S#22, 2007, 180 x 267 cm, Light Jet Print, Courtesy: Produzentengalerie Hamburg, Barbara Gross Galerie München @ Beate Gütschow VG Bildkunst
Tom Felber for ceative face Magazine
In spring of this year, Berlin-based photographer Beate Gütschow (*1970) had a major solo exhibition at Haus am Waldsee in which she presented more than 30 large-scale photographs and videos spanning her artistic career to date. Tom Felber from creative face Magazine visited Beate Gütschow in her studio.
creative face MAGAZINE: Your photographs portray both reality and fiction. What is more important? Reality or fiction?
Beate Gütschow: What's important to me is the relationship between reality and fiction. I'm also interested in the expectation we have of photography: that, no matter what else, photographs represent a slice of reality. At first glance my photos seem to do this too, but then you quickly sense that something's not right. What you see in these images can't be attributed to any particular place, and eventually you realise that this is not a homogeneous representation of reality. This process encourages viewers to ask themselves questions such as "Can reality be conveyed? Can it be represented? Is a non-realistic representation not in fact sometimes much more realistic?" or "Is there such as thing as an objective view of the world?"
cfM: What causes this sense of irritation?
BG: In the colour landscapes it comes from the fact that while we recognise the images, we are familiar with the motifs from painting rather than from reality. The photographs reconstruct landscape paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries; at that time, the representation of landscape was subject to strict rules governing the organisation of space, the direction of light, how people were placed in the landscape, etc. I have applied these same rules to photography. It's about recognising a pattern of depiction, but one that only becomes visible as such when it is presented in a different medium.
In the black-and-white works, the sense of irritation has a different source: here it is impossible to attribute the image to a real location, as the montage process removes the original photographs from their spatial and temporal context. In addition, the use of black-and-white film has a curious backdating effect and links the images to documentary photographs from the last century. The visible grain also seems to indicate a particular authenticity, although the images are in fact completely artificial. However the location and the time of the depicted scene remain unclear.
cfM: Can you tell me something about the development from the natural landscapes to the urban ones?
BG: The natural landscapes were about a positive ideal, and the black-and-white city views responded in a way to that first series with apocalyptic scenarios and visions of failed utopias! The temporal references are also very different: on the one hand you have the Arcadia of 300 years ago, and on the other documentary black-and-white photography from the last century. The only thing the two bodies of work share is that both involve constructed pictorial worlds.
cfM: Is your art socially critical?
BG: I would say it's more ‘medium-critical' because it questions the documentary aspect of photography. It is therefore more a criticism of how the world is conveyed than a criticism of the world itself. If my work were political in a narrower sense, it would have to concretely address a specific issue, such as the refugee situation on the border between Mexico and California.
cfM: You currently live and work in Berlin. To what extent do your immediate surroundings, in this case Berlin, have an influence on your work?
BG: Berlin doesn't influence me any more than the other places I travel to or read about. But what I do notice about Berlin is that in certain districts almost everyone seems to be employed in a creative line of work; it comes across as very homogeneous. Sometimes I wonder what then happens to the rest of life - the world of business, the sciences or the social professions, for example. I think it's important to open your eyes to all the different aspects of life.
The Berlin hype is reaching extreme proportions at the moment. I sometimes imagine what it would be like if that phase had passed and the spotlight had fallen on another city... but that's probably just an illusion. Berlin will most likely become as expensive as London or Paris within the foreseeable future. There's no turning back...
cfM: Are you influenced by other creative disciplines, for example music or literature, or are there particular people who inspire you?
BG: I couldn't name any one discipline or person in particular. I'm influenced in subtle ways by many things from the realm of art as well as from other areas of life. When I was studying I was very interested in conceptual art...
cfM: What are you working on just now?
BG: The S series isn't complete yet - there are some more images I'm still working on. I do have plans for what's to come next, but I'm not giving away any details yet!
cfM: Last but not least, if you didn't live and work in Berlin, where would you like to be?
BG: Maybe in New York City, or somewhere in the country outside New York.
cfM: Why there?
BG: It's just a feeling I have; it's hard to explain. I find it harder to imagine living in L.A., for example, although I have spent some time there and had a nice place to live. I'm really impressed by Japan - its landscape and culture - but I don't think it would be easy to live there. For me, Berlin is pretty much an ideal location. I'm very happy to be living here.
cfM: Thank you very much Beate.
(Translation: Jacqueline Todd)
