Anna Anders / Beauty

Friday 27 November 2009 at 8 pm, Kibela - the opening of the exhibition Beauty by German artist Anna Anders.

Anna Anders has been using video as a means of artistic expression since 1986. She first began making short films; then, beginning in 1991, she started creating works for spaces. These have included projections, installations, and objects.
Anders’s works mainly show a course of events in real time. The pieces are not about spectacular events, but usually center around everyday activities. They can be viewed as performances or stagings, without, however, seeming “posed.” The content of the works is usually about raising or disappointing expectations, about seduction and revelation, about the relationship between seeing and being seen, and about playing with the notion of an assumed interactivity.

Anna Anders often creates her pieces by using only one camera angle. And the viewer stands face to face with the life-size projections of the performers. The actors generally look directly into the camera, making the viewers often feel as though they are being watched, regardless of where they move about in the room. Just as they direct their gazes, so do the performers direct their actions and comments towards the viewers. This directness is vexing and prompts viewers to feel as though they were interacting live with the performers. Viewers are thus integrated into the event and become part of the installation.

Solo exhibition (selection):
2009   "Windows", Deutscher Künstlerbund, Berlin (together with Maria Vedder)
2008      "Vamos a la Playa“, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld (together with Fran
    Dropkin)
2005      "Body-Bilder", Galerie Gabriele Rivet, Cologne, Germany
2004 /05 "Gastspiel", Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, Germany
   "Art Cologne 04", video space, Galerie Gabriele Rivet Cologne
2002        "Face to Face", Galerie Gabriele Rivet, Cologne, Germany
2001        "Shower", 4 video projections, Galleri K1, Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
2000        "life size", Galerie Gabriele Rivet, Cologne, Germany
1995        "Schaulust", Galerie Brigitte Schenk, Cologne, video projections in the gallery
   windows

More about artist on: www.anna-anders.de

The exhibition will be on display until 16. 12. 2009.

Works:
SONNENBAD / SUNBATH, 2004

Men and women are lying out on bright sand, taking turns tanning themselves in the light of the video projector. They've revealed their bare bodies to the critical gaze of the visitors. Surrounded by beach bags, flip-flops, suntan lotion, drinks, books, and magazines, the “sun worshippers” are wearing bathing suits and are stretched out on their backs or stomachs on their beach towels, relaxing. They apply suntan lotion, wiggle their toes, chew gum, read, talk, send text messages on their mobiles, eat fruit, chips, or ice cream, hide themselves behind dark sunglasses, and cover their heads with hats. You hear the sound of waves and beach life.

BODYBUILDER, 2005

One by one, two men and two women, all with muscular builds, appear in front of a white background wearing garishly colored sport briefs and bikinis. They complete a rehearsed series of movements - the free-style routines they present in front of large audiences at bodybuilder tournaments. Then they appear opposite us, in life-size, in an almost intimate atmosphere without background music. Their slow movements, the cracking of their joints, their breathing and groaning and the sweat they excrete make their considerable physical efforts palpable.
Viewers mentally attempt to understand the tensing of the bodybuilders' muscles. As if standing in front of a mirror, they compare their own physical appearance with those of the athletes.
Bodybuilders think of their bodies as something constructed, as sculptures. They mold and design their bodies through concerted training and special diets.
Through the form of the performance and the athletes' posing, the viewers wind up in the role of a judge who decides upon their degree of perfection. Thus, in terms of content, this work also addresses the issue of beauty and how it is defined.

TV-CLEANER, 2002

The monitor screen is cleaned from the inside using various detergents, cleaning utensils, and washing methods. Spray bottles, squee-gees, chamois, sponges, washcloths, dust cloths, and rubber gloves are used. The different materials and techniques create a dynamic soundscape consisting of rubbing, scouring, scratching, squeaking, foaming, and spraying noises in varying rhythms and at different volume levels.

VIS À VIE, 2008

Seven women and men all in the age between 67 and 84 are posing like fashion models in front of the camera. You can hear only the photographer taking pictures.

BELOW, 2009

On a very small long video projection on the bottom of a wall (like a frieze) the viewer sees naked legs of men and women pacing up and down in a bathroom scenery. Some legs are dressed in colorful sandals and socks. The people seem to perform their daily rituals.

SPIEGELBILDER / MIRROR IMAGES, 2005

The monitor becomes bathroom mirror in which a series of alternating people are seen from the waist up. They check their appearances, apply make-up and carry out their cleansing rituals, with their gaze always directed at their reflected self. They wash their hands and faces, brush their teeth, squeeze out pimples, shave, brush and dry their hair. The actions reflect their personal hygiene activities over the course of an entire day, from morning until evening. Before leaving the imaginary bathroom, each person turns off the light. The next person then turns it back on and appears in front of the mirror.
The intimate activities seem authentic and confront the viewers with themselves, making them reflect on their own processes and rituals of personal hygiene.