Today we’d like to introduce you to Angelika Rinnhofer.
Angelika, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
In 1995, I immigrated to the US from Germany, where I had attended art school and subsequently trained as a commercial photographer. After several years of expanding my proficiency by working in various photography studios, I established my business as a freelance photographer. After emigrating to America, I had to put my photography career on hold for a few years. Starting and making a life in America is difficult. Eventually, I began to make pictures again, and after a life-changing artist residency in upstate New York, I was motivated to prepare for my life as a non-commercial artist. At the same time, I became increasingly interested in collaborating with young adults on photography projects, which led me to start a teaching career. In 2009, while working toward my MFA degree in New Media/Photography, I made my experience as a migrant the topic of my dissertation and my studio art project.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I work primarily in photography, video, dance, and performance, but sometimes I incorporate non-traditional art media such as baking, gaming, and trace making. In my work, I reflect on the feeling of belonging and the effect of memory on my sense of affinity. Uprooting, re-settling, and remembering have been paramount considerations in my art practice.
My projects always take years to complete. There are multiple layers and facets to my works, and often they are collaborations with people across continents. My most recent project “a priori” is a collection of narratives of individuals in Germany, Canada, the US, and Israel, whose curiosity and attempts to make sense of memories, stories, and facts eventually led to the disclosure of their Jewish ancestry. I take large-format black and white photographs of my participants and of objects significant to their findings, and audio-record and videotape our conversations. I transcribe the interviews, handwriting them on large sheets of vellum. Then I adhere the sheets to a wall, thus assembling an ethereal layer of paper on which words become gestures. Each hanging sheet forms a cone, a funnel of sorts, emphasizing its sculptural quality, but also its function as a portal for my participants’ stories of discovery.
“flüstergewürz” is a collaboration between amateur bakers in Nuremberg, Germany and Beacon, NY. The ingredients for traditional German cookie recipes are exchanged with ingredients indigenous to the American continent and then baked. The cookies serve as currency to pay narrators who volunteer to tell anecdotes relating to Nuremberg. The recorded stories are archived at the Fembohaus, Nuremberg’s city museum. With “flüstergewürz” I reflect on the impact of globalization, and on the significance of personal histories to form a community’s historical archive.
“Put a Lid on it Already” is an installation of plastic bottle caps, executed by students in Manila, Philippines. My concept for it speaks to the threat that plastic lids, ending up in oceans, pose for marine life.
My projects “Menschenkunde,” “Felsenfest,” and “Seelensucht” refer to my analysis of traditions, archives, and chronicles, all essential in forming a culture’s identity and a person’s subjectivity.
Currently, I am preparing a project about the history of the taking of the American terrain. I intend to collaborate with high school students to research how the land they live on as part of a community was acquired or taken. These research results will inform the concept and implementation of the artwork.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
A few, here are some: 1. Don’t ever let anybody tell you what you can and can’t be or do! 2. Embrace critiques, no matter how devastating they may be! 3. Don’t take art and yourself too seriously. 4. Don’t compare yourself to others. If you do that you get stuck. Making art is not a competition, even though the art world acts as if it were. 5. Never stop thinking, reading about, and looking at art. There are times when you can’t make the work you wish you could for whatever reason. Other artists have been in similar situations. You’ll find a way out of it. 6. Embrace change. It’ll inspire you.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
https://www.kopeikingallery.com/artists/angelika-rinnhofer
https://www.lightwork.org/archive/angelika-rinnhofer/
http://www.photolucida.org/cm15/finalists/portal/artists/Rinnhofer_A.html#empty
http://inspicio.fiu.edu/video-categories/angelika-rinnhofer-portraits-of-truth/
http://asmfa2.blogspot.com/
https://www.itsliquid.com/interview-angelika-rinnhofer.html
Links to individual videos:
https://vimeo.com/207035865
https://vimeo.com/111170493
https://vimeo.com/97569915
I hope to continue to exhibit my project “a priori”. I am not exclusively looking for traditional gallery spaces but for university galleries, synagogues, hospitals, schools, etc.
I am looking for grant money to begin the project about the taking of the American terrain. I envision it as a traveling project, presenting it to schools throughout the US.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.angelikarinnhofer.com
- Email: angelika.rinnhofer@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artschoolprep/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aprioribook/
- Other: http://www.prep4artschool.com/
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
