Gita Cooper-van Ingen

info

Untitled (studies for contacts. Sketch. After RR) photographic print on archival paper, 2020
scanned, annotated photograps in notebook (scanned), 58 cm x 42 cm
info
"Models of being an accessory" is a hybrid body of work which examines the intersecting, conflicting and diverse fields of (self-)portraiture, photography, autobiography and fashion. "Portraits for models of being an accessory" is the textual component of the work in which autobiographical, observational, referential, and contextual modes of image making and writing meet. A friend’s memoir, Bags: Over the Umbrian Moon, in which she recounts a seven year period of her life leading the production of counterfeit designer handbags for sale in the so-called parallel market, becomes a central axis in the work and a means through which I examine wider questions concerning how women are represented. Using her story as both premise and backdrop, I start to investigate appearances and image tropes which are perpetuated to create a sense of allure and glamour to consumers. Deconstructing and recreating moods and narratives from advertising campaigns, I begin to dissect the different positions women occupy both as representations and as consumers in the high fashion world. Through questioning the kind of access my own appearance grants me, I begin to uncover mechanisms inherent in the creation of an iconography of (white European) women, which is recycled and exchanged for versions of itself time and again.

film still from 'Models of being an Accessory", 2020
video 8:08 min
info
"Models of being an accessory" is a hybrid body of work which examines the intersecting, conflicting and diverse fields of (self-)portraiture, photography, autobiography and fashion. "Portraits for models of being an accessory" is the textual component of the work in which autobiographical, observational, referential, and contextual modes of image making and writing meet. A friend’s memoir, Bags: Over the Umbrian Moon, in which she recounts a seven year period of her life leading the production of counterfeit designer handbags for sale in the so-called parallel market, becomes a central axis in the work and a means through which I examine wider questions concerning how women are represented. Using her story as both premise and backdrop, I start to investigate appearances and image tropes which are perpetuated to create a sense of allure and glamour to consumers. Deconstructing and recreating moods and narratives from advertising campaigns, I begin to dissect the different positions women occupy both as representations and as consumers in the high fashion world. Through questioning the kind of access my own appearance grants me, I begin to uncover mechanisms inherent in the creation of an iconography of (white European) women, which is recycled and exchanged for versions of itself time and again.

film still from 'Models of Being an Accessory", 2020
video
info
Untitled (contacts. black on black, After RR) silk-screen print on Fabriano paper 100 cm x 70cm Untitled (studies for contacts. Sketch. After RR) photographic print on archival paper 58 cm x 42cm Untitled (After RR, K reading, colour) May 2020 photographic print on archival photopaper 169 cm x 111 cm Untitled (filmstills, studies for contacts, After RR) July 2020, set of photographic prints each ca. 40 x 29 cm

Installation view from "De-Code Dress Code" Paris Goethe Institut. , 2020
info
from left to right Untitled (After RR, K reading) June, 2020 photographic print on archival photopaper 169 cm x 111 cm Untitled (contacts. Red on white, After RR) silk-screen print on Fabriano paper 100 cm x 70cm Untitled (contacts. white on black, After RR) silk-screen print on Fabriano paper 100 cm x 70cm

Installation view from "De-Code Dress Code" Paris Goethe Institut. , 2020
info
Image from series "Petaline" Petaline is a photographic body of work which themes relating to intimacy, spectatorship, silence, possession and nature are addressed. Considering the duality of nature and culture as a dominant divisive order and worldview, Petaline offers a space for contemplation on the subtle convergences where beauty and violence, surrender and control, viewer and image meet.

untitled (I called him Sophie), 2018
photograph
info
from series "Petaline" Petaline is a photographic body of work which themes relating to intimacy, spectatorship, silence, possession and nature are addressed. Considering the duality of nature and culture as a dominant divisive order and worldview, Petaline offers a space for contemplation on the subtle convergences where beauty and violence, surrender and control, viewer and image meet.

untitled (breathtaking) , 2018
photograph
info
5-channel video installation using a combination of documentary and home footage all shot by Robert Flaherty, who was my great-great grandfather. Through my own access to his home movies, I begin to draw parallels and interweave his personal filmic compositions with those he published.

