Frankfurt am Main: Annegret Soltau 'BodyLANGUAGE'
Celebrating her 75th birthday in January 2021, German artist Annegret Soltau can confidently be described as one of the most important international artists of the radical feminist movements in the 1970s and 80s. Her name should be mentioned in the same breath as Tracey Emin and Marina Abramovic. With her latest exhibition at Galerie Anita Beckers in Frankfurt am Main, Annegret Soltau’s work manifests its place firmly within the feminist cannon.
The show, curated by Francesco Colli, brings together works from different series of the artist’s oeuvre - almost creating a capsule retrospective. Colli, who has been researching Annegret Soltau’s work for years and has spent countless hours in the artist’s studio and archive, has brought to light some never before seen work series from the 1970s and 80s that give further insight into the themes of her work and show just how all consuming her practice was and still is.
Installation view, Galerie Anita Beckers
One distinct characteristic, which sets Annegret Soltau apart from those artists we so clearly connect to the radical feminist movements, was that she decided to have it all: a carrer and a family. It is no secret that others have clearly stated that they have chosen a career over a family, believing that for a woman having it all wouldn’t be possible. But among many other reasons, this IS where the importance of Annegret Soltau’s work lies. She has documented and addressed every part of a woman’s life in her works - including the sensation of being pregnant. Instead of cutting out certain parts, which are often integral to women’s lives, she has investigated every state of the female body, her body. This is not to say, that a woman HAS to have a family, artist or not, but that Annegret Soltau did and by working through it, is examining important themes that have gotten lost in many other feminist works from that time.
Tages-Diagramme
Tages-Diagramme (January 1977 - December 1977), which is one of those series that has never been shown before, is a collection of 58 drawings and writings, with which Annegret Soltau has recorded her feelings, thoughts and fears - a diary of mental states for the year 1977. These works on paper are important when considering her oeuvre for what it is: her life. Felt, documented, lived.
My absolute favorite works are in the second room. In the video work KörperLandschaft (BodyLandscape, 1986 - 89) we see different recordings of her body, manipulated with colored filters. The frames are moving between details of her body - appearing as abstract landscapes - to partial views of her body in movement. The 8 min long video investigates the body like a landscape, moving over elevations and dips. Next to the video, two photographic collages titled BodyLandscape and BodyMemory (KöprerLandschaft and KörperErinnerung 1989/90), combine stills of the video into two large mosaics of body parts. Almost like a kaleidoscope, the stills are multiplied, mirrored and rotated.
KörperLandschaft (video), KörperLandschaft (video stills), KörperErinnerung (video stills)
The eye catcher of the show without a doubt though is a big wall, visible from outside of the gallery’s huge windows, for which Annegret Soltau has installed a web of threads, reminiscent of her early performances and installations, of which documentations have found their way into the net. These photographic works documenting her first performance Permanente Demonstration in Darmstadt in 1976, show the participants’ and audience’s heads wrapped in thread and ultimately “threading” people together.
Most widely known for her sewn photographs, the thread has long been a fundamental part of her practice. Next to sewn photographs from the 70s and 80s, the exhibition also presents a work from the series transgenerative (2005) for which she uses photos of the naked bodies of herself, her husband and her grown up children. Through the process of ripping the images apart and reconfiguring them in grotesque, genderfluid figures, she plays with the notion of sex, identity and the social construct of gender.
transgenerative, 2005
While the exhibition is unfortunately still closed to the public until at least March 8, 2021, the exhibition can also be experienced online. A virtual tour through the exhibition, led by curator Francesco Colli, will be available soon. As well as a conversation between Dr. Ingrid Pfeiffer (Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main) and the artist.
Annegret Soltau
KörperSPRACHE
03.02. - 20.03.2021
Galerie Anita Beckers
Photos: Courtesy Galerie Anita Beckers and Wolfgang Günzel
