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Annegret Soltau

Annegret Soltau at Paris Photo, Conversation with Pascale Krief and Klaus Rinke, 2021

DR. INGRID PFEIFFER IN CONVERSATION WITH ANNEGRET SOLTAU
EXHIBITION WALKTHROUGH WITH FRANCESCO COLLI
AUGENBLICK KULTUR – DIGITALE PLATTFORM FÜR KUNSTASPEKTE DER HKST

Annegret Soltau

Annegret Soltau‘s work has been considered fundamental for the development of experimental and performative art of the 70s and 80s. She has often been appointed as an important reference for the feminist art of that early period. Recently, her work was included in “Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution”, the first comprehensive, historical exhibition to examine the international foundations and legacy of feminist art, organized in 2007 by Moca in LA, and presented also at the MoMA PS1 in New York (2008) and the Vancouver Art Gallery (2009).

Annegret Soltau’s main interest is in the integration of body processes in her work, in order to connect body and spirit and treat them as equal components. Always departing from a private performance and photos of herself, the artist creates photomontages of her own body and face sewn over or collaged with black thread. „Selbst/ Self“(1975-76) started with a series of wrapping actions, in which Soltau tied both single people as well as entire groups with a strong black thread. The thread is sewn like filigree webs across her face and exerts a delicate tension; the result is very sophisticated and beautiful. Exploring issues related with female identity, these works are among the most well-known of this German artist and performer.

In Soltau’s own words “Permanente Demonstration“(19.1.1976 and 23.1.1976) is “an attempt to trigger states of consciousness through realization of an image in real life, i.e. make an image physically. The line, becomes a realized line, the person is part of the picture. Line and person are not two opposite things but a single reality”.

The work serves no useful purpose and seeks more than a purely aesthetic pleasure. The artist understands it more like a process to re-unite consciousness and unconsciousness.

Annegret Soltau aims mainly to work intuitively, and thus achieve a sort of “self-forgetting”. She is interested in immediately perceptible experiences, as she feels that as soon as we reflect and form concepts, the original is lost and so we become limited by fixed ideas and concepts.

The photo-erasures “Ich schlafend doppelt” (1977/2004) and “Ich Wartend” (1977) both deal with her two pregnancies from 1978-80, as the artist was interested in documenting the deep impact which carrying a child had on her body and life. She feared for her artistic career as she knew from other artist colleagues, that a pregnancy could jeopardize one’s artistic career. From this intense examination resulted many video works, in which Soltau reflects upon her own pregnant body. She testifies how this experience has brought her closer to her own body.

In this period Soltau developed the idea of working the photos further, she wanted to get more out of these shots, as she didn’t want to leave them as pure documenting material. In this sense, she began to work the negatives with a needle. She scratched the surface of the negatives to a point of pure blackness, complete destruction sometimes.

To the initial singular photos followed big format photo-tableaux, in which she applied the same technique. The work with the needle generates intense black areas, which can go as far as “total” erasure.

Video links:

Discussion between Annegret Soltau and Ute Gahlings at the Literaturhaus Darmstadt

Das Konzept ICH. Annegret Soltau finissage 15.03.2017

Das Konzept ICH. Annegret Soltau vernissage 07.02.2017

Interview with Annegret Soltau. 2016

22.06.2024 – 29.09.2024
Arts of Creation. On art and motherhood
Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham
Spring 2025
Dundee Contemporary Arts

29.05.2024 – 22.09.2024
Stadt der Fotografinnen
Historisches Museum
Saalhof 1
60311 Frankfurt am Main

08.06.2024 – 07.07.2024
Kollagiert – auch ohne Leim
Stiftung Kunstgebäude Schlosshof Bodenburg
Teichstraße 15A
31162 Bad Salzdetfurth

22.10.2023 – 03.03.2024
Kochen Putzen Sorgen.
Care-Arbeit in der Kunst seit 1960
Josef Albers Museum
Anni-Albers-Platz 1
46236 Bottrop