Canon, 2018, 2018
video, 5-channel video installation
info
Spread from YUCA magazine, in which I was invited as a guest editor to compile and write an 8-double page section.

SONGLINE, 2018
print
info

Portrait for Women, 2017
photograph
info
Petaline is a photographic body of work which themes relating to intimacy, spectatorship, silence, possession and nature are addressed. Considering the duality of nature and culture as a dominant divisive order and worldview, Petaline offers a space for contemplation on the subtle convergences where beauty and violence, surrender and control, viewer and image meet.

Untitled (Pomegranates), 2017, 2017
photograph
info
from a larger series of personal work made in Bavaria from 2012-2018

Untitled (Corpus Christi), 2016
photograph
info
Petaline is a photographic body of work which themes relating to intimacy, spectatorship, silence, possession and nature are addressed. Considering the duality of nature and culture as a dominant divisive order and worldview, Petaline offers a space for contemplation on the subtle convergences where beauty and violence, surrender and control, viewer and image meet.

Untitled (Camila, 2012. Crop) , 2012
photograph, 85 x 62 cm

Sommige informatie is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels

Gita Cooper-van Ingen: Artist, Curator, Writer & Editor

My practice (re-)engages with the notion of the personal being both political and poetical. Photography is the central framework through which I search, revise and stretch notions of the self and the “imaginary museum” (André Malraux) with its subjective and personal associations to art making and history. Incorporating autobiographical elements in my practice has opened up new questions on the complex, fluid nature of authorship and performance in relation to portraiture. Through my work I seek to show the intersections between beauty and ideology, exploring these materially and/or conceptually. The work I make uses various forms, ranging from film, sculpture or as publication, to a curatorial practice. My aim is to question and create a space for contemplation through the work, both in how/where it is made and in its display. This notion is reflected in my research, which focuses on the historical and ethical aspects of spectatorship as well as the politics of producing, viewing and displaying photography. Many of my questions stem from my interest in using photography conceptually as a means to distinguish between re-presentationn and re-production. Currently, I am working with notions of modelling and casting as classically sculptural ones and applying these to the contentious rapport between subject and object in photography. Gita Cooper-van Ingen was born in London and was raised in Los Angeles, Munich, Berlin and Rome and now lives and works in The Netherlands. She holds an undergraduate degree in Criticism, Communication, and Curation from Central Saint Martins, London and a Masters in Photography & Society at the KABK, The Hague.

Social media

@gcvi

Platform

Der Greif

Curriculum vitae

Opleidingen

2018 - 2020

Photography & Society Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Diploma behaald
2011 - 2014

Kritiek, communicatie en curatie Central Saint Martin's College of Art & Design, London Diploma behaald

tentoonstellingen

2020

De-Code Dress Code Goethe Institut Paris, Frankrijk Whether in newspapers, on social media or in public spaces: We encounter images of the fashion world everywhere. From the beginning, fashion photography has influenced the perception of bodies and body image. Photographs not only advertise items of clothing for sale, but also train the eye on how to evaluate the visible: which body shapes are to be understood as "beautiful", which pose looks "male" or "female" - all of this is also negotiated in the medium of photography. The clothes, but especially the model, become a representation area for master narrative about social gender, customs and status. The exhibition Decode Dress Code sheds light on different perspectives on the constitution of gender and the related role of photography. The starting point for the exhibition is a selection of images from the photography collection of the Munich City Museum. These recordings from the estates of Regina Relang, Hubs Flöter and Hermann Landshoff are deliberately shown as reproductions. By reducing the materiality and abstraction of the original works, the view is directed to the diverse circulation of fashion photographs in magazines and transported imagery is emphasized. You enter into a dialogue with contemporary positions by James Bantone, Gita Cooper-van Ingen, Laura Giesdorf and the Riot Pant Project. In the critical examination of reception and production mechanisms, the visual counter-strategies combined in the Decode Dress Code exhibition call into question supposedly generally valid patterns of perception. They turn against a predominant interpretive sovereignty and think further about gender, fashion and the photographic medium. The exhibition is curated by the current scholarship holders in the 'Museum Curators for Photography' program of the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach Foundation: Daria Bona, Sophie-Charlotte Opitz and Katharina Täschner. www.goethe.de/ins/fr/de/m/sta/par/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21936579 Groep
2019

