Dennis Feser
Works
Galleries
Anita Beckers Gallery
Anita Beckers
Braubachstraße 9
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Phone: +49 69 73900967
E-Mail: info@galerie-beckers.de
Statement
Dennis Feser challenges the limits of performance, video, costume and sculpture. For his pieces, he develops physical extensions of the body that strangely oscillate between clothing, prosthesis and sculpture-like tumors. All of the video works visualize the attempt to dissolve the material boundaries between the self and the other, and at the same time, they show the failure of the attempt. Affecting not only their content, but also their form, is the structural ambivalence of these works: They flower out in long, serial repetitions in front of a camera and concentrate happenings, which took place over a period of several days, into rhythmic montages. Feser dramatizes the original material, structuring it with editing and samples, until the work takes on the quality of a performance clip. Both the elaborate montage and the sequencing of the editing emphasize the aspect of making or constructing. This way, the original material, with its characteristics of performance, no longer seems like an authentic, unrepeatable document. Instead, it is turned into raw material whose real meaning is first achieved by being refined and adjusted. In terms of media concepts, this is an extraordinarily clever move, a way to hook up the coolness and distance of video with the apparently unavoidable, urgent authenticity of the performative. Feser’s works unfold the phantasm of authenticity, referencing the basic theme of his work: identity must, of necessity, originate through a desire for an alterity that can never be fully attained. Or to put it another way: only when the self is transcended does self-awareness arise, yet it is precisely in the act of attempting transcendence that consciousness becomes aware of its limitations
Biography
Born 1978 in Bingen am Rhein
lives and works in Berlin and Wiesbaden
Education
2006-2007MFA (Meisterschüler), Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig; studied under Prof. Birgit Hein
2003-2006studied fine art at the HBK Braunschweig, majoring in experimental film, video art, and performance. Diploma in 2006.
2001-2003studied Visual Arts at the Akademie für Bildende Künste, Mainz
1999-2001studied Theater and Acting
Awards and grants
2014-15
Production Grant, German Film Board
2012
Project Grant, Goethe Institut Lagos, NG
2011-2012
Production Grant, Federal Cultural Foundation
2008
Project Grant, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn
Junge Kunst Grant from the City of Lemgo
2006-2007
DAAD postgraduate research grant, Brazil
2006
Capacete Residency, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2004
Film grant from the Landesfilmdienstes Rheinland Pfalz
Solo exhibitions
2009
on Tape, Städtische Galerie im Eichenmüllerhaus, Lemgo
2008
Melancholia, Galerie Gillian Morris, Berlin
Group exhibitions & festivals (selected)
2015
Int. Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (Dt. Wettbewerb)
TLANCHANA FEST, Festival de Cine y Arte Digital, Metepec, de México
Festival International de Video Experimental, Valparaíso, Chile
2014
steirischer herbst - Festival neuer Kunst, Graz, Österreich
Fragen wagen - Zusammenstöße mit der Sammlung Marta, Herford
Future Reflexions (Behaviour Festival Glasgow), Schottland
2013
The Bodies We Tell (Ravy Festival), Yaoundé, Kamerun
Time to Pretend (AFiRIperFOMA Performance Biennale 13), Harare, Simbabwe
Kurzfilmfestival Regensburg
2012
lagos_live, Goethe Institut, Lagos, NG
I put a spell on you - 7th International Media Art Biennale, Seoul, KR
in/compatible - Transmediale 12, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2011
Int. Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen
Video- und Dokumentarfilmfest, Kassel
Curator ´s Choice, Tape Modern, Berlin
2010
Fremde Bewohner, Roemer9 / Ev. Stadtakademie, Frankfurt am Main
Plateaux 2010 - New Positions in International Performing Arts, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt/Main
Vanvouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad - Culture Shock: Video Interventions at the QET, Queen Elizabeth Theater, Vancouver, CAN
2009
Selbstversuche, White Heat, Stuttgart, D, 2009
Performance // Frame, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/Main
Hier und anderswo - OWL 2, MARTa Herford
2008
BAC!08 réveile-toi! IX. International Festival of Contemporary Art, CCCB, Barcelona, E
Nordlichter/84. Herbstausstellung, Kunstverein Hannover
Berlin Deformes, Bienal de Performance, Santiago de Chile, CL
2007
Jardim das Delícias, Museu da Repuplica, Rio de Janeiro, BR
Deutsche Videokunst 2004-2006, FORO ARTISTICO, Hannover
Video, Kunsthalle Göppingen
2006
Nominierung zum 12. Marler Video-Kunst-Preis, Skulpturenmuseum Marl
Sex and Sadness, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, TR
Exploding Television - Satellite of Love, (Sex and Sadness TV Programm), Witte de With Contemporary Art Center, Rotterdam, NL
Dennis Feser
Born 1978 in Bingen am Rhein lives and works in Berlin and Wiesbaden Education 2006-2007MFA (Meisterschüler), Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Braunschweig; studied under Prof. Birgit Hein 2003-2006studied fine art at the HBK Braunschweig, majoring in experimental film, video art, and performance. Diploma in 2006. 2001-2003studied Visual Arts at the Akademie für Bildende Künste, Mainz 1999-2001studied Theater and Acting Awards and grants 2014-15 Production Grant, German Film Board 2012 Project Grant, Goethe Institut Lagos, NG 2011-2012 Production Grant, Federal Cultural Foundation 2008 Project Grant, Stiftung Kunstfonds, BonnJunge Kunst Grant from the City of Lemgo 2006-2007 DAAD postgraduate research grant, Brazil 2006 Capacete Residency, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2004 Film grant from the Landesfilmdienstes Rheinland Pfalz Solo exhibitions 2009on Tape, Städtische Galerie im Eichenmüllerhaus, Lemgo 2008Melancholia, Galerie Gillian Morris, Berlin Group exhibitions & festivals (selected) 2015 Int. Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen (Dt. Wettbewerb) TLANCHANA FEST, Festival de Cine y Arte Digital, Metepec, de México Festival International de Video Experimental, Valparaíso, Chile 2014 steirischer herbst - Festival neuer Kunst, Graz, Österreich Fragen wagen - Zusammenstöße mit der Sammlung Marta, Herford Future Reflexions (Behaviour Festival Glasgow), Schottland 2013 The Bodies We Tell (Ravy Festival), Yaoundé, Kamerun Time to Pretend (AFiRIperFOMA Performance Biennale 13), Harare, Simbabwe Kurzfilmfestival Regensburg 2012 lagos_live, Goethe Institut, Lagos, NG I put a spell on you - 7th International Media Art Biennale, Seoul, KR in/compatible - Transmediale 12, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin 2011 Int. Kurzfilmtage, Oberhausen Video- und Dokumentarfilmfest, Kassel Curator ´s Choice, Tape Modern, Berlin 2010 Fremde Bewohner, Roemer9 / Ev. Stadtakademie, Frankfurt am Main Plateaux 2010 - New Positions in International Performing Arts, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt/Main Vanvouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad - Culture Shock: Video Interventions at the QET, Queen Elizabeth Theater, Vancouver, CAN 2009 Selbstversuche, White Heat, Stuttgart, D, 2009 Performance // Frame, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt/Main Hier und anderswo - OWL 2, MARTa Herford 2008 BAC!08 réveile-toi! IX. International Festival of Contemporary Art, CCCB, Barcelona, E Nordlichter/84. Herbstausstellung, Kunstverein Hannover Berlin Deformes, Bienal de Performance, Santiago de Chile, CL 2007 Jardim das Delícias, Museu da Repuplica, Rio de Janeiro, BR Deutsche Videokunst 2004-2006, FORO ARTISTICO, Hannover Video, Kunsthalle Göppingen 2006 Nominierung zum 12. Marler Video-Kunst-Preis, Skulpturenmuseum Marl Sex and Sadness, Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, TR Exploding Television - Satellite of Love, (Sex and Sadness TV Programm), Witte de With Contemporary Art Center, Rotterdam, NL