Susa Templin


About


Susa Templin who lives in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, works with photography and three-dimensional spatial models, a concept that she concretized during her studio fellowship in New York and has since developed further.

From her analogue work with photographic images and the resulting models, she develops large walk-in installations, such as for the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle Nürnberg or the Berlinische Galerie.
Her works always question the flat image and create new spaces in a variety of ways and sizes.

In addition to numerous international exhibitions, lectures and teaching activities, Templin has also received various art projects in construction, for example for the Frankfurt University Hospital and the Ministry of Finance in Wiesbaden.

Her extensive archive of photographs of room fragments – a corner of a room, a piece of curtain, a certain door situation – always analogously photographed and processed in her own laboratory – Templin uses for new, atmospherically dense room designs. With the technical possibilities of photography and installation, the artist realizes subjective qualities of architecture and spaces.

Work


Gartenstrasse 12 – 18h

A temporary union between single, double, and triple exposures and the distance between the camera and the color filters in the darkroom. This series of photographs were taken throughout an afternoon in a room in front of a single window.
The artist observed the sinking sun, the migration of the window grid’s shadow on the curtains, and with it the changing color of the afternoon light until sunset.

Susa Templin took this interplay of shadow, light, and time as an opportunity to investigate the photographic possibilities in the darkroom and the act of photographing. She moved the camera 20 cm closer to her subject, the window, and the curtains, after each picture, thereby slowly closing the gap between the object and lens. In addition, the exposure mode is constantly adapted: from a single image to double exposure to triple exposure. Time and space overlap more and more in each photograph, in each negative.
The image was further altered in the darkroom as the shades present in the images are concocted by increasing the density of the color filters Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan. Each unique print has its own mix of color values creating the effect of ‘light colors’, as real colors, as colors of the afternoon.

Susa Templin’s series Gartenstrasse 12 – 18h is part of the collection of Städelmuseum in Frankfurt and is currently on display.

Spatial Abstractions

Susa Templin explores the question of how spaces and memories permeate each other. Her photographic investigations lead to extensive installations. In the alternation of material and scale, models of paper and cardboard are created, which are photographed and further processed from different perspectives. They are independent sculptures and at the same time provide the motifs for further photographs. The artist deals with images of memories that reappear in new compositions in spatial abstraction. Image by image and layer by layer, often by multiple exposures, the photographically captured space is deconstructed, distorted in perspective, and subjectively reassembled. Statics and perspective are suspended. Interior views become facades, exterior views become enigmatic interiors. The views distort optically and in reality in the folds of the folded picture walls. For Susa Templin, spaces are nested storage media and she traces this universal, timeless memory of space photographically and architecturally. This creates spatially accessible, photographic spaces of dreamlike lightness and fragility.

Sites and Constructions

In her series Sites & Construction, Susa Templin explores the question of how spaces and memories permeate each other. Her photographic investigations lead to extensive installations. In the alternation of material and scale, models of paper and cardboard are created, which are photographed and further processed from different perspectives. They are independent sculptures and at the same time provide the motifs for further photographs.

The artist deals with images of memories that reappear in new compositions in spatial abstraction. Image by image and layer by layer, often by multiple exposures, the photographically captured space is deconstructed, distorted in perspective, and subjectively reassembled. Statics and perspective are suspended. Interior views become facades, exterior views become enigmatic interiors. The views distort optically and in reality in the folds of the folded picture walls.

Landscaping

Landscaping is a light installation that was made in the artist’s studio in New York. By using small plastic trees, the artist creates pieces of forest that develop a painterly effect in their coloring and spatial staggering. These models were photographed and inserted into the series in greatly enlarged form so that the realistic ‚playgrounds’ are juxtaposed with artificial miniature landscapes.

The light installation plays with a city dweller’s longing for nature. The extreme close-ups blur the background and give the impression of an unlimited forest. It is a play with proportions: toy trees proliferate monstrously, the viewer can lull himself into the dreamlike notion of being able to stay under trees. And it is a game with nature, the image of nature, our longing for it, and the idea we have of nature and landscape.

