Margarete Klenner
Was born in 1978
Education: graduated in 2007 from The School of Design, Bielefeld (Germany)
Field: photography, design, film-design
Practical Training: The School of Music and Arts, Bielefeld; Festival “Prague-Berlin”, Berlin
Exhibitions:
2004 -„Studenski Plakat“, poster exhibition, Academy of Arts in Krakow
2005 -„Pop PL“ (a report about the Americanization of Poland)
Bunker Ulmenwall, Bielefeld
2005 -„Essen“, photo exhibition, Essen and Bielefeld
2007 -„Haltlose Besinnung“ (Diplom exhibition FH- Bielefeld)
2007 - ADC Junioren, creative young generation contest and exhibition, Munich
Series: "Unstable consciousness"
The starting point of my works are questions about intuitions and spirituality, which lead me to a confrontation with my own perceptions and thoughts. I was especially interested in the conflict between rational, logical thought and the irrational, feeling-based subconscious. My interest in these topics originated partly in personal experience. I was born in traditional catholic Poland and moved to Germany as an eight year old child. The people I met when I arrived in Germany were noticeably different. Many were mostly disconnected from religious practice, or were dismissive of religious traditions in general and of anything beyond the limits of rational thought. „I believe only in myself“ was a phrase I often heard. After all, since the times of the Enlightenment, and at the latest since Nietzsche, God had been established to be a mere hypothesis. My views changed, I first experienced the conflict between rational thought and subconscious belief. I think that our everyday life has become devoid of mysticism. Its place, and the place of spirituality in general, has been taken by easily attainable material pleasures. In this sense, our reality is strictly limited. My works deal with construction, deconstruction, spontaneity and control. There are parellels to surrealist thought in so far, that I am searching for the subconscious. Unlike the surrealists, I don't search in dreams, but in my immediate surroundings. I especially focus on emotion, irrationality and intuition. My conceptual approach is to be spontaneous. Reality should be extended to the realm of of the unknown. I take photos of myself in the moments of an action, or a reaction to found objects or places which attract me in a strange way. In these moments, I create a space for myself, in which I am able to dissassociate myself from the rational aspects of perception. By both operating the camera and acting in front of it, I am actively shaping my own perception, while at the same time being subjected to them.
There are three things to note about the intuitive approach which I chose:
1 — The thoughts, conventions, etc., which should be absent from my works, nonetheless manifested themselves.
2 — The method of free association can lead to lightness and comedy.
3 — Reflection about our own self can be a pathway to different aspects of perception and creativity. Words, pictures and actions become equally important. There are no contradictions between different media. Instead, there are connections between different aspects of creativity.
web:
www.margareteklenner.de
http://klenner-fotografie.blogspot.com
© 2008