Press Release: Ulrike Ottinger

New Works 04.2
07.08.04

New Works: 04.2

July 8 ?ptember 12, 2004

Fareed Armaly Washington, District of Columbia

Ulrike Ottinger Berlin, Germany

Willie Varela El Paso, Texas

Selected by Ute Meta Bauer

About the Artist

Ulrike Ottinger began experimenting with collage, performance, and
photography in the 1960s before turning primarily to film toward the end of the
decade. Since then she has produced eighteen cinematic works and countless
photographs. Consistently playing with conventions of modernism and the
classical avant-garde, she nurtures traces of the familiar and the unfamiliar,
the real and the fantastic, allowing each to seamlessly intermingle with the
others.

Many of Ottinger's films explore issues of metamorphosis and inclusion. In
Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press (1984) protagonist Dr. Frau
Mabuse uses the power of prohibition to make and break the character of
Dorian Gray, who ultimately undergoes a transformation from Bauhaus-dandy
to evil tycoon. Ottinger complicates such familiar themes by reversing
dominant gender roles and manipulating key transformative moments.

Ottinger has increasingly turned toward cultural studies, employing more
documentary strategies in her photographs and films. In the film Exile
Shanghai (1997) Ottinger documents the stories of six German, Austrian,
and Russian Jews whose lives intersect when they flee to Shanghai.
Employing interviews, narrative, photographs, and other documentation, the
film capitalizes on the tension between art and ethnography.

Ulrike Ottinger was born in Konstanz, Germany in 1942. She has had solo
exhibitions at such venues as National Museum Center of Arte Reina Sofia,
Madrid, Spain (2004); Witte de With, Bild-Archive, Rotterdam, Holland (2004);
The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, IL (2003); and Goethe
Institut, Barcelona, Spain (2002). Group exhibitions include Documenta 11,
Kassel, Germany (2002); Sessions, Bild-Archive, Museum of
Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2001); and 39th Venice Biennale, Italy
(1980).

About the Project

To gather material for Faces, Found Objects, and Rough Riders, Ulrike
Ottinger attended festivals, processions, and cultural events in and around
San Antonio, taking over 800 photographs along the way. The installation
presents photographic portraits and ephemera from the area to investigate the
foundation and practices of local cultures.

Presiding over the gallery is a monumental black and white photograph
from a charreada, a Mexican rodeo. Ottinger captures the cowboy and
his airborne lasso in a familiar image of the west. Nine smaller photographs
flank the central mural and include staged and candid portraits, as well as a
lone image of a plush red heart with angelic wings.

Ottinger imports the motif of this local "relic" into the other objects in the
gallery by including hearts and feather crowns on photographs, frames, and
even a longhorn steer. These shrine-like areas of found and altered
objects?marily symbolic tokens from Native American and Mexican
cultures?fy the project and cast doubt on the assumed authenticity of the
surrounding photographs On display is Ottinger's sketchbook for the
project?ind of storyboard that juxtaposes drawings with pictures, notes,
and ethnographic postcards from the 1930s and 1940s.

The scrapbook-like form of Faces, Found Objects, and Rough Riders is
appropriate. The installation is in large part an account of Ottinger's
exploration of San Antonio, a place rich with the creolization of German,
Spanish, and Native American cultures. The project reveals not only how the
medium of photography can simultaneously document and manipulate its
subjects, but also the ways in which cultures change, influence, and borrow
elements from one other. Through compelling juxtapositions, this work, like
Ottinger's others, exposes the complexities in notions of cultural
difference.

Exhibition Dates

July 8 ?ptember 12, 2004

Opening Reception

Thursday, July 8, 6:30-8:30 PM

Artists' Dialogue

Friday, July 9, 6:30-8:00 PM

Featuring Fareed Armaly, Ulrike Ottinger, Willie Varela, and guest curator Ute
Meta Bauer, Independent Curator and Artistic Director of the 2004 Berlin Biennial.

Brown Bag Lunch

Wednesday, August 11, 12:00-1:00 PM

Join Education and Curatorial Associate, Kate Green, for a tour of New Works 04.2 followed by a
brown bag lunch (provided by Sip) and group discussion. Call Artpace for menu and reservations.

Event Locations

All events held at Artpace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street
and Savings. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5pm,
Thursday until 8pm and by appointment. There is no charge for
admission.

About Artpace

Artpace San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as
a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture
emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration,
experimentation, and education. Our programs support the evolution of new
ideas in contemporary art and cultivate diverse audiences while providing a
forum for ongoing dialogue.

The International Artist-in-Residence program is supported by The Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the
Arts.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org