bio
Anna Baranowski was born in Bytom, Poland in 1983. Today she lives secluded in a small hut in the forests of East Germany and works on her art. In 2012 she received her diploma in media art with distinction at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig. After her studies, she took part in numerous exhibitions like the 7th Berlin Biennale „Forget Fear“ in 2012 and received scholarships, such as the work grant from the Kunstfonds Bonn Art Foundation in 2018. During the last years she joined different artist in residence programs, for instance the Greater Columbus Arts Council in Columbus Ohio, USA.
As a contemporary artist and filmmaker Anna Baranowski works on omnipresent, existential questions of the human being. The techniques vary between video installation, photography, sculpture and interventions in the media public space. An always returning subject of her works is the struggle between power and faint in current society. In doing so, she looks at historical legacies in everyday life and reflects collective psychological phenomena of human behaviour. Observations of humans in the mass-media discourse serve as the resource for her social studies. Besides, digital social networks open to her doors to worlds that once have been closed. In the field of experimental and documentary film Anna Baranowski focuses on Direct Cinema. She always uses documentary material in her works. In addition to her own in detail composed cinematic images, the use of archival footage is central to her experimental films. She uses a wide variety of sources, such as amateur footage, NASA or military footage. By taking them out of their original context, her works unleash new meanings. In her artful collages there are always sequences that jar, that if anything skew obvious expectations and for that very reason trigger inner processes.
education
2012 Diploma Fine Arts / exam passed with distinction
2005 - 2012 Studies of Media Art at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig in the Class for Mass Media Research and Art in Public Media Space (Prof. Günther Selichar)
scholarships / nominations / awards
2021 Nominated for NEW POSITIONS, sponsorship programme for solo presentations by young emerging artists at the ART COLOGNE. Supported by the BVDG (Bundesverband Deutscher Galelerien und Kunsthändler), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the ART COLOGNE fair itself. Anna Baranowski will be part of the showcase of Gallery EIGEN + ART Berlin/Leipzig
2020 Artist in Residence at the Off Season Residency in Vlora, Albania (Goethe-Institut Bukarest, AFCN - Administration of the National Cultural Fund Romania, Goethe-Zentrum Tirana)
2018 Scholarship by the Bonn Art Foundation (Stiftung Kunstfonds)
2018 Artist in Residence at the Greater Columbus Arts Council in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Scholarship by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2018 Nominated for the 3rd PORTRAITS - Hellerau Photography Award
2016 Sponsorship by the Ministry of Justice, Cultural and European Affairs Schleswig-Holstein / production of the project „relics“
2016 Nominated for the 6th International Marianne Brandt Award
2016 Artist in Residence at Otte 1 – the Schleswig-Holstein Artists Residency in Eckernförde, Germany
2015 Sponsorship of the production of the artist´s monograph by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2014 Scholarship by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2008 Received the first prize of the study award of the Academy`s Association
collections
2018 Collection of the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
2013 Collection of the Kunstfonds (Art Fund) of the Free State of Saxony
exhibitions
Different - aesthetics of difference
04.07. until 27.10.2020 / opening: Friday, 03.07. 2020 16-20h
New gallery for contemporary art - Gera
Häselburg
Burgstrasse 12
07545 Gera
/ Tel: +49 (0) 365 55 24 68 44 / opening hours Tue, Wed, Fri-Sun 13-17h, Thu 15-19h
Curated by Alejandro Perdomo Daniels
The term 'being different' is characterized by its perspective. It is based on the point of view of the speaker or perceiver. Instead of providing information about an empirically ascertainable reality, he points to models of perception and thought that are able to break down reality into categories. Categories that unfold along constructions of thought such as center-periphery, normality-abnormality, identity-alterity, health-illness, culture-subculture. The duality on which these constructions are based is characterized by a constitutive asymmetry: While one pole is considered normative and decisive, the other represents its defective deviation.
It is evident that relationships of privilege and power are involved. Because the point of view from which differences are made is embedded in the culture that makes it possible. And culture is created by people. The notion of deviation is related to the interests of the group, which has a privileged, dominant position in the social fabric: the majority society, which sees itself as normative, normal, central, healthy, uniform and self-identical, and which sees itself through language, science and reproduced art. The topos of the 'other' plays an important role in the construction of this self-image as self-assurance. The other is therefore a function of the self, through which power orders are cemented, which secure privileges: Are women the opposite sex? Is the peculiarity of the skin color of people with albinism a defect? Are mental disorders illnesses? Are homeless people failing society? Are migrants inferior strangers? Are queers the deformation of gender identity and heterosexuality? Is subculture the negation of culture?
These questions reveal that the 'other' is the construction of a self that declares itself to be a universal ordering principle and accordingly overlooks the peculiarity of its existence by focusing on differences. A self that completely excludes itself as a relative point of view. It is a fact of art history that artists as acting individuals refer to related issues and address the issue of being different. The approaches and perspectives that characterize such disputes are very different. This can be seen both in the expressions of those artists and in the content that they deal with. In addition, the concerns of such positions diverge considerably from one another: while some positions take a socially critical stance, others advocate appropriate representation or carry out acts of self-empowerment. Other positions, in turn, feel their way into the area without claiming a program, but with the need to express their subjective feelings.
