Ulrike Ottinger

Distant cultures, exotic images: the most important works by the photographer and filmmaker.

After starting out as a painter, curator, and publisher in the sixties, Ulrike Ottinger (*1942 in Konstanz) found her artistic home in the medium of film. In her numerous projects she has developed an inimitable, unconventional imagery that seldom permits a clear separation between documentary and fiction. Her works thrive on the dialogue between the two poles.

With the trilogy Bildnis einer Trinkerin—Aller jamais retour (Portrait of a Female Drunkard—Ticket of No Return, 1979), Freak Orlando (1981), and Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press, 1984), Ottinger created a monument to her hometown of Berlin while at the same time producing an absurd, theatrical, and historically charged universe. This publication presents her most important works, including the eight-channel installation Floating Food (2011), in which the artist provides an audiovisual summary of her journeys to distant lands and cultures, drawing attention to cultural phenomena and rituals.