INDOORS LANDSCAPE, 2017, walk-in photo installation, Kunsthalle Mannheim, DE (permanent collection)

Berlin Baroque

The winters on the Spree are cold, dark and mostly quite long. This was Susa Templin’s experience when she moved from New York to Berlin at the end of 2005. Shortly thereafter, when she received an invitation from the Berlinische Galerie to a solo exhibition, she responded to the winterly dreary city with a group of works created especially for the spatial situation of the museum. She called the cycle „Berlin Baroque,“ consisting of a large-format photo sculpture and a series of frameless photographs arranged in alternation of portrait and landscape format as a densely suspended, circumferential wall frieze. But the actual work began outside, in the cold space of the city: Here Susa Templin took photographs of typical Berlin apartment buildings, firewalls, and backyards and used them to build small architectural models in her studio. They reflect that urban dreariness, which then underwent a fulminant transformation in the further work process. Thus the artist brought the dismembered and newly assembled structures to life through the use of colorful tissue paper, glittering foil, and other hand, from which in the end – again photographed – plastic room collages of almost baroque appearance were created. This is not only due to the artistic intention to blur the boundaries between the genres of photography and sculpture beyond recognition. The cycle can be described as baroque above all because the trivial material is condensed into proliferating, moving, multi-perspective pictorial spaces of great visual splendor. The dominant feature here is an interplay of light and shadow, of razor-sharp and blurred parts of the picture, of shimmering paint and grey masonry, of architectural mass and organic uncontrolled growth, which triumphs over every attempt at spatial orientation in the narrow section of the picture. And this despite the fact that the tinkering character of the city fantasies, built in numerous variations, is never denied, but is clearly revealed through cut edges and other traces of processing. Susa Templin has supplemented these model photographs with a series of real interior photographs that she tracked down at night in Berlin’s urban space and which – mostly seen from the outside through large window panes – with their reflections and light effects unfold a similarly pompous effect. Well-dosdly integrated into the cycle, they tie back to reality, which the other works demonstrate by virtue of their illusion. Finally, the artist enlarged one of these photographs into an almost four-meter-high photographic sculpture that was mounted diagonally on the front wall of the exhibition space, from where it extended plastically to the floor. It formed the pivotal point of the spatial staging – and in its immediate, physical presence it illustrated what the entire image program of „Berlin Baroque“ is based on: a visionary proposal for the transformation of urban space, in which the limitations of the photographic medium are also lifted.
Dr. Stefan Rasche 

Installation view: Susa Templin, Berlin Baroque,2007, Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art, Photography and Architecture, Berlin, Germany

CV


Education

since 2019 Lecturer for Analogue Photography at the HFG Hochschule für Gestaltung, Offenbach, DE

1987 – 1993 Studied at the Hochschule der Künste, Berlin and the State University of Fine Arts, the Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, DE

Solo Exhibitions (selected)

2023

Impositions, New Viewings – online exhibition platform, Gallery Barbara Thumm, Berlin, DE 

Layers upon Layers, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, DE

2022

Durchblick, in conjunction with Lilly Lulay, Kunststiftung DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main, DE

2021

Das Licht, der Raum und die Zeit, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, DE 

2020

Grundrisse, Kunsthalle Lingen, Lingen, DE

Premises, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE

Das Licht, der Raum und die Zeit, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, DE

2019

Spatial Abstractions, AA Residency Exhibition, Auswärtiges Amt, Berlin, DE

2018

Sites and Constructions, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE

2016

Through the Backdoors to the Indoors, Photogallery |format| Malmö, SE

2015

Room Service, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE

Rooms, Galerie Thomas Rehbein, Cologne, DE

2014

Other voices, other rooms, Galerie Rasche Ripken, Berlin, DE

2013

Real Estate, Reiss-Engelhorn Museums/ Zephyr, Mannheim, DE

2011

Triangle of Need, Gallery Rasche Ripken, Berlin, DE

2007

BerlinBaroque, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin, DE

2003

Indoors Landscapes – permanent installation, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE

2002

Landscaping, NewmanPopiashvili Gallery, New York City, USA

2001

Landscaping, Goethe Institute, Washington D.C., USA

Hermit – Temporary, Folkwang-Museum Essen, Essen, DE

Presenting the Suite 106, NewmanPopiashvili Gallery, New York City, USA

1999

3 Feet 6 Inches Deep, AuBase Gallery New York City, DE

Fishtank, installation for EXPO 2000, Hanover, DE

Group Exhibitions (selected)

2024

Frankfurter Fotografinen, Historisches Museum, Frankfurt am Main, DE (upcoming)

2023

Update. Highlights der Städtischen Kunstsammlung, Heussenstamm Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, DE 

2022

Zurück in die Gegenwart, Neue Perspektiven, neue Werken – die Sammlung von 1945 bis heute, Städel-Museum, Frankfurt am Main, DE 