07.10.23 – 22.10.23
XCHANGE
Salle Jacky Vauclair
Place Maurice Gunsbourg
FRA – 92140 Clamart (Paris)

25.08.23 – 23.09.23
Vermeer Contemporary
– Jan Vermeer und die Gegenwart.
CSR.ART
Friedrichstraße 69
10117 Berlin-Mitte

06.05.2023 – 03.09.2023
HIER BIN ICH
KÜNSTLERINNENSELBSTPORTRÄT
Kunsthalle Emden
Hinter dem Rahmen13
26721 Emden
 
27.01.2023 – 05.03.2023
MIRROR OF SELF
Hangar Photo Art Center
18 Place du Chatelain
BEL – 1050 Brüssel
 
31.03.2023 – 25.06.2023
ANGST
KRISENINDIKATOR ODER ÜBERLEBENSTRIEB?
Kunstverein Walkmühle
Walkmühle 1 / Bornhofenweg 9
65195 Wiesbaden

 

03.12.2022 – 23.04.2023
MATTER, NON-MATTER, ANTI-MATTER
ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien
Lorenzstr. 19
76135 Karlsruhe

26.11.2022 – 24.01.2023
I THOUGHT I WAS AN ALIEN
Polarraum
Heussweg 89
20255 Hamburg

07.10.2022 – 19.02.2023
AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
The Photographers´ Gallery
16 – 18 Ramillies Street
GBR – W1F 7LW, London
 

23.02.2022 – 12.02.2023
NEW ARRIVALS
FROM SALVADOR DALI TO JENNY SAVILLE
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
73 & 75 Belford Road
GBR – EH4 3DR Edinburgh
 

23.09.2022 – 26.10.2022
ZUSAMMEN
Polarraum
Heussweg 89
20225 Hamburg

25.03.2022 – 26.02.2023
Körperbilder: Intimität – Dekonstruktion – Interaktion
Wilhelm–Hack–Museum
Berliner Str. 23
67059 Ludwigshafen am Rhein

28.08.2022 – 20.11.2022
Venedigsche Sterne
Art & Embroidery
 Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur
Bahnhofstraße 35
CHE – 7000 Chur

04.07.2022 – 25.09.2022
A Feminist Avant-Garde
Photographs And Persormances Of The 1970s
From The Verbund Collection, Vienna
Les Rencontres D’arles
34 rue du docteur Fanton
FRA – 13200 Arles

03.07.2022 – 07.08.2022
WIE’S IN MIR AUSSIEHT
Kunstverein Buchholz/Nordheide e.V.
Kirchenstraße 6
21244 Buchholz

17.– 19.06.2022
4 X 4
Festival bewegter Kunst
AUSSTELLUNGSHALLE
Schulstraße 1A
60594 Frankfurt am Main

17.03.2022 – 14.08.2022
REBELDES: Laboratorio experimental de prácticas artísticas feministas
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
Matucana 501
CHL – Santiago

06.03.2022 – 30.10.2022
WIR SIND!
Frauenmuseum
Im Krausfeld 10
53111 Bonn

27.01.2022 – 7 pm
„Mit dem Körper denken“
Annegret Soltau in conversation with Angelika Dirschel
Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg
Hauptstraße 97
69117 Heidelberg

27.11.2021 – 16.03.2022
Fahren ohne Ticket
Galerie im Körnerpark
Schierker Straße 8
12051 Berlin

24.10.2021 – 20.02.2022
Frauenkörper
Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg
Hauptstraße 97
69117 Heidelberg

01.10.2021 – 06.02.2022
Mutter!
Kunsthalle Mannheim
Friedrichsplatz 4
68165 Mannheim

22.05.2021 – December 2021
imPERFEKT – Eine Ausstellung zur Barrierefreiheit
MEWO Kunsthalle
Bahnhofstraße 1
87700 Memmingen

