Biography Ulrike Ottinger (Konstanz, Germany, 1942)
Ulrike Ottinger is a German filmmaker, documentarian and photographer that came to filmmaking in the early seventies via a career in the visual arts (painting, works on paper, photography, and performance). Her work has produced thousands of images (photographs, collections of postcards, cut-outs, illustrations and various iconographic documents), constituting the open archive of a life and an œuvre based on a principle of the collage of images and events. Film retrospectives and exhibitions of her work has taken place extensively all over the world, more recently in venues such as at the Goethe-Institut Belgrad, Belgrade (2009); International Women’s Film Festival, Seoul (2008); Museum for Contemporary Art, Warsaw (2008); Goethe-Institut Bordeaux (2008); Cineteca Nacional and Centro Cultural Aleman Mexico, Monterrey, Mexico City (2008); RED CAT & California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles (2008); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2008); Brussels Biennial (2008); Shanghai Biennal (2008); and the Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin (2007). She exhibited in Ulrike Ottinger, Bild Archive, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2004).
1942 Born in Konstanz, Germany
1962-1968 Artist in Paris
Script: Die Mongolische Doppelschublade
1969-1972 Founded and managed the film club Visuell and Galeriepress (gallery and publisher) in Konstanz
1972-1973 Film: Laokoon & Sons
1973 Film: Berlinfever ? Wolf Vostell. Documentation of a happening
1975 Film: The Enchantment of the Blue Sailor
(more information at www.ulrikeottinger.com)
1977 Film: Madame X ? An Absolute Ruler
1978 Photo exhibition: Ulrike Ottinger / Herbert Tobias, Hommage an Valeska Gert, Arsenal, Berlin
1979 Film: Ticket of No Return
1980 Photo exhibition and retrospective of films: Aperto, Biennale di Venezia, Venice
Publication: Madame X ? Eine absolute Herrscherin (script), Frankfurt a.M.: Stroemfeld/Roter Stern
1981 Film: Freak Orlando
Publication: Freak Orlando. Kleines Welttheater in fünf Episoden, Berlin: Medusa
Exhibition: Freak Orlando. Eine künstlerische Gesamtkonzeption, DAAD Galerie, Berlin
1983 Theatre: direction and stage design for Clara S. by Elfriede Jelinek, Staatstheater, Stuttgart
1983-1984 Film: Dorian Gray in the Mirror of the Yellow Press
1985 Film: China. The Arts ? The People
1986 Film: Superbia ? The Pride
Photo exhibition: China. The Arts ? The People, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (touring exhibition)
Photo exhibition and retrospective of films: Centre Simone de Beauvoir, Paris
Theatre: direction and stage design for Begierde und Fahrerlaubnis by Elfriede Jelinek, Steirischer Herbst, Graz
1987 Film: Usinimage
Photo exhibition: Camera Austria, Steirischer Herbst, Graz
Installation: Europa und der Stier for the exhibition From Totem to Lifestyle, Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (touring exhibition)
1989 Film: Johanna d?Arc of Mongolia
1990 Film: Countdown
Photo Exhibition and retrospective of films: Anthology Film Archives, New York
1991 Script: Diamond Dance
1992 Film: Taiga
Regents lecture and retrospective: UC Santa Barbara, California
Theatre: stage adaptation The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington
1993 Publication: Taiga. Eine Reise ins nördliche Land der Mongolen, Berlin: Nishen
Photo Exhibition: Taiga, Völkerkundemuseum, Zurich
Radio play: Taiga. Erzählungen aus dem nördlichen Land der Mongolen, SWF Baden-Baden, BR Munich, SFB Berlin
1995 Publication: Ulrike Ottinger, Berlin: Freunde der Deutschen Kinemathek (second edition 2001)
1997 Film: Exile Shanghai
Radio play: Exile Shanghai, SWF Baden-Baden, SFB Berlin
Exhibition: Leben im Wartesaal. Exil in Shanghai, Jewish Museum, Berlin
1998 Script: Die Blutgräfin
1999 Theatre: direction and stage design for Das Verlobungsfest im Feenreiche by Johann Nestroy, Steirischer Herbst, Graz
2000 Film: shooting of Southeast Passage in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Turkey
Retrospective: Museum of Modern Art and Anthology Film Archives, New York
Photo exhibition and retrospective of films: Berlin. City in Transition, Cinémathèque Ontario and Goethe Institute, Toronto
Photo exhibitions: Stills, David Zwirner Gallery, New York; Taiga, Goethe Institute, New York
Theatre: direction and stage design for Das Lebewohl by Elfriede Jelinek, Berliner Ensemble, Berlin
2001 Opera: direction and stage design for Effi Briest by Iris ter Schiphorst and Helmut Oehring, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
Photo exhibitions: Sessions, Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery, Berlin; Bild-Archive, Kunst-Werke, Berlin
Retrospective: Filmkunsthaus Babylon and Kino Arsenal, Berlin
2002 Films: Southeast Passage. A Journey to the New Blank Spots on the Map of Europe (more information at www.suedostpassage.com) and The Specimen
Photo exhibition and retrospective of films: Stills, Goethe Institute, Barcelona
Photo exhibition: Trafikantinnen, Frauen Museum, Bonn
Film: Ester. A Purim play in Berlin
2003-2004 Film: Twelve Chairs