalized world. This deceleration of life will dramatically change our view of the world. I’m already thinking about our post-virus comeback. We need creative solutions to the current challenges, which drive positive energy into the world around us. We need to fill the current cultural vacuum and demonstrate that we are still active, strong and thinking positively.


ND : In your statement, you write, “I believe that the art world is slowly warming to the idea that great artists can also be great women and mothers.” What’s your take on feminism in the art world? Do you feel that female artists are heard enough? Can intelligent content conquer sexy poses?
CV :My central idea is the battle for supremacy between authenticity and theatricality. We want a world where life is preserved and the quality of life is enriched for everybody, not only for the privileged. Synergies of colors – thinkers and dreamers. Art mirrors life and it is still a taboo to be both an artist and a mother. Some call us “rave mothers”. My life as a mother parallels my work as an artist. If you are labeled an “emerging artist”, you don’t speak out. For years you work countless nights though, without complaining. Art is supposed to be an all-consuming enterprise; becoming a mother can kill your career like popping a soap bubble. I have had this experience a couple of times.
On the other hand, today women are encouraged to push the limits and ignore the inconveniences of their reproductive clock. Aging is no longer considered an absolut barrier to reproduction, as we move towards a future constituted by algorithms. Against the classical image of the family, I admire the individual concept of creating your own partnership. Happy and enriched with or without children. We all can learn from each other. The synthesis and the wide cacophony of cultures, ideas, thoughts, and beliefs can creative a purpose that defines our future. Interested in hidden truth from the ordinary places that most of us pass by. Identity.

ND : The American art world has long been criticized by the feminist group, the Guerilla Girls. What do you think about them and do you think that the German Art Market could use such an initiative as well?
CV : Thank you, Nadine, This is such an urgent question! The canon of art history has been concerned with the issue of widescale abuse far too little. What we have is a mechanism of repression. For over 30 years, Guerilla Girls have been fighting against the discrimination of female artists, using humorous posters and performances as their weapons. They were the first to publicly denounce sexism in the art world. Only by acting anonymously could they avoid having their activism affect their career. Their
influence is not that visible internationally, but the #MeToo debate has amplified their message. The question remains: Who is to blame for discrimination against women in the art world? The canon of western art history is wobbling. As museums are increasingly dependent on collectors’ donations, the Guerilla Girls are not only giving rich white men the blame.
These actions are forcing big major collections to reconsider their investments. It is no less than the entire questioning of western art history. This includes thinking about the restitution of colonial looted goods to rectify historical injustice. Decolonization is muchmore than handing art back to country of origin. Especially in these uncertain and
challenging times, there is an opportunity to introduce other invisible female voices into our modern visual culture. The turmoil of the post-capitalist world and the disruptioncaused by technological advancements pose new possibilities for all of us. Today we are witnessing a socio-political situation in which rights that have already been won must be re-examined, and women’s issues are more pressing than ever. Now a picture can be considered discriminating against someone, and discussed nearly as fiercely as the climate change. We should all take responsibility, – against denying and concealing outrageous deeds. Maybe it would be worthwhile for German museums to show works by previously unknown female artists of the GDR, for example. This would challenge clichés about “free” Westernart and “unfree” Eastern art. Particularly in times of xenophobia, it is important to hold on to art, for diversity and knowledge, to uphold
values, and cultural exchange. After all, some of the most fundamental questions are: In what kind of a world do we want to live? And how can we work together to shape that world?

ND : What is your recommendation to aspiring young female photographers who want to enter the world of photography and make a living?
CV : In our performance-oriented society, we give the word success much too much space, thereby we can lose the most important vision: our passion and sensitivity. What is needed at this point is a renewed interest in humanity, culture, and identity. Art was never a democratic tool, and is most commonly related to financial wealth. My advice is to simply carry on, stubbornly and joyfully, take a long breath and believe in yourself, be full of endless curiosity and experience your life and the world in the here and now.

The internet is still in a pioneering phase and the new generation is formulating its own  platforms. They are more independent than I ever could be. This generation advocates some very precious values created by humankind over thousands of years: social fairness and justice. These are the most important cornerstones of any civilization. And start collaborating! I have learned so much from young photographers. Explore the possibilities of digital networking if you are having an identity crisis. Work in and with the virtual possibilities.

 The whole anxiety of not having stability in the future is definitely very present. You have to work very hard and have strong sense of self-belief – after that, everything will fall into a perfect frame. Unfortunately, there is no general rule of thumb on how to fund your life with and through art. Money represents the conventional idea of wealth. But this is shifting increasingly into the direction of sociocultural acknowledgment. Access to networks is the new worthwhile fortune. But no life path resembles the other. That is the beauty of art.