groundmagazine
issue
08
nadine hottenrott
Nadine Hottenrott Cross-Pollination by Sid Cocain
Funnily enough, I had met Nadine before, although neither of us could remember exactly where or when. I did however remember her work that I had caught completely by accident several months earlier. It was at the Kunstvlaai (Art Pie), an art and design thoroughfare held in the Amsterdam Westerpark in May 2010 and it was only after our editor-in-chief at Groundmagazine had asked me to write a piece on Nadine’s new photography series that I realised, while doing some research, I had already experienced her work first-hand.
I can recall the Kunstvlaai fare was spectacularly bizarre and it opened the most creative, and perhaps even disturbed, minds in Amsterdam to the general public. It was a menagerie of live performance art, video, sound and sculpture that left me with an experience like Alex DeLarge hearing Beethoven’s 9th after the therapy. That was, until I came across Nadine’s installation. This is the only exhibit that I can vividly recollect from the show. There was an open square, bordered on 3 sides with white fencing. Inside was a colony of 6 hats standing tall upon thin black stands.
The hats were all seemingly historical and radiated importance, from times when the society would cavort in grand fashions. Adjacent to the hats hung the collection of accompanying photographs, intimate portraits of women wearing the hats, each of them offering refined realism emphasised by the impassive yet fragile stare each of them carried. This installation cleaned my minds palate as I pondered the stark pictorials against the flourish and fragrant elegance of the hats themselves. I walked around and through them, sensing the pride and history between the weave of national identity. It was this sense that connected me to the installation, as I am not generally a hat kind-of guy and couldn’t see any of the collection actually suiting me.
National pride however is something that is carried within everyone’s heart, and Nadine has become
particularly recognised for the stoic portrayal of this subject within her art:
“As soon as you are apparently interested in German national identity or national culture you come by me, so that is really nice. I am quite happy about that. An old school friend of mine found out about me and my work online. He teaches Philosophy and German and his research has lead him to me.” Nadine Hottenrott is a graduate of the infamous Rietveld and Sandberg academies, mastering in photography and fine arts. Nadine also boasts a magnificent talent with textiles and crafts, and her patience and skill cannot be more evident then when you see the hats – which were all handcrafted by Nadine herself, taking the designs from the pages of German history.
“I was always interested in art crafts, and the making of them, ‘haptisch’ as we say in German. The more colourful hats are
for young girls, unmarried women. The black ones and the veil are for older women, married women. It’s like when you are married, you are halfway to being a widow.”
Her library brags books from all over the world representing various cultural crafts from traditional American quilt-making to Russian hand-made… everything!
Nadine represents these forgotten arts within her photography, using the skills of the past to emphasise the question for the present. A perfect example of this would be Nadine’s photograph of her large hand-made crochet of the swastika, featured in the Mr Motley arts and craft magazine online. The latent theme behind most of her work is her passion for the crafts, making more eloquent the suggestions behind her photography. Nadine compares her photographic style to that of ‘slowcooking’, requiring patience and flair and attention to detail: “It comes from the technique I’m using, as I’m doing slow photography. Analogue, medium format, with a very heavy tripod which forces me to concentrate and slow down. I have to take decisions and stick to it. I have to take the pictures I have in my head”. Nadine’s photography is unique in its expressions of theme and philosophy. Her pictures radiate not only visual representation, but they also involve the viewer by asking questions both social and political nature. These new-millennium philosophies are softly encapsulated within each frame and confide questions that motivate personally, as well as a society. When Nadine’s photographs ask us something, there is rarely a simple answer.
For the making of her latest works – and first intentional photographic series called CrossPollination, Nadine is asking a question of authenticity. Have we as a society outgrown our need to be authentic? Have we personally lost touch with our roots, in today’s global village where we can communicate and experience life and culture anywhere in the world? This series focuses our attention splendidly upon the question, just how authentic is the criss-cross pollination culture of modern times? The idea came to her during her residencies in the United States: “In 2008/2009 I spent several months in California where Hispanic gang activity is a part of everyday life in certain districts of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
portraits of models welcomes the viewer into the subjects personal space, almost like an introduction of mutual friends. The closeness of this relationship is felt immediately as you meet face-to-face and eye-toeye with each photo. And as the intended theme is of cultural authenticity, many are garbed with clothing and tattoos that can be considered tribal and non-western, as well the more typical modern clothing of our age. Given the nature of the personal and perhaps even politically incorrect nature of the question each picture in the series asks, it is initially difficult and unsettling to reflect judgement upon which pictures are authentic – or not, and I found myself in the no mans land of personal opinion and society’s pressure of tolerance, unwilling to. This in itself is very refreshing. The evolution of light comprised in each piece of the series is also in on the act. It nurtures not only time, but the character of the visage. It asks another question to the question being asked, not only is the authenticity of the demeanour and garments of the portrait in question, but also the moment itself.
Neck tattoos are one way to recognize each other’s members and to know how high the person is in the gang’s hierarchy. This series of pictures is Once being back in Amsterdam, I saw that neck something that you cannot just tattoos have found their way into nightlife circles. Here it does not identify you as a gang-banger or put down. You carry away with you their drug dealer but as someone who knows his/her way in the party scene.”
Authenticity is a curious tune when played alongside the bass drum of national identity. A question of influence, and how we view each other, often without the foundation of recognisable relative history. And as some influences are popularised by media, just how authentic is authenticity? Do we feel a part of the traditions and heritage of where we come from? Or has our comfort zone shifted necessarily to incorporate the cultural expansion of today? The Cross-Pollination series is instantly recognisable as Nadine’s, her signature of tight
question and I found myself walking down the street, questioning not only the authenticity of others, but also myself, an expatriate living in another country and far enough away from my own heritage to almost not feel its pulse within my blood. Almost, but not quite. Yet I wouldn’t have realised this if I had not had the opportunity to review these works of Nadine and found myself reflected in the faces. Nadine is publishing this series as part of a collaboration with Groundmagazine and it is my hope that I again get the chance to write a piece regarding Nadine Hottenrott. Particularly if they involve some of the other ongoing projects we discussed during the interview, or some more pasta with courgettes.
Nadine Hottenrott spoke exclusively to Sid Cocain, 07/10
Barbara 2010 >
Lukas 2010 >
Jonas I 2010 >
< Jonas II 2010
Hendrik -Jan 2010 >
< Minke 2010
< Oliver 2010
Rutger 2010 >
< Stephane 2010
COLOPHON
Photography: Š Nadine Hottenrott text: Sid Cocain GROUNDMAGAZINE Volkskrant gebouw Wibautstraat 150 - 4 hoog 1091 GR Amsterdam Netherlands Editor in chief: Mieke Woestenburg INFO www.hotterrott.com www.groundmagazine.org www.artpie.nl This publication has been made possible by the fonds BKVB
THE NETHERLANDS FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS, DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE