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    Margot Schmitt

     

    Biography
    1954 born in Freisen-Oberkirchen, Saarland, Germany
    – Trained and worked as a toolmaker
    - Studied Political Sciences, German Philology, Fine Arts and Art Education
    1994/1995 study and work
    - in New York
    1995 Meisterschülerin (MFA) at the Hochschule der Künste, (Hdk), Berlin, (School of the Fine Arts)
    - with Leiko Ikemura und Herta Schönewolf, 
    - focussing on: Installations and New Media
    1997 1st  State Exam Art Education
    1999 2nd  State Exam Art Education
    lives and works in Berlin

     

    Statement

    The research of psychic and social identity - of my own one and of the ones who are perceived as "alien" - and its inscription on the bodies and objects, that's the material of my art work. This is my way of field-research. In opposite to the scientific world with its pressure for the objective proof - the art context offers to me the open experimental field; that's what I need in order to communicate with others: to include, to address, to challenge all levels of human perception. 

    Hereby, single works are like completed research projects in themselves. According to that, the research topics, the used material and media, the esthetical shapes as well as the form of presentation are variable. 

    Language - a substantial resource of the production and reproduction of cultural contexts - plays a special role for me: by becoming the research material itself, serving as the upholder material, or - in puns - producing multi-layered meanings. 

    In earlier works the role of the perfect and beautiful surface was visual seduction. Because behind the surface waited the anger, the pain, the fear and the aggression; this role of the surface l'm changing. Today, the surface plays a different role in my works: Beauty and harmony are now used to create space for constructive communication and healing. At the same time l' m interested in transforming ironic aspects into humorous ones.

     

    Group Exhibitions 

    1993  Das Ende der Weissheit (the end of whiteness/wisdom)
    Franz Mehring Galerie, Berlin 

    1993  Handgepäck (Hand-Luggage)
    "Fluchtpunkt Deutschland. Handgepäck für AsylbewerberInnen" (Last Exit Germany. Hand-luggage for persons seeking asylum) Bartlett School of Architecture, London 

    1993 Intervall 93 – Projektionen
    "Einbahnstraße" (Onewaystreet) (Video), Hochschule der Künste, Berlin

    1993 Com-Post
    "Unbequem", (Uncomfortable) "KÖRPERPANZERGEISTFALLE", (BODYTANKSPIRITTRAP),"Das haben wir nicht gewollt", (This is not, what we wanted)
    Exhibition of the Ikemura Class, HdK, Berlin

    1994 S-Bahn-Projekt I 
    "Xenophobia Deutschland" (Xenophobia Germany), [Dia-Projektionen im fahrenden S-Bahn-Zug] [slide-projections in the Commute Train] HdK, Berlin, Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft and Deutsche Reichsbahn under the direction of Professor Herta Schönewolf

    1994 Meisterschülerprüfung (MFA, first exam) "Sprach Raum Menschen Bild" (Language, Space, Man, Image) (Rauminstallation mit Dia-Projektionen), (site specific installation with slide-projections) HdK, Berlin

    1995 AIM 1995 
    "I wanna talk to you/ich will mit dir reden" (Video-sculpture) and "Personal Guide through Bad Neighborhoods" (Booklet: tour-guide) 
    Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York

    1995 Rundgang HdK/Meisterschülerprüfung (MFA-Exam)
    "American Collection – Temporary Museum and Archive of Documents of subjective and selective perception, NewYork, August, 24th, 1994 through 1st June, 1995" (installation: media library in an office-container), Berlin

    1995 Shave’95, International Artists Workshop – Open Sudios 
    "Move for Mona Lisa" (Video-Installation), "Mind Circulation", "Living Culture" 
    South Brewham, Great Britain 

    1996  http://www.nachtraum.com "Außen vor" , (‘outside’) project of temporary exhibition in the Internet, Berlin

    1997 Offene Ateliers (Open Studios)
    "Corporate Identity – Operate ID", Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben, (Art factory at the flood channel), Berlin

    1997 Aktion Vierzig mal Vierzig (Forty by Forty)
    "Modernes Leben", (modern life) Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben, (Art factory at the flood channel), Berlin

    1998 In the soup 
    "Chill Out’s Inn", Installation in einer Telefonzelle während der Party "In the soup", (site specific installation in a phone box during the party "In the soup") 
    Altes Umspannwerk der BEWAG, (former power station) Berlin

    1998 Local 01
    Eine Dokumentation zur kulturellen Praxis in Berlin/Treptow 
    (a documentation on the cultural activity in Berlin/Treptow)
    Galerie in der Alten Schule, Berlin

    1999 SHE 
    "Loving the aging face" 
    Holland Tunnel Gallery, 
    Brooklyn-Williamsburg, New York 

    1999 Glügg, No. 3 Liebe
    "Loving the aging face" Selbstrepräsentation im Kunstbetrieb, (self-representation in the art world) © by Katharina Karrenberg 

    1999 Offene Ateliers (Open Studios) 
    "Maya-Projekt", ein interaktives Projekt im Internet unter www.kunstkonzeptleben.de, (an interactiv project in the Internet at www.kunstkonzeptleben.de) Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben, (Art factory at the flood channel),Berlin

    1999 Les Portes Ouvertes du Génie de la Bastille 
    (Open studios)
    "Maya-Projekt",
    Génie de la Bastille, Paris

    1999 Zelfportret (selfportrait)
    "tentoongesteld", (exhibit), STUDIO38, 
    Utrecht, Netherlands

    2000 Lange Nacht der Museen (the long night of the museums)
    "Steffi, Cordula, Gina, Delta, Jessica, Siri",
    installation of photographs,
    Kunstfabrik am Flutgraben (Art factory at the flood channel),
    Berlin

     

    One Person Show

    1997 "Sterndeutungen - Vorder-, Tief- 
    und Hintergründiges zu einem deutschen Ikon", 
    Presentation of the CD-ROM, with the same title on the symbolic of the Mercedes-Star, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin

    1997 Uni-Radio Berlin
    Interview to the CD-ROM: "Sterndeutungen - 
    Vorder-,Tief- und Hintergründiges zu einem deutschen Ikon"