Lisa Vanovitch
Since 07/2010
Working as curator and director of "SPREEdition - photography from emerging Berlin artists" http://www.spreedition.com
Since 07/2009
Working as a freelance artist in Berlin, Germany; various exhibitions, projects and artist residencies http://www.lisa-vanovitch.de
09/2006 – 06/2008
Glasgow School of Art – Glasgow, Great Britain
Bachelor Fine Art Photography
01/2005 – 11/2005
Course in Photography
Gallery Imago – Berlin, Germany
Since 07/2010
Working as curator and director of "SPREEdition - photography from emerging Berlin artists" http://www.spreedition.com
Since 07/2009
Working as a freelance artist in Berlin, Germany; various exhibitions, projects and artist residencies http://www.lisa-vanovitch.de
09/2006 – 06/2008
Glasgow School of Art – Glasgow, Great Britain
Bachelor Fine Art Photography
01/2005 – 11/2005
Course in Photography
Gallery Imago – Berlin, Germany
Artist statement
My work evolves around a very broad exploration of games, especially in relation to media realities and perceived culture clashes. I am intrigued by the way how games can reveal, break open and shift structures of thinking.
Games are phenomena that oscillate between a simplified set of rules (ludus) and a creative form of play (paidea). I see a game as a separate space, a “magic circle” which creates a new position for the player and characters involved. When used in context of complex issues, games can change perception, stimulate imagination and critical thinking and throw up a host of questions about i.e. culpability, power structures, disengagement, hyperreality and the impulses behind the way we reason and act.
Games are often seen as an amusing pastime – even a luxury. Some suggested that the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, the financial crisis and the beginning of climate change would put an end to what we call our fun society (“Spaßgesellschaft”). Huizinga nevertheless mentions a “ludification of culture”. However, playing is fundamental to learning and experiencing new situations and people's actions. Games are my attempt to address and challenge the public – to offer an alternative to the usual relationship between art and the audience.
My work evolves around a very broad exploration of games, especially in relation to media realities and perceived culture clashes. I am intrigued by the way how games can reveal, break open and shift structures of thinking.
Games are phenomena that oscillate between a simplified set of rules (ludus) and a creative form of play (paidea). I see a game as a separate space, a “magic circle” which creates a new position for the player and characters involved. When used in context of complex issues, games can change perception, stimulate imagination and critical thinking and throw up a host of questions about i.e. culpability, power structures, disengagement, hyperreality and the impulses behind the way we reason and act.
Games are often seen as an amusing pastime – even a luxury. Some suggested that the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11, the financial crisis and the beginning of climate change would put an end to what we call our fun society (“Spaßgesellschaft”). Huizinga nevertheless mentions a “ludification of culture”. However, playing is fundamental to learning and experiencing new situations and people's actions. Games are my attempt to address and challenge the public – to offer an alternative to the usual relationship between art and the audience.
Screenshot from
This takes the form of a simple computer "game", an old-fashioned, kitschy 16-bit game in which the modern-day stories and information conveyed, and even constructed, through the media (newspapers, television, blogs, books, virtual spaces, radio, …) are translated into typical "fairytale" landscapes that one navigates through aimlessly.
It is a result of my own confusion as to what is real and my awareness that I have only directly “experienced” the least of what I think I know.
The current overflow of “information” and how it relates to reality ("hyperreality") as we understand it interests me strongly and I hope to develop this game further.
This takes the form of a simple computer "game", an old-fashioned, kitschy 16-bit game in which the modern-day stories and information conveyed, and even constructed, through the media (newspapers, television, blogs, books, virtual spaces, radio, …) are translated into typical "fairytale" landscapes that one navigates through aimlessly.
It is a result of my own confusion as to what is real and my awareness that I have only directly “experienced” the least of what I think I know.
The current overflow of “information” and how it relates to reality ("hyperreality") as we understand it interests me strongly and I hope to develop this game further.
Figments of Reality (jigsaw puzzle, 2010)
The least of what we think we know comes from direct experience. It is brought to us through various media channels. We collect these fragments, all the bits and pieces from events and famous personalities and reconstruct them into a new, seemingly coherent depiction of reality. Real events that are anything from trivial to tragic appear unreal and are interspersed with figments of the media and of our imagination. They are all modern myths that presume to present reality but have transformed into “hyperreality”.
The least of what we think we know comes from direct experience. It is brought to us through various media channels. We collect these fragments, all the bits and pieces from events and famous personalities and reconstruct them into a new, seemingly coherent depiction of reality. Real events that are anything from trivial to tragic appear unreal and are interspersed with figments of the media and of our imagination. They are all modern myths that presume to present reality but have transformed into “hyperreality”.
Detector (game, 2010)
The presumption of innocence as a basic principle of a constitutional state seems to have been turned on its head since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. The image shows travellers at the airport Schiphol. They are dressed, black lumps of an unidentifiable substance. The detector can be used to scan the people and will light up and ring in the case of danger.
The presumption of innocence as a basic principle of a constitutional state seems to have been turned on its head since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001. The image shows travellers at the airport Schiphol. They are dressed, black lumps of an unidentifiable substance. The detector can be used to scan the people and will light up and ring in the case of danger.
Knight and Knave (sculpture, 2010)
The mathematician Raymond Smullyan invented an island inhabited by knights and knaves which each make only false or true statements and thus confront the island visitors with logic puzzles. These two figures are covered with newspapers and symbolize the absurd search for the ultimate truth in der world of events presented by the press.
The mathematician Raymond Smullyan invented an island inhabited by knights and knaves which each make only false or true statements and thus confront the island visitors with logic puzzles. These two figures are covered with newspapers and symbolize the absurd search for the ultimate truth in der world of events presented by the press.
