Susanne Kriemann (*1972 in Erlangen, lives and works in Berlin and Karlsruhe) is Professor of Code&Image at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design. She is also co-founder of the artist initiative ABA in Berlin, which has been exploring research as an important component of artistic practice and has been running an artist-in-residence program itself since 2010.

Kriemann examines the medium of photography in the context of social history and archival practice. In the expanded sense of the photographic document, she understands the world as an analog ‘recording system’ of man-made processes. Addressing ecological issues is an important concern of her work.

Kriemann’s work is exhibited internationally, including at the C/O Berlin, The Wattis Institute San Francisco, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Kunsthalle Winterthur. Recent solo exhibitions have been shown at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, the Salonul de proiecte in Bucharest and the Photographic Center, Tampere. This year, works will be shown at Kunst Haus Wien and the Diriyah Biennale, among others. Kriemann has participated in the 3rd Chennai Photo Biennale, the 4th Kyiv Biennale, the 11th Shanghai Biennale, the 10th and 11th Gothenburg Biennale and the 5th Berlin Biennale. She has also held artist residencies at the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the Goethe-Institut Sri-Lanka in Colombo. Publications play an important role in her artistic practice; she has published seventeen artist books since 1998.

Further informationen: https://susannekriemann.info/

With regard to the second residency of the artist program of the University of Siegen in collaboration with the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen, the jury has received once again impressive concepts in terms of quality and diversity. The jury was particularly impressed by the artistic project and work of Susanne Kriemann (*1972, lives and works in Berlin and Karlsruhe). She is Professor of Code&Image at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design and co-founder of the artist initiative ABA in Berlin, which has been exploring research as an important component of artistic practice and has been running an artist-in-residence program itself since 2010.

Kriemann examines the medium of photography in the context of social history and archival practice. In the expanded sense of the photographic document, she understands the world as an analog ‘recording system’ of man-made processes. This has led to an artistic examination of radioactivity, mining and archaeology. Ecological issues are always the main focus of her work. The idea of contaminated areas as huge, light-sensitive fields provides the key to her understanding of landscape. Another special feature is the extraction of pigments from the investigated material and their use in the production of her paintings.

In collaboration with scholars of the University of Siegen as well as the people of the city of Siegen, Susanne Kriemann aims at taking a look at the abundant ruderal vegetation in urban spaces with her research project ‘Hey Bitterkraut, dear cyborg’ (working title). That means, she is interested in plants growing under highways, for example, as well as in the people who are not aware of the benefits of these ‘cyborg plants’. In previous projects, the artist has been engaging with false chamomile, wild carrot, bitterweed and other plant species that have the ability to absorb and store pollutants from the soil. In her works, analog and digital photographic processes intertwine and combine with photosynthesis. Kriemann searches for new visual languages that make the pollution of our environment and the interactions between humans, nature, architecture and technology visible.

Siegen, January 2024

Members of the international external Advisory Board for the academic year 2023/24 in alphabetical order:

Ellen Blumenstein
Curator of HafenCity and the model project Imagine the City, Hamburg

Prof. Dr. Joseph Imorde
Professor of Theory and History, Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin

Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung
Director of Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin

Britta Peters
Artistic Director of Urbane Künste Ruhr, Bochum

Dr. Eva Schmidt
Curator and Author, Director of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (retired)

Joanna Warsza
Curator of Fine Arts in Public Space, Senior Lecturer at the CuratorLab at the Konstfack, Stockholm

Axel Wieder
Director Bergen Kunsthall, Norwegen

Members of the expert jury for the academic year 2022/23 in alphabetical order:

Prof. Mariana Castillo Deball
Professor of Sculpture, Kunstakademie Münster

Jennifer Cierlitza
Managing director and Curator, Kunstverein Siegen e.V.

Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Eva von Engelberg
Professor of Architectural History, University of Siegen

Prof. Uschi Huber
Professor of Photography, Department of Art, School of Education, Architecture and the Arts, University of
Siegen

Dr. Karin Kolb
Director of the Siegerlandmuseum am Oberen Schloss, Siegen

Thomas Thiel
Director of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen