Ulrike Ottinger

In 2016, the Museo Vostell Malpartida celebrates its 40th anniversary and, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Madrid and the Filmoteca de Extremadura, presents a series dedicated to the German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger.

Since the beginning of her artistic career, Ulrike Ottinger has developed her own, sometimes disturbing and ambiguous world of images, an "Ottinger Universe". She claims to draw her inspiration in equal parts from the art world and the everyday world. Her strong relationship to the fine arts also brought with it a great interest in the art of Wolf Vostell and she even made a cinematic memorial in several documentaries - such as Berlin Fever: Wolf Vostell and V.O.A.EX. Wolf Vostell and his wife Mercedes Vostell worked in 1979 also in Ottinger film TICKET OF NO RETURN.

The film series on Ulrike Ottinger in the Museo Vostell Malpartida and the Filmoteca de Extremadura offers viewers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the imaginative world of images of Ottinger, which gradually decode the filmmaker's view on topics such as death, violence, the meaning of rituals or social injustices.

Parallel to the film series and the 40th anniversary of V.O.A.EX - the work of art that had it's inauguration at the opening of the museum in 1976 - the museum will be showing two short films by Ulrike Ottinger and materials from the extraordinary documentary, bibliographic and artistic holdings of the Archivo Happening Vostell. This exhibition reflects the special professional and friendly relationship that Ulrike Ottinger associated with Wolf Vostell.

Press text by Goethe Insitute Madrid