Radicalization (interactive object, 2010)
Visitors should use the magnets in order to affect and understand the fluid in the ball. The object demonstrates how a free moving liquid is polarized and grows stiff through the influence of magnets. The high surface tension creates rigid spikes. Some nations, such as the Afghans, have undergone this process of radicalization so often through the recurrent revolutions that hence free mediators have been gradually taken in.
Visitors should use the magnets in order to affect and understand the fluid in the ball. The object demonstrates how a free moving liquid is polarized and grows stiff through the influence of magnets. The high surface tension creates rigid spikes. Some nations, such as the Afghans, have undergone this process of radicalization so often through the recurrent revolutions that hence free mediators have been gradually taken in.
Flicking game / Race game (games, 2010)
How much news content reaches us when we read a newspaper? These articles do not take effect as reports from a real environment. They are perceived as abstract game zones. This symbolizes our seemingly decadent fun society, but it can also be considered as an inversion of the recurring habit to disguise prohibited games. In ancient Rome gambling was forbidden for citizens. But “tabula”, the precursor of backgammon, was already being played on written slogans as camouflage.
How much news content reaches us when we read a newspaper? These articles do not take effect as reports from a real environment. They are perceived as abstract game zones. This symbolizes our seemingly decadent fun society, but it can also be considered as an inversion of the recurring habit to disguise prohibited games. In ancient Rome gambling was forbidden for citizens. But “tabula”, the precursor of backgammon, was already being played on written slogans as camouflage.
Us and Them (autostereograms, 2010)
A slightly boss-eyed look at these autostereograms while focusing the eyes on infinity might betray our categorizations: The words “us” and “them” show up in the pictures. Crowds from Germany, Afghanistan and Israel are depicted. They are all too often perceived as uniform masses alien to each other. This invertible triangular constellation describes the relationships between peoples of the three Abrahamic religions. Peoples of the book that are yet so closely related.
A slightly boss-eyed look at these autostereograms while focusing the eyes on infinity might betray our categorizations: The words “us” and “them” show up in the pictures. Crowds from Germany, Afghanistan and Israel are depicted. They are all too often perceived as uniform masses alien to each other. This invertible triangular constellation describes the relationships between peoples of the three Abrahamic religions. Peoples of the book that are yet so closely related.
Reality Backdrop (interactive object, 2010)
This sort of fair attraction is an occasion to animate a situation with your own face and expression and be photographed at it. The backdrops respectively show Britney Spears caught out by paparazzi and a Haitian being interviewed after the catastrophic earthquake. How are these happenings transferred into the world of media? Here you can put yourself into the position of the people reported on. Are you posing within reality or “hyperreality” – its exaggerated representation?
This sort of fair attraction is an occasion to animate a situation with your own face and expression and be photographed at it. The backdrops respectively show Britney Spears caught out by paparazzi and a Haitian being interviewed after the catastrophic earthquake. How are these happenings transferred into the world of media? Here you can put yourself into the position of the people reported on. Are you posing within reality or “hyperreality” – its exaggerated representation?
Ludo (game, 2010)
In the castle courtyard a huge game is represented which is by now known to large parts of the population in almost all countries of the world. The first traces reach back to India up to a millennium before common era. As the use of the game is documented among the Aztecs only some centuries later, it is even referred to prove that the peoples of India and South America are related. Through colonialism the game spread through Europe and North America and was then exported into other countries worldwide and played by the navy across all seas. The way it was passed on through cultures is echoed symbolically in the continual movement of the non-hierarchical game pieces around the board.
In the castle courtyard a huge game is represented which is by now known to large parts of the population in almost all countries of the world. The first traces reach back to India up to a millennium before common era. As the use of the game is documented among the Aztecs only some centuries later, it is even referred to prove that the peoples of India and South America are related. Through colonialism the game spread through Europe and North America and was then exported into other countries worldwide and played by the navy across all seas. The way it was passed on through cultures is echoed symbolically in the continual movement of the non-hierarchical game pieces around the board.
Exhibitions
10/2010 Industriepark - Weimar, Germany
"Afghanistan Bazonnale" group exhibition
09/2010 Schloss Hainfeld - Austria
"Naher Osten Naher Westen" group exhibition
10/2009 Werkstatt der Kulturen – Berlin, Germany
“Divercity” group exhibition
05/2009 Kunstbüroberlin – Berlin, Germany
“Parcels for the Promised Land” group exhibition
11/2008 Atelier 82 – Berlin, Germany
„Advent Atelier“ group exhibition
10/2007 The Cell – Glasgow, Great Britain
„Power Cut“ solo exhibition
03/2007 Newbery Gallery – Glasgow, Great Britain
„Blixt“ group exhibition
12/2005 Gallery Imago – Berlin, Germany
„Die Sicht auf Licht gleicht sich nicht“ group exhibition
10/2010 Industriepark - Weimar, Germany
"Afghanistan Bazonnale" group exhibition
09/2010 Schloss Hainfeld - Austria
"Naher Osten Naher Westen" group exhibition
10/2009 Werkstatt der Kulturen – Berlin, Germany
“Divercity” group exhibition
05/2009 Kunstbüroberlin – Berlin, Germany
“Parcels for the Promised Land” group exhibition
11/2008 Atelier 82 – Berlin, Germany
„Advent Atelier“ group exhibition
10/2007 The Cell – Glasgow, Great Britain
„Power Cut“ solo exhibition
03/2007 Newbery Gallery – Glasgow, Great Britain
„Blixt“ group exhibition
12/2005 Gallery Imago – Berlin, Germany
„Die Sicht auf Licht gleicht sich nicht“ group exhibition
