theomcgallery
source for contemporary art, photography and design
Gudrun Kemsa
Lives and works in Germany.
1980-90 studied at the Acedemie of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf with Prof. Karl Bobek and Prof. David Rabinowitch
1985 Degree: Meisterschüler
1997-99 Teaching position at the University of Wuppertal
2000-01 Teaching position at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld since 2001
Professorship for “Moving Images and Photography” at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences, Krefeld
Some Work Examples:
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – General Motors 2, 2014, 70 x 100 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – New York, Lincoln Square 5, 2014, 70 x 100 cm
Street Photography, Choreographed
If we try to imagine our familiar urban context without all the labels, without any advertising and without most of the signs at street corners or the images emblazoned across every public transport facility, the result would be a very bewildering view of our environment. Düsseldorf based photo-artist Gudrun Kemsa has been going down precisely this path of puzzlement and reduction for several years in what are at first glance seemingly realistic large-format streetscapes. She eliminates some of the company and brand names in and above the windows and doors of New York shops and luxury boutiques and digitally replaces them with blank surfaces, which leads to a calmer picture, but also looks somewhat disconcerting. In her earlier photographs of train stations she had already neutralized information signs and display boards, draining these places of written statements. Kemsa thus opens up a new way of looking at our accustomed surroundings, concentrating her gaze on what she defines as the essential components therein.
Excerpt of a text by Matthias Harder
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – Buji Khalifa 2, 2010, Color Print, 86 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – La Corniche 2, 2009, Color Print, 86 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – Place de la Défense 7, 2010, Color Print, 86 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban stage – Venice Beach 7, 2009, Color Print, 86 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage – Fifth Avenue 3, 2009, Color Print, 86 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Choreographies – Scène 18, 2005, Color Print, 84 x 398 cm, zwei-teilig
© Gudrun Kemsa – Choreographies – Scène 20, 2005, Color Print, 84 x 398 cm, zwei-teilig
© Gudrun Kemsa – Moving Images – Potsdamer Platz 1, 2001, Color Print, 84 x 198 cm
© Gudrun Kemsa – Moving Images – Reichstag 2, 2001, Color Print, 84 x 198 cm
Grants and awards:
2008 Special Grant at the 13th Marler Video Art Prize
2004 Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris
2000 Artist in residence, C-Line Projects, Finland
Grant at the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Cologne awarded within the framework of the 9th Marler Video Art Prize
1999 Project Grant at the ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1996/97 Villa Massimo Scholarship, Rom
1995 New York Scholarship awarded by the Ernst-Poensgen-Foundation
1994 Grant from the Ministry for Culture NRW in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, Genoa
Grant for Istanbul Project awarded by Ilford
1992 Travel Scholarship to Israel awarded by the city of Düsseldorf
1989 Travel Scholarship to Italy awarded by the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Latest Solo Exhibitions
2013
Urban Stage, LVR-Rheinisches LandesMuseum Bonn
Urban Stage, Galerie Bernd A. Lausberg, Düsseldorf
2012
Urban Stage, Kunstmuseum Ahlen
2011
Urban Stage, Kunstverein Ingolstadt
Urban Stage, Kunstverein Freunde Aktueller Kunst, Zwickau
Urban Stage, Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg
Urban Stage, fiftyfiftyGalerie, Düsseldorf
2010
Urban Stage, Landesgalerie Linz / Ars Electronica, Linz Gudrun Kemsa und Studierende, Galerie Schuster
Monographs:
Gudrun Kemsa – Urban Stage
Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg 2010
ISBN 978-3-86828-149-1
Linz edition: N.S. 106, ISBN 978-385474-229-6
Martin Hochleitner: Zum peripathetischen Blick von Gudrun Kemsa / On Gudrun Kemsa’s Peripatetic Viewpoint
Matthias Harder: Straßenfotografie, choreografiert / Street Photography, Choreographed
Gudrun Kemsa – Pixels and Places
Nai Publishers, Rotterdam 2010
English edition ISBN 978-905662-738-6
Dutch edition ISBN 978-905662-738-9
Texts: Catrien Schreuder, Jornde Sijdel, Noud Heerkens
Gudrun Kemsa – Moving Images
Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg 2006
ISBN 10:3-936-636-95-8 und ISBN 13: 978-3-936 636-95-6
Rainer Danne: Vorwort / Introduction
Klaus Honnef: Gudrun Kemsa und die Straßenfotografie / Gudrun Kemsa and the Street Photography Genre
Christoph Schaden: Wieder Nacht / Evening once again
Gudrun Kemsa – Bewegte Bilder
Schaden Verlag, Köln 2003
ISBN 3.9321187-30-X
Rolf Sachsse: Drehen Schweben Bilden Sehen – Gudrun Kemsa und das Spiel der Bilder von der Bewegung im Raum /
Turning Gliding Forming Seeing Gudrun Kemsa and the Game of Images of Movement in Space
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