The exhibition Different - Aesthetics of Difference presents a focused selection of both regional and national artists who deal with or reflect on the range of topics of being different. The focus is therefore not on determining the typological features that visual art has in the present, but on making the particularity of a topic tangible. A subject whose importance appears ever more urgent in the context of the cultural-political debates of the time. Taking this hurdle, eleven invited positions discuss the peculiarities, complexities and contradictions of being different. They are Arts of the Working Class (collective: Berlin), Anna Baranowski (Leipzig), Benedikt Braun (Weimar), Gino Dambrowski (Gera), Luisa Eugeni (Perugia), Gustavo Lacerda (São Paulo), Susann Maria Hempel (Greiz) , Rana Matloub (Erfurt), Claudia Rößger (Leipzig), Tejal Shah (Mumbai), Oskar Zaumseil (Greiz).
ART (RE_PUBLIC)
An exhibition in times of the suspended public
From May 1st to August 30th, 2020
HALL 14 - Center for Contemporary Art Leipzig Cotton Mill
Spinning mill 7
04179 Leipzig
officeØhalle14.org / T: +49 341 492 42 02 / opening times: Tue-Sat, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Barrier-free access
Opening: Friday, May 1, 2020,
3 p.m. online on Facebook and Instagram
AUDIO / PRELUDE: ARCU & OHM, Ya-Wen Fu, Sebastian Gögel, Angelika Rochhausen, Johannes Rochhausen
FROM THE COLLECTION / FROM THE COLLECTION: Sven Bergelt, Jens Besser, Nori Blume, Nadja Buttendorf, Yvon Chabrowski, Lutz Dammbeck, Eckehard Fuchs, Rainer Görß, Janet Grau, Falk Haberkorn, Harry Hachmeister, Mark Hamilton, Lena Rosa Händle,, Andreas Hildebrandt, Margret Hoppe, Britta Jonas, Susanne Keichel, Anja Kempe, Dirk Lange, Nora Mesaros, Dominik Meyer, Bruno Raetsch, Martin Reich, Evelyn Richter, Ute Richter, Daniel Rode, Ricarda Roggan, Luise Schröder & Anna Baranowski, Matti Schulz, Tilo Schulz, André Schulze, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, VIP, Ya-Wen Fu, Christoph Wetzel, Katrin Winkler, Tobias Zielony
Art is there for everyone. Yes! Nevertheless, there is a tension between art and the public. The value and originality of works of art have created a culture of care so that works cannot be easily borrowed and used. A ban on contact is generally applicable in exhibitions. After all, the works should not only be available for the present, but also for future generations. Special prior knowledge is often required to be able to access the works. Enjoying art in a group is common, but not always beneficial. Some works only reveal themselves in an intimate dialogue. The approaches to art that result from these tensions are the cause of numerous debates - and not only today.
Nevertheless: Art is there for everyone! The 19th century founded museums and art associations. In the 20th century, the educational reform movement invented museum pedagogy to address new target groups. In the second half of the 20th century, a state-sponsored museum boom renewed the ideal of a culture for everyone. In the GDR, an order system ensured the production of pictures that corresponded to the socialist ideas of popular and educational art. There was no free art market. Today, digitalization and net art renew the promise of accessibility and the production of art by everyone.
On the occasion of the 10th edition of the annual purchase exhibition of the cultural foundation of the Free State of Saxony "WIN / WIN", the project "ART (re_public)" takes a look at the collection of the art fund of the Dresden State Art Collection. Here the works of art are collected and researched, which the Free State of Saxony has purchased annually from artists since 1992. The Saxon Cultural Foundation has been making this purchase since 2005. An independent advisory board decides on the purchases. Over the past 30 years, more than 1000 works have been included in the art fund's collection. After the previously changing presentations at various locations in Saxony, the purchases since 2011 have been presented to the public in the exhibition series "WIN / WIN" immediately after the jury meeting. The aim of the »KUNST (re_public)« project is to explore the current relationship between art and the public using works from this collection.
This project was planned before the effects on the public life due to the worldwide spread of the new corona virus were even conceivable. Until recently, no one would have believed that the almost complete standstill of the public - worldwide - was possible. Now it is a matter of reinventing the relationship between our art institution and the public under the new conditions - always with the perspective that the restrictions could not only be reduced, but also strengthened again. Large openings and spinning tours will probably not be in the foreseeable future. It is still necessary to develop how events, school projects and courses can take place. The project will start on May 1, 2020, 15 years after the first large tour of the spinning mill, virtually on our online platforms. We present works from the collection and people related to them. The team at HALLE 14 put together a selection of works from the art fund during the lockdown. Can computer programs be helpful in the future to develop exhibitions and make collections more public? The artist Tillmann Ohm developed the artificial curator ArCu, who also made a selection of works from the acquisitions since 2011. We now want to discuss this selection with our audience - first online, later here on site.
