Christiane Fichtner
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Biografie, 2007, © photo Christoph Helmholz
Oberwelt, Stuttgart
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Biografie, 2007, © photo Kay Michalak
Berliner Kunstsalon
Exaggeration of an identity
Christiane Fichtner: "Biography" Project
Concept
An author invents a biography for Christiane Fichtner. A costume designer receives the text and designs clothes for the person described. A make-up artist supports the work by modelling the character traits. Text, costume and mask are the basis for the life-size photograph, which a photographer stages at the place of his own imagination. 70 people have worked on this project so far.
Working process
Each biography is developed by a different group. I win the employees at different locations by using local networks (e.g. Bremen, Berlin, Stuttgart, Vienna, New York).
I myself play the role of the actress and director. I put each group together. When I have received a resume, I pass it on to the costume designer. She also receives my body measurements and a personal impression of me. The costume must lend credibility to the designed figure on my body.
The styling is developed by a make-up artist according to the costume designer's specifications. A passport photo is made. On the basis of the passport photo the decision of the styling is examined and changed if necessary (see also work notes).
The photographer decides on the staging of Christiane Fichtner's life-size photo with the raw material worked out up to this point. He determines the location, the lighting, her posture, the props and the time of the photograph. Experience has shown that the total duration for the realisation of a biography is approx. 8 weeks.
Result
A biography is always a text-image combination. Each biography consists of two Aludibond panels of the same size, which are always displayed next to each other (together 200 x 200 cm). The left panel shows the biography text, the right panel shows the life-size picture of Christiane Fichtner. The names of the four employees of the biography in question are listed on each text board. The series now comprises twenty-two biographies.
Germ cell of identity formation
The project "Biography" deals with the core of reality and the inventiveness of biographies. The real starting point of the twenty-two highly different designs of a woman's life to date is my person.
In this project all artists work together as in a theatre production. I am the initiator and organizer of a working process in which the imagination and artistic skills of various participants sound out the possibilities of CVs and appearances of one and the same person.
The project puts our idea of identity to the test. At the same time, it presents the fictionalisation of our world of experience, as we encounter it daily in the media, artistically exaggerated.
Publication
All biographies completed so far can be viewed on the website www.christiane-fichtner.de . In spring 2009 my book about this work will be published by Kehrer Verlag with 25 biographies. -
Biografie, 2007, © photo Kay Michalak
Berliner Kunstsalon
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Biografie, 2007, © photo Thomas Schmitz
Galerie im Park, Bremen
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Biografie, 2007, © photo Christoph Helmholz
Oberwelt, Stuttgart
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Arbeitsnotiz zu Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Elisa Meyer
make-up Tatjana Schnok
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Arbeitsnotiz zu Biografie #14, 2006, © photo Elisa Meyer
make-up Katja Förster
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Arbeitsnotiz zu Biografie #15, 2007, © photo Elisa Meyer
make-up Ilka Renken
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Arbeitsnotiz zu Biografie #16, 2007, © photo Elisa Meyer
make-up Ilka Renken
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Arbeitsnotiz zu Biografie #17, 2007, © photo Elisa Meyer
make-up Ilka Renken
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Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Cosima Hanebeck
photo board, print on Aludibond, 100 x 200 cm
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Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Nikolai Wolff
Installation, Städtische Galerie Bremen
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Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Nikolai Wolff
Installation, Städtische Galerie Bremen
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Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Nikolai Wolff
Installation, Städtische Galerie Bremen
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Biografie #10, 2006, © photo Nikolai Wolff
Installation, Städtische Galerie Bremen
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Heftarchiv, 2005, © photo Uwe Schmitz
room view, KAH, Bonn
My work "Heftarchiv" is based on the daily collection and archival reordering of photographs, sketches and work samples, but also notes and drawings. I summarize all the materials I use in DIN A4 booklets. All booklets are numbered and titled. To date, 100 booklets have been produced. The booklets in the booklet archive are not only seismographic recordings of changed worlds of experience, they also contribute to the experimental exploration of my working attitude. All my projects are accompanied by the production of the booklets. I lead my working attitude as an associative network through time, which I show in the installation "Heftarchiv".
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Heftarchiv, 2005, © photo Uwe Schmitz
room view, KAH, Bonn
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Heftarchiv, 2005, © photo Uwe Schmitz
detail, KAH, Bonn
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Heftarchiv, 2005, © photo Uwe Schmitz
detail, KAH, Bonn
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Heftarchiv, 2004, © photo Nikolai Wolff
Installation, Städtische Galerie Bremen
