Biography
Munich-based artist Verena Frensch (born 1970), whose photography draws heavily from her autobiography , often shows landscapes and scenery that go beyond any handed-down experiential knowledge. She depicts nightmarishly-unreal, transfigured locations in a postapocalyptic time that have lost their paradisiacal innocence through civilization’s destructive interference. If humans appear at all, they appear disoriented. They are without purpose or affiliation and are constantly searching in vain for their point of reference or their own sense of self. These images open up in an uncomfortable visual effect, as fatalistic visions of the future come into a hyper-realistic presence in front of the viewer’s eyes. Simultaneously, these images also subliminally evoke another positive world view — namely the healing of an earthly paradise.
This is also the theme from Frensch’s three-part series executed in 2006 and entitled “I Am Here, Awaiting.” In the first image, high-rise buildings loom before a dramatic cloud-laced backdrop. There is no evidence of residents, which solidifies the idea that human life in this setting has become generally impossible. In the second picture, the viewer sees a hilly Mediterranean landscape surrounded by a backlit, sulfur-yellow haze. Pushing itself into the right side of the frame is a monumental building complex sitting atop stilts that is reminiscent of an oil rig or a space station. Again, the lack of any signs of life certainly evoke a causal relationship between the conquest of the landscape with large man-made machines and the apocalyptic mood. The third image finally discusses the fully-executed demise of cultural heritage. All the land is flooded; huge cranes protruding from the sea have all but hauled off the Parthenon, whose spolia protrude out of the water. With the destructive task nearly completed, it becomes obvious that the undertaking’s absurd presumption is to dispose of the ancient monument as a symbol of our spiritual and cultural basis. Despite the fatalism, there remains a spark of hope for relief from the apparent inevitability of the vicious circle.
A critique of civilization also influences another of Frensch’s three-part series entitled “Receiver” (2007). In these images, it is apparent that antenna masts have taken over the rooftop landscape of the Mediterranean– style city blocks. Behind sand dunes, the silhouette of a construction site becomes distinguishable. Threateningly massive sand dunes frame blocks of high rise buildings and a television tower.
With the help of pictures from Lebanon, Frensch has grandiosely staged an apocalyptic vision of a civilization gone out of balance. This vision contains — in its deepest core — the belief in the survival of the natural basis of civilization and the belief in a civilization that destroys the encountered paradise up to a point 7 of imminent selfdestruction. However, the insight conveyed through the artist’s images does not lessen the fears related to a frightening future scenario. The artist’s message is fractured by the masterful staging of this picture along a predetermined course.
Curriculum Vitae
1970 | born in Munich |
1992–1995 | Training as a fashion graphic designer, Deutsche Meisterschule für Mode, Munich |
1997–2002 | Studies of visual communication, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, with Prof. Gunter Rambow and Prof. Volker Albus; diploma |
1999–2001 | Master of Arts (CAD), Royal College of Art, London |
2004–2012 | Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, with Prof. Karin Kneffel, Prof. Nikolaus Lang and Prof. Dieter Rehm (master student); diploma |
2005 | Foundation of the artist group „Chamäleon“ |
2007– | Assistant to Dr. Stefanie Rosenthal (Schlingensief exhibition), Haus der Kunst, München |
Verena Frensch lives and works in Munich | |
Prizes & Awards |
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2001 | BSI Design Award 2001 |
2000 | Brian Robb Award 2000 |
Scholarships |
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2010–2012 | Scholarship of the Bayerisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst |
2000 | BFWG Charitable Foundation London |
1999–2000 | The Royal College of Art Grant |
Exhibitions – Selections (S = Solo show, G = Group exhibition) |
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2017 | „Impulses“ (S), Ingo Seufert – Gallery for Contemporary Photography at law firm Widenmayer, Munich |
2017 | „Transmission“ (S), Ingo Seufert – Gallery for Contemporary Photography, Munich |
2013 | „xyz“ (G), Galerie der Künstler, Munich |
2012 | „himmelgrau“ (G), Galerie Bezirk Oberbayern, Munich |
2011 | Annual exhibition „[R]aussicht Sehnsucht“ (G) 2011 of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich |
„7 Sterne für Bad Reichenhall“ (G), Bad Reichenhall | |
2010 | „Art Goes Green“ (G), Prater island, Munich |
„Stranger than Paradise“ (G), Merkel-Collection / Gates of Eden, Mannheim | |
