Loretta Fahrenholz

With her camera, Loretta Fahrenholz (born in Starnberg in 1981) investigates different social milieus and the various fictions and desires that are played out, with whatever degree of intention, among actors, narratives, and the given means of production. In this, Fahrenholz gives equal importance to the act of manipulating a set of circumstances and the condition of allowing herself to be manipulated by them. She often references specific genres (e.g., disaster flicks, documentary, porn) allowing for narrative and formal contradictions to emerge, and in turn, simultaneously encourage and impede identification. This dynamic is echoed on a thematic level: In Fahrenholz’ films and images, isolated bodies attempt to function as a community.

Inkjet Prints, je 45 x 33,8 cm

Loretta Fahrenholz’s series Europa II, photographed between 2002 and 2004 in collaboration with photographer and cinematographer Jan Mammey, shows visitors toclubs, hotels, and bars in various East German cities. Using analog medium-format cameras and cinematic lighting, late-night studios were improvised on the spot. The headshots, depicting subjects who spent the first parts of their lives in the GDR, reveal a physiognomy of political systems. They show the uneasiness of bodies caught in the clash of two different ideologies, a subjective impression of the disruptive history of the Federal Republic of Germany.