Susanne Junker - SO WHAT!
In the organizer's words:
05.04.-06.07.2025 at the Center for Contemporary Art in the Glaspalast | H1
The Augsburg artists' association "Die Ecke" e.V. is presenting the solo exhibition SO WHAT! in collaboration with the art collections and museums of the city of Augsburg. The survey exhibition covers 30 years of artistic work by the artist and photographer Susanne Junker. Her most important works are on display, from her beginnings in the 1990s to new works that have never been shown before.
"At the beginning of the 1990s, I worked as a model. It was the glamorous time of supermodels selling their perfect looks. This obsession with beauty was dictated by the fashion industry and maintained the dominance of the male gaze in culture. These rigid norms were unbearable for me and led me to transform myself from object to author by becoming an artist."
(Susanne Junker)
Beyond the photo set, the then young artist began to turn the camera on herself again and again: the self-portrait was her weapon. In this way, Susanne Junker fought to reclaim her own identity and confronted the media staging in which she herself actively participated as a model: Who are we? What is our value? What does beauty mean? - The relentless exploration of these topics becomes her programme: she relentlessly records her thoughts and reflections photographically, stylizing them into motifs that constantly recur and constantly reinterpret these questions, making the work a mirror of our globalized society.
As a keen observer of pop culture and social media, Susanne Junker explores the concept of identity in a visually dominated world and criticizes the representation of women in the media. The artist's body and face often become a tool for questioning ideals of beauty, gender roles and age discrimination: the exposed body is postered with words, phrases and slogans, and shaped into a statement through clothing, make-up and accessories. This self-appropriation is the key to a decidedly feminist perspective.
Susanne Junker, born near Augsburg, moved to Paris at the age of 17. After living in New York and Shanghai, she returned to Paris, where she has lived and worked for many years. From 2008 to 2013, she founded and directed "stageBACK", an artist-run space for experimental projects in Shanghai, China. From 2018 to 2022, she taught photography courses titled "Re-searching Identity" as a guest lecturer at the China Academy of Art (CAA) in Shanghai and Hangzhou, China. Junker's photographic, video and installation works are characterized by the different living conditions to which she was exposed and challenge us to participate, but also to take a position ourselves.
The exhibition is curated by Chiara Padovan.
A catalog of the exhibition will be published with the support of the Arno-Buchegger-Stiftung.
The exhibition is a cooperation with the Augsburg artists' association "Die Ecke" e.V.
We cordially invite all interested parties to the opening on Friday, April 4, 2025, at 6 pm!
This content has been machine translated.Location
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