Nordstrom, 1992
Deutsche Bank Collection
It was once
written about your photographs that they feel like a mixture between diva
and drag queen – both are overlays, outlaw figures, and extreme gender
portrayals all at the same time. Were you more in search of identity in
the self-portraits, or aberration?
"Aberration" is
indispensable to the search for identity. Identity is a continuous process
of change, and so it’s a process of development as well. The interesting
question here is: out of what, and where is it going?
You
entered Joseph
Beuys’ class at the
Dusseldorf Kunstakademie in 1967. Did the climate there offer you the free
space you needed for your artistic development?
Absolutely.
Existing power structures were discussed on a daily basis, whether it was
in reference to the commercialization of culture and science or the human
image in the context of the gender debate. This concept and technique of
dividing power was the basic prerequisite for the "free space" you’ve
mentioned.
Life Death, 1969/95
Deutsche Bank
Collection
Why did you decide on photography as your medium – seeing as how Beuys
used photographs as material, but never as a finished work of art?
That was exactly the more appropriate point of departure for a dialectical art
practice: away from Modernism’s dictates to using non-aural apparatuses
and theories. Deconstruction of the male in art’s dominion [editor’s note:
an approximation of Sieverding’s play on words "Kunst-Herr-Schaft," which
isolates the word "Herr" (lord or sir) in "Herrschaft" (dominion)].
|
Your early works, such as "Life/Death" or "Maton" were
made in nightclub environments. How important was this contact to a scene
outside art?
They arose during my nighttime work, at my job, so
to speak. This context became a kind of public/private sponsorship for my
first film productions. Practicing this type of multiple classification of
glamour, trash, art, and economy gave my work a very particular impulse.
Transformer, 1973
Deutsche Bank
Collection
For "Transformer," you created
double-exposure photographs in 1973/74 in which your face is superimposed
with that of Klaus Mettig. In those days, as in the works of
Jürgen Klauke, androgyny was a theme of popular culture whose most
famous proponents were
Lou Reed and David Bowie.
Today, your work is counted among the forerunners of the gender debate.
Would you repeat this merging of the female and male portrait again today?
This possibility of changing gender identity is very popular, even among
people of various generations somehow interested in the idea of
reincarnation for whatever reason; it creates a general sense of
relaxation – away from competing identities and towards individual
responsibility. That’s a future model… Seen in social and technological
terms, Transformer from 1973/74 is an expression of self-perception
that does not exclude the other, a model for integration.
Life Death, 1969/95 - detail
Deutsche Bank Collection
The studies
for "Life/Death," "Maton," or "Looking at the Sun at Midnight" were
photographed in 35 mm. and later blown up to six foot-high, panel-sized
prints. How did you make the decision to show your face "larger than life"?
[1]
[2]
[3]
|
