Katja Loher
Katja Loher is a leader among the next generation of video artists. Her work takes video out of the conventional context it is associated with, such as the black box or projection screen, and moves it towards sculpture and installation, a fact which Loher emphasizes by referring to her pieces as “video sculpture.” The borders of her chimerical world exist within hanging, hand blown glass bubbles, dining room tables and chairs, wine carafes, and wall-mounted structures. She refers to her concept of creating idealized artificial worlds that sit in harmony with our own reality, that is often unpleasant, as "aggressive beauty." Loher films her subjects against a green screen, choreographing dancers dressed in costumes of her design, in addition to realizing all other aspects of production—filming, editing and often even hand-blowing her glass elements. Accompanied by peculiar soundtracks, her characters appear to have gracefully landed on earth like sparkling molecules of a Technicolor rainbow. “My video sculptures attempt to free the moving image from technology,” states Loher, “I see art as a language, and technology is merely auxiliary."
Loher's work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, MuBE, Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, …
Katja Loher is a leader among the next generation of video artists. Her work takes video out of the conventional context it is associated with, such as the black box or projection screen, and moves it towards sculpture and installation, a fact which Loher emphasizes by referring to her pieces as “video sculpture.” The borders of her chimerical world exist within hanging, hand blown glass bubbles, dining room tables and chairs, wine carafes, and wall-mounted structures. She refers to her concept of creating idealized artificial worlds that sit in harmony with our own reality, that is often unpleasant, as "aggressive beauty." Loher films her subjects against a green screen, choreographing dancers dressed in costumes of her design, in addition to realizing all other aspects of production—filming, editing and often even hand-blowing her glass elements. Accompanied by peculiar soundtracks, her characters appear to have gracefully landed on earth like sparkling molecules of a Technicolor rainbow. “My video sculptures attempt to free the moving image from technology,” states Loher, “I see art as a language, and technology is merely auxiliary."
Loher's work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions worldwide, including Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, MuBE, Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, São Paulo, Brazil, MAXXI Museum, Rome, Italy, United Nations Pavilion, Shanghai Expo, China, SIGGRAPH Asia, Yokohama, Japan and Art Digital, Moscow, Russia. She recently received several awards including TPC CreaTVty Award from the Swiss TV Production Center, and artist residencies in New York, Berlin and Beijing.
Courtesy of C24 Gallery
21C Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
eN Arts Collection, Tokyo, Japan
GC. AC - Galleria Comunale d‘Arte Contemporanea of Monfalcone, Italy
Horsecross Collection, Permanent Collection of Digital Art, Perth, UK
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, USA