21.04.2021 – 29.08.2021
Mother!
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Gl. Strandvej 13
DNK – 3050 Humlebæk

Browse Annegret Soltau’s work in the CP collection
Website Centre Georges Pompidou 

22.05.2021 – December 2021
Opening exhibition
Haus des Papiers
Seydelstraße 30
10117 Berlin

03.02.2021 – 20.03.2021
KÖRPERSprache
birthday exhibition
Galerie Anita Beckers
Braubachstraße 9
60311 Frankfurt am Main

19.07.2019 – 01.12.2019
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s
Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection
CCCB
Montalegre, 5
ESP – 08001 Barcelona

16.06.2019 – 11 pm
Kunst-Benefiz-Morgen
Orangerie im Günthersburgpark 
Commeniusstraße 39
60389 Frankfurt am Main

26.06.2019 – 6 pm
Lecture / Die vernähte Frau
Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst
Wächterstraße 11 – Raum 2.41
04107 Leipzig

29.06.2019 – 27.10.2019
Cut and Paste – 400 Years of Collage
Schottish National Gallery of Modern Art
75 Belford Road
GBR – Edinburgh, EH4 3DR

08.02.2019 – 28.04.2019
YOUR MIRROR – Portraits from the ICP Collection
International Centre of Photography
250 Bowery
USA – NY 10012 New York

26.01.2019 – 19.05.2019
Hauptsache Kopf
Kunsthalle Emden
Leutkirchstraße 63
77723 Gengenbach

12.12.2018 – 24.02.2019
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s
Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, Vienna at Stavanger Art Museum
The Brno House of Arts
Malinovského nám. 2
CZE – 60200 Brno

100 Heroines
selected by the Royal Photographic Society of London for the celebration of the centenary of women’s suffrage

WOMAN
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s
Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, Vienna at Stavanger Art Museum
Stavanger Art Museum
Henrik Ibsens gate 55
NOR – 4021 Stavanger

16.06.2018 – 16.07.2018
Works by Christiane Feser, Igor Simic and Annegret Soltau will be presented in the exhibition Un-Mensch-Antastbar, curated by Ulrike Lehmann.
Aliseo Art Projects
Leutkirchstraße 63
77723 Gengenbach

18.11.2017 – 08.04.2018
Feministische Avantgarde der 1970er Jahre
ZKM Karlsruhe I Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe 
Lorenzstraße 19
76135 Karlsruhe

17.11.2017 – 11.03.2018
Aging Pride
Belvedere Museum Wien
Prinz Eugen-Straße 27
AUT – 1030 Wien

07.02.2018 – 12.05.2018
INSIDE OUT – Fotografie und Psychologie
ART FOYER
Platz der Republik
60265 Frankfurt am Main
Eingang: Cityhaus I
Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage
Öffentliches Parkhaus „Westend“

29.09.2017 – 18.02.2018
Silberglanz. Von der Kunst des Alters
Landesmuseum Hannover
Willy-Brandt-Allee 5
30169 Hannover

 

 

published in German and English
Hardcover
108 pages and 23  images
ISBN 978-3-940179-34-0 (English 2018)
Annegret Soltau: Ich war total suchend – erzählt von Baldur Greiner
ISBN 978-3-940179-17-3 (German 2013)
published by: Weststadt Verlag

Mit fast 80 plötzlich berühmt: Fotografin Annegret Soltau auf der „Paris Photo“
Deutschlandfunk – Hoffmann, Friederike
10. November 2023, 17:49 Uhr


My Direct Self-Portrayal Was Considered Offensive: Interview with Annegret Soltau
Whitehot Magazine
February 2022


Körperlandschaften
ARTMAPP
April 2021


“Mir geht es gut, ich arbeite“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Katinka Fischer, 27.03.2020


Women Look at Women: A New Show About 1970s Art Pioneers
AnOther Magazine
Jack Moss, 13.02.2018