ULRIKE OTTINGER: STILLS 1971-1989
Solo Exhibition and film retrospective
Having achieved international renown as a filmmaker with her early films from the 1970s, the number of exhibitions of Ulrike Ottinger´s photographic work steadily increased throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The exhibition Stills marked an important stage in this development. Although the title suggests an exhibition of stills from her films, the photographs shown here were actually taken before and during shooting. There is a definite sense of autonomy about them. "Ottinger describes her photographs as >visual notes< that help her develop the final product. In effect, they are an integral part of her process as a director, functioning much as sketches do for painters. But they also demonstrate her proficiency in another medium." The photographs again appear as catalysts of this kind in the artist´s workbooks, which are a combination of notation, script and material studies. Several of these workbooks were included in the exhibition.
* Alexander Alberro, »Ulrike Ottinger at David Zwirner«, in: Artforum, September 2000, p. 177.
WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION:
Black-and-white photo frieze with portraits of Tabea Blumenschein et al. (1975-1979): Black-and-white photographs and photo novelas with Magdalena Montezuma, Delphine Seyrig, Veruschka von Lehndorff: Photographs, script and workbooks from the contexts of the films Madame X – An Absolute Ruler (1977). Ticket of No Return (1979). Freak Orlando (1981 ). Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press (1983). Johanna d'Arc of Mongolia (1988): Film-Präsentation von Freak Orlando (1981).
