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Annette Behrens

video , Geschiedenis , fotografie , Ecologie , Documentair , Diversiteit , Artistiek onderzoek , Archieven

I am a visual artist working with photography, video and text on long-term, documentary projects resulting in publications and installations. In my works I deconstruct the often one-dimensional representation of universal subjects revealing a multifaceted, complex reality. I'm especially interested in various, stereotypical groups with whom I can show our complicated, judgmental relationship towards the "Other". I use personal, historical and social angels to unveil and question different perspectives.
Besides initiating my own projects I regularly work as a teacher for photography (theory) and the history of photography. I have worked as a guest teacher for AKV St. Joost's BA and MA photography courses, the Willem de Kooning Academy and Syracuse University, among others.

(in matters of) Karl - In 2007 a photo album was anonymously gifted to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., its content stirring world wide media attention. The album contains more than one hundred images depicting the everyday life of Nazis working in the Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps in Poland. The album is nowadays referred to as the ‘Höcker Album’ named after its owner: Karl Friedrich Höcker. The photographs reveal the relationships of high ranking officers and auxiliary personnel, they show the people who are depicted living a ‘normal’ life, detached from the horrendous crimes they committed. (in matters of) Karl is a research-project about the photo album itself and the historic information shown in the images. Besides, it deals with the reproduction of images and the representation of historic images and information in archives. The different layers are held together by the story of the journey I took to realise this work and the confrontation with my own German heritage.
SOY - Peanut butter, pork, skin care, tofu, pain killers, eggs, chocolate – they don’t seem to have much in common but are in fact connected: In all of these products soy has been used. Indirectly for instance in animal feed en thus in pork or eggs. Directly in products such as tofu but also as soy lecithin in pain killers or peanut butter. In just over half a century soy has become one of the most cultivated crops worldwide and as such has enormous economic power. This versatile legume contains immense amounts of protein and is therefore used extensively in animal feed. But most people associate soy with genetic modification, allergies or the tropical deforestation. Soy is as controversial as it is versatile. Our knowledge of this legume is gained through images and information presented in the media, by NGO’s or often simply hearsay. The same, ever repeating images of, for instance, the tropical deforestation are part of our collective image library. But how do the images we know contribute to the associations we have about soy? And how does the way in which soy is depicted lead to decision-making on a personal but also governmental level? In SOY the (photographic) representation of the soybean as well as the historical, social, political, environmental and economic layers, which are intertwined through soy will be made visible and questioned through photography, video and text.

Disclosed #15

Datum:
Locatie: Het Wilde Weten
In samenwerking met: Keukenverhalen; Mariana Hirschfeld

​For this edition of Disclosed​ I took my ongoing visual research of the soybean as a starting point to explore different perspectives concerning the plant. Through food, industrial products, medication or cosmetics the soybean is closely interwoven into virtually every aspect of our daily lives yet invisible to most of us. Yet, our knowledge of this legume is relatively limited and largely gained through images and information presented in the media, by NGO’s or often simply hearsay.

https://www.facebook.com/events/415887845546547/

Transmedia Colloquim lecture and discussion

Datum:
Locatie: Syracuse University
In samenwerking met: diverse

Warped by Time, Shaped by History: The Art and Architecture of That Day Now, panel discussion with Keiko Ogura, Annette Behrens, Christina Varvia and Linda Zhang.

https://thatdaynow.syr.edu/

A New Display: Visual Storytelling at a Crossroads

Datum:
Locatie: Krakow Photomonth

Iris Sikking curated the group exhibition 'A New Display: Visual Storytelling at a Crossroads', with photographers from the Netherlands, they were part of the annual Krakow Photomonth Festival. The participants were: Annette Behrens (with 'Karl', 2015), Antoinette de Jong & Robert Knoth (with 'Poppy', 2012), Thomas Kuijpers (with 'When the Twins Were Still Beautiful', 2014), Anouk Steketee & Eefje Blankevoort (with 'Love Radio', 2014) and Dirk Jan Visser (with 'Refugee Republic', 2014).

https://photomonth.com/en/

Looking for Karl

Datum:
Locatie: Nederlands Fotomuseum

De tentoonstelling ‘Looking for Karl’ toont de intensieve zoektocht van Behrens naar meer informatie over de identiteit van Karl Höcker (eigenaar van het zogenaamde 'Höcker Album' uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog) waarin zij het historisch beeldmateriaal in relatie tot deze man een plek geeft. Tijdens haar onderzoek komt ook de confrontatie met haar eigen Duitse achtergrond naar boven.

https://www.nederlandsfotomuseum.nl/tentoonstelling/annette-behrens-looking-for-karl/

The making of now

Datum:
Locatie: Hotel Maria Kapel

Residency and exhibition at Hotel Maria Kapel

http://hotelmariakapel.nl/

Deze kunstenaar heeft nog geen toekenningen.