Peruvian-austrian artist, *1984 in Germany
Currently based in Hannover, Germany
mail@mercedeswagner.com
My artistic practice is based on photographic image and its represantative functions, the subjects mostly center on the gesture of displaying. Hence, my works often refer to the mediation of knowledge, culture and the context of science, while they deal with mundane topics. The examination of the trivial opens wider contexts of historic, economic and social conditions that shape our present. In this context everyday objects, cultural practices, language and artifacts in a wider sense serve as proxies for abstract concepts of culture and identity. In order to turn those interrelations perceptible for the viewer my works make use of the photographic image and its documentary and staging qualities as equal and concurrent layers. While media-reflexive aspects remain underlying, my work is rather about providing space for enquiries than trying to give answers through claims to reality. By creating frames of references using both still and moving images my site-specific installations, video works and books try to question our concepts of reality as constructs of a binary and hierarchic system. Arranging but also broading those networks of connotations, my works implement spatial and temporal aspects, sound, text and materials.
I like to think of my works as photographic spaces that create alternative possibilities of reality by questioning the viewer’s visual mind set. Thus, my work deals with our relation towards the photographic image, the depicted and its perception.
Education
2013 - 2018 MA Photography Studies and Practice, Folkwang University of the Arts Essen, GER
2015 - 2016 Research and study trips in Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Chile, Brazil
2015 Masterclass Contemporary Photography, Centro de la Imagen Lima, PE
2006 - 2011 BA Scenography and Costume, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover, GER
2004 - 2005 Philosophy, Gender Studies, Economic/Social Studies, Georg-August-University Goettingen, GER
Grants
2019 Individual Artistic Development, project funding by the Federal Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, GER
2018 Individual Artistic Development, research grant by the Federal Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, GER
Project Funding, The Society of Friends & Sponsors of the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen, GER
Deutschlandstipendium, scholarship by the Federal Government of Germany, GER
2017 Folkwang Prize 2017, Nomination, Folkwang University of the Arts Essen, GER
Exhibitions
2020 Open Studios, Kulturetage Ihmezentrum, Hannover, GER
2019 Made in..., Kunsthaus Essen, GER
2018 Folkwang Finale, Sanaa Building, Zollverein Essen, GER
International Young Photographers, Daegu Photo Biennale 2018, Daeguart Factory, Daegu, KOR
VideoScreening, Rundgang 2018, Zollverein Essen, GER
Touch, Raum Z13 Essen, GER (solo)
Photoprojekte Bauschau 2007-2018, Baustelle Schaustelle Duesseldorf, Photo Duesseldorf, GER
You there, us here, W-10 Gallery FIU Miami, USA
2017 LIQUID LAYERS même l’eau a l’air fausse, Galerie52 Essen, GER (solo)
Before Miami, Baustelle Schaustelle Essen, GER
Folkwang Preis 2017, Sanaa Building Zollverein, Essen, GER
Stopover, UG im Folkwang, Museum Folkwang, Essen, GER
2014 Rundgang Fotografie, Auktionshaus Schützenbahn, Essen, GER
Krisen des Sichtbaren, Pasinger Fabrik, Munich, GER
2011 ...können wir das bitte sehen?, Ballhof, Hannover, GER
2010 Vol. 10, Seilbahn Expo Plaza, Hannover, GER
Publication Contributions
2018 Encounter V History of Photography in Daegu, International Young Photographers Exhibition, Photo Artists
Society of Korea: Photography Exhibition, Fringe Photo Festival, Galleries Association of Daegu: Special
Photography Exhibition, catalogue, Daegu Photo Biennale 2018, Daegu, KOR
International Young Photography Exhibition, catalogue, Daegu Photo Biennale 2018, Daegu, KOR
2017 Stopover, brochure, UG im Folkwang, Museum Folkwang Essen, GER
Irgend, artist's book, hand-made, Essen, GER
2014 Schöne neue Welt, HANT Magazine for Photography, No. 04, Erfurt, GER
Folkwang UdK, brochure, Photokina Academy 2014, Cologne, GER
Texts
2020 Über weites Wasser, Flusser Studies 29 – 2020 / Centennial Three-Part Issue, flusserstudies.net
2018 Ein fotografischer Körper? Aktivität und Passivität eines theoretischen Objekts. MA thesis, Folkwang
University of the Arts Essen, GER
Activities and Collaborations
2017 / 18 Student council, appointment process, Photography & Time-Based Media,
Folkwang University Essen, GER
2017 - 18 Collaborator, Baustelle Schaustelle Space for Young Art Essen / Duesseldorf, GER
2013 Scenography (with Mona Lühring), Playground Love, motion picture, directed by Nils Loof, GER
2009 / 10 Scenography and Costume, Disco Pigs, role play by Enda Walsh, directed by Titus Georgi, Studio
Theatre, Hannover, GER