Petaline Marella shop Reggio Emilia, Italië Petaline is a photographic body of work which themes relating to intimacy, spectatorship, silence, possession and nature are addressed. Considering the duality of nature and culture as a dominant divisive order and worldview, Petaline offers a space for contemplation on the subtle convergences where beauty and violence, surrender and control, viewer and image meet. Solo
2018

The Family of No Man: Revisioning the world through non-male eyes, Rencontres d'Arles Arles , Frankrijk The Family of No Man (2018) The Family of No Man: Revisioning the world through non-male eyes Cosmos Arles Books, July 2-July 7, 2018 Project idea conceived by Brad Feuerhelm Curatorial development by Natasha Christia and Brad Feuerhelm natashachristia.com/curating/the-family-of-no-man/ Groep
2016

Krakow Photomonth 2016: Festival Center, Tytonie, ul. Dolnych Młynów 10 Krakow Krakow Photomonth 2016 Krakow, Polen Der Greif has been invited by Lars Willumeit, curator of the Main Program – »Crisis? What Crisis?!« at Krakow Photomonth 2016 – to perform »A Process 2.0« during the opening weekend at the festival centre from May 12 till 15. The project consisted of three physical and one digital presentation spaces. The physical spaces were presented like parts of a white cube rendered into the old tobacco factory, where the festival center was situated. The two walls, at the same time, created a frame for the performance to be given in and were inviting visitors to take a closer look and join the project. The performance continued to explore similar territories as with »A Process – Ein Prozess« by perceveing photography in its digital form as a fluid medium, its handling with the use of the Internet as well as photography’s haptic stimuli and the common perception of authorship. After an open call for entries, the artistic directors of Der Greif made a preselection of 260 photographs. These artworks constituted the basis for the entire exhibition. The same open call was curated by Lars Willumeit in a »Guest-Room« in April. This was hosted on the Der Greif website (www.dergreif-online.de/guest-room/lars-willumeit). This, once more, enhances the discussion about de- and re-contextualization of single photographic images – both online and offline. dergreif-online.de/event/a-process-2-0/ Groep

