Contact Loop

A contact impulse is passed on and triggers a reaction - this is how the technical mode of operation of a contact loop is defined. The impulse changes, becomes stronger and progresses, triggers further reactions, changes again and makes the system oscillate. The contact can unfold.

This positive assumption is the starting point for the exhibition Kontaktschleife of the Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen 1867 e.V. The works shown address different forms of encounters between people, things or life concepts. On display are photographed encounters in public and private spaces, in time, across borders. With the help of photography, the image authors read traces of common experiences and thus show in different ways what touches them on an imaginary and real level. They make clear that every encounter and touch is an invitation to reflect on oneself and that every contact is an impulse for the emergence of something new.

Founded as a training center for women artists to whom art academies were closed in the mid-19th century, the association in its early days supported and networked primarily women painters, but its members also included graphic artists and sculptors. Today, parallel to the art world, the association represents all artistic media. The photography exhibition Kontaktschleife shows works by female artists who work explicitly in photography as well as positions that use the photographic medium across genres. Thus, artists are represented who find in photography an extension of their sculptural, painterly and conceptual ideas, who use the photographic expression in a plastic-sculptural way or work on it manually.

With works by: Susanne Ahner, Murshida Arzu Alpana, Bettina Cohnen, Daniela Fromberg, Harriet Groß, INGARTAN, Friederike Klotz, Mara Loytved-Hardegg, Elisabeth Masé, Cornelia Renz, Nadja Siegl, Anja Teske, Ingeborg Gerdes & Gisela Weimann.

The exhibition takes place in the context of EMOP Berlin - European Month of Photography and in cooperation with Kulturprojekte Berlin. It is made possible by the kind support of the Asyl der Kunst Stiftung and the Verein der Berliner Künstlerinnen 1867.