CÉLINE MANZ

Images: 1 Installation view during the Swiss Art Awards 2024; 2 Detail of the blood-infused latex sculptures 'Archaeology of Impurity'; 3 Wooden Floor with the infrasonic soundscape. Installation view of Swiss Art Awards 2024; 4 - 8 Screenshots website. Credits: Céline Manz, 2024; except 1: Courtesy Federal Office of Culture, Swiss Art Awards 2024, Gina Folly.

Unravelling Frequencies - Splatter

Website

Women, blood and abjection: 'Unravelling Frequencies- Splatter' examines the connection between Switzerland’s predominantly female victims during the persecution of witches and the belief in the toxic properties of menstrual blood, called Menotoxin. This superstition was popularized by the writings of the Swiss physician Paracelsus (1493 - 1541) and persisted until the late 20th century. This research based work consists of seismic audio recordings and organic materials which I collected situ at various locations in Switzerland where bloodshed linked to the persecutions of alleged witches took place. The work is presented as an installation that intertwines a research-website with an audio installation that activates the ‘Infrasonic Soundscape’ through a wooden floor, and ‘Archaeology of Impurity’, a series of sculptures including my ‘menotoxic’ blood. By mixing UV light with daylight, the installation aims to underscore the superstitions linked of the beliefs about women’s ‘toxic’ blood.

'Unravelling Frequencies' is dedicated to the motive of the ‘haunted woman’ viewed through the lens of feminist history, neuroscience, sound design and gender-based bias in medicine. It revolves around an experimental in-situ exploration of audio frequencies below 20 Hz that humans can’t hear but can feel - known as infrasound - and their role in reported experiences of ‘hauntings’. With help of microphones designed to record seismic measures, the project makes use of infrasound as a narrative device to critically re-evaluate the haunted pasts of various sites all over Europe.

Many thanks to the interviewees Daniele Papacella, Renata Giovanoli-Semadeni, Prof. Dr. Claudia Opitz-Belakhal, Dr. Andrea Gloor and Prof. Dr. Peter Brugger. To Dr. Dunja Kotschenreuther and Dr. Dr. Philippe Wanner (Pharmaziemuseum Basel) and Dr. med. Urs Leo Gantenbein (Paracelsus Project, University of Zurich) for their inputs on Paracelsus and Menstruum. To Natsuka Iwamoto Huber and the members of the Guides team from Château de Chillon for their generous help on site. To Norman Ries (ASAP Studios) for the replicas of the torturer‘s needle as well as the construction of the wooden floor, and to Alexandra Meyer for the blood drawing sessions. Much love to Andreas Schneitter and Jacqueline Manz. Realized as part of the Swiss Art Awards 2024.

Images: Details of the blood-infused latex sculptures Archaeology of Impurity. Installation view of Swiss Art Awards 2024. Credits: Céline Manz, 2024 Part of 'Unravelling Frequencies - Splatter'

Website

The series Archaeology of Impurity consists of various organic materials linked to the ancient superstition that female blood is toxic and vile. This persistent belief was not only widespread in folklore, it was also purported by the Swiss Renaissance physician Paracelsus and scientifically researched, but never proven, until the early 1980s. The alleged toxic property of menstrual blood was thought to be a gas that circulates in the whole body during a woman’s period, a toxin so powerful that it could be transmitted by touch. Latex in its liquid form shares the main toxic gaz allegedly produced by menstruating women, which made it the ideal canvas for these sculptures. They form a plastic archive that preserves various organic materials linked to the so-called impurity of female blood, including ‘menotoxic’ blood drawn from my own arm during menstruation, as well as plants and soil samples collected at locations in Switzerland where the blood of alleged witches was shed during torture or execution. The installation is presented in a twilight, mixing UV light with daylight, that activates the fluorescent pigments mixed into the latex, which aims to underscore the superstitions of these truly toxic beliefs.

Images: 1 The artist at Divoká Šárka Prague; 2 & 3 visitors experiencing the infrasound piece 'Divoká Šárka' during the Soirée at MeetFactory, Praha; 4 & 5 performers during 'Orgasm', Soirée at MeetFactory Prague; 6 vitrine containing printed matter relevant to the research; 7, 8 Screenshots website. Credits: Céline Manz, 2023; except 5,6 by Romany Kovacs, 2023.