Entangled, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE 

2021

Women are still beautiful, Sammlung Freddy Langer, Museum Bensheim, Bensheim, DE

City-Projects, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, DE 

2020

In weiter Ferne so nah, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin, DE

50 Jahre 1822-Forum, 1822-Forum, Frankfurt am Main, DE

Paris we miss you, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt am Main, DE 

The Place I Once Called Home, Art’Us / Collectors‘ Collective, Breiterhof, Munich, DE
2019

Landscaping, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE

Room With A View, Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Dortmund, DE

Realität Check, Collectors Collective Berlin, Kunstraum Potsdam, DE

Nullpunkt der Orientierung, DZ Bank Art Collection, Frankfurt/Main, DE

2018

In Dialog with Strömholm, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, DE
 
Einundzwanzig – Ansichten eines Kunstvereins, Neuer Kunstverein, Gießen, DE
2017
Die Schönheit der Formel, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Berlin, DE
 
Wohnvisionale, Film Keszthely, FilmFestival, Evangelische Stadt-Akademie, Frankfurt/Main, DE

200 Jahre Städel – 200 Künstler, Galerie Perpetuel, Frankfurt/Main, DE

Indoors Landscape, walk-in photo installation, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE

2016

The Fourth Dimension, Museum of Photography Braunschweig, DE

Back to the future of photography, DZ Bank Art Collection, Frankfurt/ Main, DE

You Cannot Do Nothing, with Sven Johne, Peter Fend, Kommunale Galerie Berlin, Berlin, DE

Home base: The Interior in the Present, Kai 10 Düsseldorf, DE

How should I know what she likes?, Nassauischer Kunstverein, Wiesbaden, DE

2015

Home base: The Interior in the Present, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Nürnberg, DE

Silent Heroes, Essenheim Art Association, Essenheim, DE

About Color, with Thomas Werner and Hague Yang, Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, DE

Winner Exhibition Welde Art Award, Stadtgalerie Mannheim, DE

2013

The Window in View, DZ-Bank Art Collection, Frankfurt/Main, DE

Real Estate, Neuer Gießener Kunstverein, Gießen, DE

2012

Keeping up Appearances, Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, DE

More Songs about Buildings and Food, with Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Newman Popiashvili Gallery, New York City, USA

White, black and a little sky blue, with H. Warmuth, Galerie Thomas Rehbein, Cologne, DE

2010

Balmoral Blend, Arp Musem, Remagen, DE

2008

More than the eye can see. Photography from the Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt/Main, DE

Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI), Lima, PE

Museo de Artes Visuales, Colección Santa Cruz – Yaconi, Santiago de Chile, CL

Museo de Arte Moderna (MAM), São Paulo, BR

2007

One Hundred Years Kunsthalle Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, DE

2006

Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO), Monterrey, MX

Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, MX

Museo del Banco de la República, Bogota, CO

Full House, Mannheim Art Gallery, Mannheim, DE

2002

Urban Sequences, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt, DE

Leuchtspur, in cooperation with the Museum für Moderne Kunst, with James Turrell, Joseph Kosuth, Dan Flavin, Frankfurt/Main, DE

2001

Screen, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York City, USA

2000

Architectural Constructs in Contemporary Photography, Julie Saul Gallery, New York City, USA

Flakk, or that extraordinary sensation of being abroad even when at  home, curated by Andrea Kroksnes, The Nordens Hus, Reijkjavik, IS

New York, New York, Amerika-Haus in cooperation with the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main, DE

1998

Biennale de l’Image- Paris ’98 – solo presentation curated by Lewis Baltz, Paris, FR

Publications
2022
Durchblick Lilly Lulay und Susa Templin, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, published Dr. Christina Leber, DE
2021
Das Licht, der Raum und die Zeit – Spatial Abstractions, published by Museum für Konkrete Kunst Ingolstadt, DE
2018
Der Siegeszug der Fotografie, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, published Dr. Christina Leber, DE 
2015
Homebase, Das Interieur in der Gegenwartskunst, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Kerber Verlag, DE
2013
Real Estate (Ed. Neuer Kunstverein Gießen, Markus Lepper, DE
Räume, published by Thomas Rehbein Galerie, with a text by Jean Christophe Ammann, DE
2010
 
Totale Wohnung (Ed. Deck Galerie, Stuttgart), DE
Balmoral Blend, Arp Museum Remagen, Salon Verlag, Cologne, DE
2006
 
BerlinBarock (Ed. Berlinische Galerie, Ulrich Domröse, DE
Mehr als das Auge fassen kann. Fotografie aus der Sammlung der Deutschen Bank, Friedhelm Hütte, Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt am Main, ABC Verlag, DE
2003
 
Sammlung der Allianz-Versicherung, Ruth Sache, Hamburg, DE 
2002
 
Landscaping (Ed. Klaus Gallwitz und Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral), DE
 
Urbane Sequenzen (Ed. Kunsthalle Erfurt, Stefan Rasche, DE
Urbane Sequenzen, Kunsthalle Erfurt, Stefan Rasche, Berlin, DE
2001
 
Einsiedler – Vorübergehend (Ed. Museum Folkwang, Essen, DE
Sommergäste, Stadtmuseum Ingelheim, Klaus Gallwitz, D. Perrier, De
2000
 
New York, New York (Ed. Rolf Lauter, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/M.), DE
1999
 
3 Feet 6 Inches Deep (Ed. EXPO 2000 u. Cato Jans, Dölling und Galitz Verlag)
1998
 
De tres courts espaces de temps (Ed. Biennale de l’Image und Centre National de la Photographie, Paris with a contribution from Lewis Baltz, FR
Das intime Wahrnehmungsfeld der Susa Templin in Das Glück zu Sehen, Jean-Christophe Amann
1996
 
Darmstadt, Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt am Main, DE, Friedhelm Hütte
1995
 
Milk, NY. (Ed. BZF, Staatliche Neubauleitung, Frankfurt M.), DE
1994
Stadt-Bild, Dorothea Strauß, Karmeliterkloster, Frankfurt am Main, DE
Künstler in Frankfurt, A Grigoteit and F. Hütte, Kunstsammlung Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt am Main, DE
 
Putzen (Ed. Forum 1822, Frankfurt/Main), DE
1993
Unternehmen Wirtschaft und Kunst, erw. Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt, FIU Verlag, DE
Awards, Grants and Residencies

2022

Funding, Stiftung Kulturfonds, DE

2021

Funding, Stiftung Kulturwerk der VG Bild-Kunst, DE 

2021

Funding for publications, Hessischen Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, DE

2019

AAResidency, Scholarship des Auswärtigen Amtes und der Berliner Galerie, DE

2013

Award of the Welde Art Prize for Photography selected by Luminita Sabau and Florian Ebner, DE

2012

Bonn Art Fund, Catalogue, DE

2008

Fermynwood Art Centre, Norfolk, UK

2004

Studio Scholarship, OCA, Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo, SE

2001

Scholarship of the State of Rheinland-Pfalz, Künstlerhaus Balmoral, DE

1996

Scholarship of the Hessische Kulturstiftung (New York), DE

1995

Scholarship of the State of Hessen, DE

1993

Art Promotion Prize of the Frankfurt Artists’ Aid, DE

Collections (selected)

Städel Museum, Frankfurt, DE

Museum Folkwang, Essen, DE

Berlinische Galerie, Museum of Modern Art, Architecture and Photography, Berlin, DE

Kunsthalle Mannheim, Mannheim, DE

Deutsche Bank Art Gallery Berlin and Frankfurt/Main, DE

NBK, New Berlin Art Association, DE

DZ Bank Art Collection, Frankfurt/Main, DE

Michael Loulakis Collection, Berlin, DE

Art Collection of the Hessian Parliament, State of Hesse, DE

Hessian Cultural Foundation, Wiesbaden, DE

Public Art Projects

2023

Mainschleife, temporary installation, Offenbach Police Headquarters, Offenbach/Main, DE

2015

Room Reforms, temporary installation, Epiphaniaskirche, Frankfurt/Main, DE

2012

Indoors Landscapes II, variable lightbox work, Michael Loulakis Collection, Berlin & Frankfurt, DE

2009

Geometry in the Red Garden, wall work for the State of Hesse, University Hospitals Frankfurt/Main, DE

2006

Landscaping, walk-in lightboxes Rooms, Collection Schaub, Ludwigshafen, DE

2004

Green light photo sculptures, Dillenburg Police Headquarters, Hessen, DE

2003

Surrogate Landscape, Allianz Insurance Art Collection, Hamburg, DE

1999

Fishtank, temporary art at the building installation for Expo-Café, Hanover, DE

1996

Cleaning, permanent photo installation for the Cabinet Hall of the State Parliament of Wiesbaden, State of Hessen, DE

1995

Milk, four photo installations for the tax offices in Frankfurt/Main, State of Hessen, DE