„Plazas Del Deseo“ (G), Kunstverein Dachau | |
„Fotobox – 6 Positionen zeitgenössischer Fotografie“ (G), whiteBOX, Munich | |
2009 | „The Woman Next Door“ (G), exhibition project with Angela Dwyer and students of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich |
„Target 3“ (G), Target Partners, Munich | |
Ostrale (G), Dresden | |
Annual exhibition „If Paradise Is Half As Nice“ (G) 2009 of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich | |
„Wunderkammer — Die Ratten stürmen das sinkende Schiff“ (G), Die Färberei, Munich | |
„Der katholische Faktor in der zeitgenössischen Kunst aus Polen und Deutschland“ (G), „Leerer Beutel“ Gallery and History Museum, Regensburg | |
2008 | „Product Placement“ (G), Kremer Mühle, Munich |
„Position Fotografie“ (G), Galerie der Künstler/BBK, Munich | |
„Fantasy and Fairytales – 200 Jahre Kunstakademie“ (G), Muffatwerk, Munich | |
„Planet Aqua“ (G), Sapporo, Japan | |
Annual exhibition (G) 2008 Academy of Fine Arts, Munich | |
2007 | „KunstKraftWerk“ (G), Open Art 19, Munich |
„Shifting Borders“ (G), Young Art at the BMW World, Munich (purchase) | |
LfA calendar 2007 „Junge Kunst in Bayern“ | |
„Target 2“ (G), Target Partners, Munich | |
Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie 2007 (G), Darmstadt | |
Annual exhibition (G) 2007 of the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich | |
2006 | „Target 1“ (G), Target Partners, Munich |
„Frau Schäffer“ (S), Kurfürstenstraße 5 and Academy of Fine Arts, Munich | |
„Face-à-Face – Ansichten des Libanon“ (film, performance, lecture; S), Gasteig, Munich | |
„Globalhero“ (G), Photokina Cologne | |
2005 | „Chamäleon 1“ (G), Stettenkaserne, Munich |
2001 | “The RCA Summer Show 2001” (G), London |
“Vision” (G), Envelope Gallery, London | |
2000 | „Fleisch” (G), Passagen der Möbelmesse, Cologne |
1998 | „Abschied“ (G), IWKA, Karlsruhe |
Posters for Amnesty International for the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights (G), Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe | |
7th International Triennial of Political Poster de Mons (G), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mons, Belgium | |
„Demokratie“, poster contest for the Day of Democracy, Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Stuttgart | |
Bibliography |
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2012 | Catalogue „himmelgrau“, Munich 2012, pp. 20–23 |
2010 | „artgoesgreen. Junge Künstler kleckern, knipsen und konstruieren für eine Welt von morgen“, in: ARTinvestor 4 (2010), pp. 40–41 |
2009 | Catalogue „Theater of Life“ for the show in the garden house at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, Munich 2009, pp. 6–9 |
Catalogue „Der katholische Faktor in der zeitgenössischen Kunst aus Polen und Deutschland“ for the show in the „Leerer Beutel“ Gallery and in the History Museum Regensburg, Cologne 2008, pp. 112–113 | |
Catalogue „Wunderkammer – Die Ratten stürmen das sinkende Schiff“, o. O., o. J. (Munich 2009) p. 111 | |
2007 | Catalogue „Shifting Borders. Junge Kunst in der BMW Welt“, Munich 2007, pp. 14–15 |
Calendar „junge kunst in bayern“ of the LfA Förderbank Bayern, Munich 2007 | |
Catalogue „Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie: Überblick – Konstruktionen der Wahrheit“, Darmstadt 2007, pp. 184–185, 215–216 | |
Catalogue „Schlingensief — 18 Bilder pro Sekunde“, Haus der Kunst, Munich 2007 | |
2001 | Catalogue “Vision”, Envelope Gallery London, 2001 |
1998 | “Abschied”, an exhibition project of theHochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe 1998, pp. 10–13 |
1997 | Gunter Rambow: „Studenten“, Ostfildern-Ruit 1997, pp. 296, 317, 331, 420, 477 ff., 547 |
„5 Jahre Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe“, Karlsruhe 1997 |
Verena Frensch
„My pictures are reflections of my inner experience. I photograph them. I compose and ‘paint’ them until they are the images floating in front of my inner eye. Most are ideal landscapes, in which – from time to time – seemingly lost people go astray. Stormy skies that threaten disaster often span the landscapes. In others, there are ‘stolen’ moments, unusual perspectives, and dream sequences that run through an inhospitable world where they are exposed to melancholy, feelings of strangeness, and defenseless.
My images make the viewer uneasy, because a shocking truth hides behind a flawless surface. They are symbols of a post-apocalyptic world view, which broaches the issue of our tireless search for a lost paradise, as well as the oneness with ourselves and the world around us.
They ask us who we really are, what we seek, and what we will actually do when we find it. Will our restlessness then come to an end or is it only replaced by yet another search? They ask us what we make out of the supposedly discovered paradise and whether we actually can accept it without wanting to touch it, change it, and ultimately destroy it.“
(Verena Frensch)