'Unravelling Frequencies' is dedicated to the motive of the ‘haunted woman’ viewed through the lens of feminist history, neuroscience, sound design and gender-based bias in medicine. It revolves around an experimental in-situ exploration of audio frequencies below 20 Hz that humans can’t hear but can feel - known as infrasound - and their role in reported experiences of ‘hauntings’. With help of microphones designed to record seismic measures, the project makes use of infrasound as a narrative device to critically re-evaluate the haunted pasts of various sites all over Europe.

Unravelling Frequencies - Praha

Website

Kindly supported with a research grant by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

'Unravelling Frequencies - Praha' was the first entry to this archive. It is based on a research conducted in Prague, CZ, during a 3-month long residency in 2023 at MeetFactory Prague in partnership with the Swiss Embassy CZ. In Prague, I collected field recordings at various locations linked by the more than 1000-year history of the Dívčí válka (Maiden's War); the Divoká Šárka nature reserve, the former Divci Hrady Castle and the Institute of Sexology Prague, where clinical studies on female orgasm were conducted in the 1950s. With the help of specialized microphones I pursued the low-threshold, barely audible 'echoes' of the lived-in histories of these places. The field recordings are presented as a soundscape under the title 'Divoká Šárka' in an installation developed in dialogue with Markus Aebersold. Another work consists of an experimental reading of the Dívčí válka, recorded with a seismic microphone and a tin can. Lastly, electromagnetic recordings made at the Institute of Sexology in Prague are juxtaposed with a female voice reading the chapter 'Orgasmus' from Mladé manželství, a Czechoslovac marriage and sex guide published in 1970 that remained a best-selling book until the early 1990s. In the background, female and trans-masculine voices can be heard reading the descriptions of the book's illustrated sex positions. The book's misogynistic subtext left me with a deep feeling of unease that resulted in the performance 'Orgasm', presented at MeetFactory in August 2023.

My thanks to everybody that contributed to either the performance or the audio piece, namely Kateřina Pencová, Alena Broškova,Katarina Mamchur, Anna Kotvalová, Maria Aksinina and Marian Stafen and of course the audience that let this work come to life.

UV light, eye shadow, hair oil, fluorescent acrylic paint and UV-active pencils on tracing paper and duct tape.

Images: 1. Detail in UV light in my studio in Basel, 2023; 2 Installation view during the solo show 'Vessels' at DOCK Basel, 2024; 3 detail in daylight in the studio of MeetFactory Praha, summer 2023; 4 detail in UV light at MeetFactory Praha, 2023. Credits: 1,3,4 Céline Manz; 2 Catherin Schöberl.

This series of eight mixed media paintings explores pareidolia—the perception of apparently significant patterns or recognizable images, especially faces, in random or accidental arrangements of shapes. The title is derived from a pivotal scene in the film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's Gothic novel 'The Haunting of Hill House' (1959). Unlike the novel, the film suggests that protagonist Eleanor experiences pareidolia as a prelude to a ‚haunting‘. This scene serves as the entry point to the novel’s examination not as a ghost story but from the perspective of neuroscience.

In neuroscience, the feeling of being haunted is known as 'sense of presence,' prevalent in various health conditions. In autumn of 2023, I consulted with a neurologist to discuss several passages from the novel and explore some of the neurological and social factors behind Eleanor Vance's 'ghostly episodes'. As part of my performative research process, I then transcribed sentences from these passages with UV-active pencils onto tracing paper painted with Rorschach-like patterns made from eye shadow and hair oil mixed with fluorescent acrylic paint. Informed by studies showing that writing with the non-dominant hand can induce 'écriture automatique' and trigger dissociative episodes in certain individuals, I repeatedly transcribed the passages using my non-dominant "creative" hand, to induce a trance-like state.

The result is aesthetically reminiscent of the writings-on-the-wall trope in horror movies. Quotes from Shirley Jackson's novel, visible under both regular and ultraviolet light, are framed on a pictorial level by extracts from Jacques Derrida's 'Spectres of Marx'. In Derrida's philosophical framework, a ghost is defined as the persisting presence of past societal or cultural elements that signify an absence, thereby complementing what is present. The sections from Derrida's 'hauntology' were inscribed with a UV marker using my dominant "intellectual" hand, visible only under ultraviolet light, as a play on his thoughts on the 'visor effect: 'we do not see who looks at us'.

