Light influences and changes our perception, provides the basis for the use of different visual media and is – in its manifestation as fire – a prerequisite of our civilisation. The topos of light is the linking element in German artist Freya Hattenberger's new exhibition that presents video, photography and assemblage works. It acts on a metaphorical level, as a motive, or as a direct media reference within the photographs. Light, in effect, is a separate actor in a video work or a defining element of a photographic work, it is an only skin deep appearance of beauty as much as a profound spark of inspiration in Hattenbergers oeuvre. In her video performance “Temperamental Side”, sound defines the direction. As a bridge between two places, it opens a space beyond teleological truths.

Freya Hattenberger works in the fields of video performance, sound and photography. She studied in the class of Jürgen Klauke and Marcel Odenbach in Cologne. In 2008, she was awarded with the Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Scholarship and the Förderpreis Medienkunst of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Hattenberger participated in a number of national and international exhibitions. Recently, she has presented a large video projection in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb, showed a video work in the NRW-Forum in Dusseldorf and a sound performance with Peter C. Simon in the Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund. Her works are among others part of the collection of the IMAI foundation (intermedia art institute) Dusseldorf, the collections of the Museum am Ostwall and the Musée des Beaux Arts, Nantes.