Faculty Profile: Kerstin Cmelka

I met Kerstin in 2002 - the same time that I met Søren Lose -  in Frankfurt/Main at the Städelschule. She was studying film there. After she finished Städel she moved to Berlin in 2005 - like so many of us at that time.

I was curious if she had a similar take on Berlin as Søren - so I asked her the same questions. Here is how she answered:

What is it like for you to be an artist in Berlin?

Living in Berlin as an artist isn´t something special at all. That can simplify a lot of things in your practical life. Also, one can always count on big group, a circle of close friends and colleagues, ex-fellow students as well as loud competitors including all the artists you meet somewhere around the globe, who will come visit Berlin.

How has Berlin and its history made an impact, if any, on your work?

I couldn´t cite a direct impact of Berlin's history on my work. Berlin being two cities in one, which is still present today, seems to me something like a very unique disposition though. This multiple character is exhausting and exciting at the same time and of course affects my work on the person and his or her presentation.

What do you think Berlin offers you that other places might not?

Most people I meet in the art world so far are living here or coming by once in a while. Sure that will happen somewhere else in the future. But at the moment it seems to be Berlin!

Kerstin will be leading the second workshop titled; Invocation, Empathy and Repetition in Performance Art during Picture Berlin starting July 12 and running through July 17th.

Kerstin Cmelka is an Austrian visual artist who works primarily with video, film, photography and performance in Berlin. Her recent works include the “Microdramas”, a collection of performances and videos out of well known theatre dialogues, folk plays, clichéd feature films and sketches. Cmelka´s recent exhibitions include „Handlinger/Gestures“, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark; “Playing Homage“, Contemporary Art Gallery, 2009;  Vancouver; „Scorpios Garden“,Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin, 2009 ; „50 Moons“, 3rd Turin Triennale, 2008; „Die Wahrnehmung von Ideen führt zu neuen Ideen“, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2008; The 2nd Moscow Biennale, 2007.

Picture of Kerstin by Frank Sygusch, 2006