Images: Performers during 'Orgasm' as part of the installation 'Unravelling Frequencies - Praha', Soirée at MeetFactory Prague. Credit: Céline Manz, 2023.

'Unravelling Frequencies' is an experimental in-situ exploration of audio frequencies below 20 Hz that are imperceptible to human hearing but can be physically sensed - known as infrasound - and their role in reported experiences of ‘hauntings’. Scientific research has demonstrated that natural phenomena such as storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions emit infrasonic waves, eliciting discomfort or fight-or-flight responses. The initial premise of this research was the hypothesis that in societies where women were historically confined to domestic spaces, numerous reports of ‘hauntings’ could be attributed to such natural events. The haunting motif is thus employed to symbolize women’s social inequalities.

By examining various significant places for feminist history, the project aims to collect myths, anecdotes, scientific texts, and other materials related to female ‘hauntedness’ and compile these findings in an archive-in-progress. Utilizing microphones designed to capture seismic (infrasonic) sounds, I conduct in-situ investigations of locations I deem historically ‘haunted’ for women. The findings are presented in installations and websites where infrasound serves as the primary narrative device, reevaluating these ‘haunted’ histories from a contemporary point of view.

This multidisciplinary, ongoing project will include in-situ projects across various European locations over the coming years.

Online so far:

Website 'Unravelling Frequencies - Splatter', 2024

Website 'Unravelling Frequencies - Praha', 2023

Image: Wir spuken (engl. 'We're haunting'), 2022, Regionale 23, We are so many here, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022. Installation view (Room 12). Photos: 1 Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel, 2 onwards Céline Manz, 2022.

Awarded with the Regionale prize 2022 by Basler Kunstverein.

Following an invitation by the exhibition‘s curators I used the 150-year anniversary of Kunsthalle Basel as an opportunity to research the institution‘s archive. The result is an interactive installation dedicated to people with marginalized gender identities (cis women, trans, inter* and non-binary persons) who have exhibited at Kunsthalle Basel since its foundation in 1872. Many of those people were misjudged or dismissed as „amateurs“ because of their gender.

The work was presented across two walls in room 12. Two lists were placed on the wall on the right, documenting the names and exhibitions of persons with marginalized gender identities that have exhibited at Kunsthalle Basel between 1872 - 2022. On the left, seemingly empty wall, living fellow artists featured on the list and myself wrote down all the first names included in the lists with a UV-marker. Since remembering is an ongoing collective endeavour, hanging UV-flash lights invited visitors to bring these names to light themselves. The lists are now included in the archive and can be viewed on request at the library of Kunsthalle Basel.

A note on the content of the lists
Gender identity is a spectrum. The data collected here is unlikely to be complete. Not all people decide to make their gender identity - i.e. the inner knowledge and feeling about their own gender affiliation - public. At the same time, gender expression - the way people present their own gender in the form of first names, pronouns, clothing, etc. - is a social construct that is closely linked to one‘s era and culture. Hence, gender expression does not have to match a person‘s gender identity. In her research, Manz used the first names of the exhibitors as an indication of their gender identity. She also consulted with the team of Kunsthalle Basel and supplemented her research with an extensive internet and archive research. Despite the amount of research that produced this work, there may still be people missing from this list. If your name is missing, you are invited to email the artist in order to have it added. Conversely, if you do not wish your name to appear in this work, you can also inform the artist, and it will be removed.
E-mail address: info@celinemanz.com

With many thanks to the team at Kunsthalle Basel and the curators of the Regionale 23-exhibition. This text was created using the gender-inclusive font „Adelphe“ (© 2022 Eugénie Bidaut) from Typothèque Bye Bye Binary. Conception, compilation & layout © Céline Manz, 2022. For third party reproductions of this list, please contact the artist (she/her) at info@celinemanz.com.