projecten

2019
Blame The Algorithm - co-curated exhibition with artist duo- Broomberg & Chanarin and DER GREIF at the Stadtmuseum München, Munich Stadtmuseum München Munich, Duitsland www.goodman-gallery.com/news/4165 Broomberg and Chanarin have guest edited the twelfth issue of the Berlin-based photographic publication Der Greif. For the issue, entitled ‘Blame the Algorithm’, Broomberg and Chanarin sent out a call for images which challenge our perception. The point of the exercise is to question how we may be complicit in the commodification of imagery through social media. The publication’s launch takes place at the Luma Foundation (5 July). Adam Broomberg will also be conducting a five-day practical workshop in Syracuse, Sicily (17 – 22 July). Titled ‘Teach Yourself Exile’, the workshop covers image making, editing, design, layout and book production in a place where saving immigrant lives has just been criminalised.
2019
The Adventure of the Empty House Munich, Duitsland www.ar.tum.de/en/news/singleview-en/article/the-adventure-of-the-empty-house/ Inspection of the site and the hall in two groups 6.30 p.m. and 6.45 p.m., meeting point at the Plinganserstraße 150 entrance 7.30 p.m. Panel discussion with Gunter Henn (HENN), Vilma Pflaum (VP Photography), Muck Petzet (Muck Petzet Architects), Jürgen Meyer (Neuhof Schools), Gita Cooper-van Ingen (Der Greif), Burkhard Körner (Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation) ; Moderation: Andreas Putz Light, image and sound installation EG-OG6 Music performance & aperitif OG6 until 10.30 p.m. In Munich in the early 1960s, two administration buildings designed by the architect Walter Henn were built in quick succession. The buildings of the Osram research center in Untergiesing and the Deckel machine works in Obersendling are like twins, but with different fates. After the demolition in 2018, only the iconic photographs of Heinrich Heidersberger remain of the Osram research center, the administrative building of the Deckel Maschinenwerke is currently being used for a new purpose.
2018
III - The Sound Alibi & Time Issue Amsterdam, Nederland www.yucamag.com/issue Guest Editor & Writer in Third Issue of YUCA magazine: Instructions to cultivate time. Scores with no notes, no endings, no beginnings. Quests for silence, images of noise.Wake up calls. Buzzing clocks. Hissing muted under water. The universe’s journey from fire to ice, and then from ice to fire. Filling out forms, emptied forms. A buchla played by a woman with light sleep. The omnipresence of absence. Eloquent silence. Futurist pasts. Archives of times to come. The voices and gestures of History. Tradition, Sci Fi and dystopia. Hopeless men. Hopeful millennials.
2017
Thread Count/ COOP / UNseen Der Greif Amsterdam, Nederland dergreif-online.de/event/thread-count/ Concept and Curation by Gita Cooper-van Ingen For CO-OP, Der Greif brought this thread of images into the physical space, making it fully accessible for the audience to interact with. The images were presented in a grid, produced as blocks of postcards in A5 size. Visitors were allowed to take one (or more) image with them. Thus, the project created a juxtaposition between the ‘virtual space’, a “market” where the image threads were produced and the physical space where the collection of images were displayed, but where images diminished according to how many were taken away by visitors. Each image was printed 25 times and remained visible until all 25 copies had been removed by the audience. A removed image created an empty space within the grid-hanging that still referred to the once physically present image. Once an image had been removed completely in the physical space, it was also marked as being removed on the website, thus the online space ‘reacted’ to the physical space and viewers online could see the audience’s reactions in the space. The images’ presentation clearly engages with the photograph as a reproducible medium and simultaneously questions the different “values” of a photographic image as well as its distribution – in the physical, as well as in the virtual space. The project wants to foster this discussion, especially during a photography fair.

opdrachten

2020

Studies on Contacts Goethe Institut, Paris Paris , Frankrijk Studies on Contacts is a commissioned body of work created in response to work in Munich’s Stadtarchiv museum by fashion photographer Regina Relang from the 1950s and 60s. Relang documented her working process in her workbooks by cutting out contact sheets and annotating these. Seeing Regina Relang’s workbooks for the first time (as digital reproductions!) I was immediately drawn towards the sequences in which she placed her model behind a newspaper. As is so often the case, fashion photography creates scenarios and occasions for people to behave and feel certain things and ways. The newspaper becomes a form of shield as well as a compositional tool Relang plays with in relation to the clothing as well as the scene she creates. I wanted to play with the idea of reproduction itself and responded with my image showing a woman reading, or informing herself – an activity not often shown in fashion photography. Here, the female nude body is a way of deconstructing the fashioned, clothed one. Fashion has historically been a domain that allows for objectifying, decorating, and contouring the female body – I wanted to re-examine these tensions using the newspaper as a visual and cultural trope of modern life and thought. Today, the broadsheet itself seems nostalgic, it functions simultaneously as a cultural and compositional tool denoting a world beyond that portrayed in the frame, as well as acting as an obstruction between the camera and the model. My work plays with the notion of contact-sheets and the photographic editing process by translating these across various reproductive techniques such as silk-screen printing. www.goethe.de/ins/fr/de/m/sta/par/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21936579 Uitgevoerd

artistieke nevenactiviteiten

2017 - --

Creative Director/Curator/Editor at DER GREIF Loopt nog