Image: 1-4 Es spukt (engl. 'It's haunted'), 2022, Regionale 23, We are so many here, Kunsthalle Basel, 2022. Installation view (Library). Photos: Philipp Hänger / Kunsthalle Basel; 5 - 8 details of the UV-activated work in my studio in Basel in 2022, photos Céline Manz.

Es spukt (engl. It’s haunted) examines the intricate relationship between handicrafts and women. While handicrafts provided artistic expression for many women historically, the time-consuming transmission of these skills from mother to daughter also confined women to domestic spheres. Due to its association with free domestic labor, the enduring legacy and subversive power of handicrafts have been undervalued and considered 'amateur art' by highbrow art circles. Consequently, handicraft art developed largely outside mainstream art institutions, with many creators remaining anonymous. At Kunsthalle Basel, wool sculptures are displayed like a 'haunted house,' resembling colorful spider webs. Exhibited in the library's attic, just above the main exhibition halls, the installation references the institution's history. In 1878, Kunsthalle Basel hosted its only exhibition on handicrafts and artisan art, where the catalogue recorded two-thirds of the participants as male artisans, listed with their full names. In contrast, the women, making up one-third of the show, were mostly listed with titles like "Mrs," "Miss," or "Widow" followed by their surnames, implying their work was a trivial pastime. This lack of proper identification means we do not know these women today. Their names, as recorded in the exhibition's catalogue, are included in the list of 'Wir spuken' to honor these artists and their contributions to Kunsthalle Basel.

With many thanks to the team at Kunsthalle Basel and the curators of the Regionale 23 exhibition; Rut Himmelsbach, Cécile Hummel, Sophie Jung, Edit Oderbolz, Hannah Weinberger and Johannes Willi.

01.09. - 24.09.2022

Hosted by STUDIO 47.ORG .

In response to the ongoing global emergency the artists of Atelierhaus Klingental have launched a Donation ♥︎ Campaign, where a selection of their artworks can be purchased in exchange for donations to support people in urgent need of help. Donations can be made to UNHCR Switzerland, Glückskette or the LGBTQ Emergency Fund for Ukraine by Pink Cross, if you live in Switzerland you can deduct your donation from your taxes. You can find a step-by-step 'Donation Guide' PDF on the upper right corner of this website.

The Donation ♥︎ Campaign starts 01.09. with the Kunsttage Basel and lasts until the Kaserne Arealfest on 24.09.2022.

We are happy to welcome you to our group show on 23 and 24 September at Atelierhaus Klingental that will include all the donated artworks. The works can be purchased during the exhibition or beforehand via the instructions on this website.

Your contribution will make a change ♥︎

Happy browsing!

Exhibition opening hours: 23.09. 17 - 19h 24.09. 14 - 17h

Atelierhaus Klingental Kasernenhof 5 CH- 4058 Basel

Images: 1:Exhibition view of 'Stitches: scènes, corps, décors', group Show curated by Collectif détente at Le Commun, Geneva. Photo by Nicolas Delaroche Studio, 2021. 2+3: xhibition view of 'Stitches: scènes, corps, décors', group Show curated by Collectif détente at Le Commun, Geneva. Photo by Camille Regli, 2021.

Manz's interest in the representation and circulation of late artists' legacies was sparked by 'Rythme sans fin', a project examining the legal implications of reproductions by Sonia Delaunay-Terk. Her strict copyrights prevent museums from displaying reproductions of her works online, resulting in her 'invisible presence' where her works are represented only by captions. ¹ The project is a 3-part installation featuring a series of carpets, an edition, and 32.7 meters of fabric garlands with hand-stitched text.

The tradition of embroidery and tapestry in Europe, closely linked to female labor within the domestic context, has long been devalued as 'trivial', keeping women artists outside the sphere of 'high' art. Sociological research over the past 50 years shows this devaluation was perpetuated by a complex social framework that enabled the structural suppression of women by a white male elite, who kept women engaged in time-consuming activities like stitching and weaving.

'Syntheses Simulationistes' ² examines two artists, Sophie Taeuber and Sonia Delaunay-Terk, who bridged handicrafts and fine arts, paving the way for future women artists. Their impact on Modernism, with its ideal to integrate art into all aspects of life, allowed art to enter domestic spaces and vice versa. Using techniques employed by both artists in what Manz calls 'forensic performative research,' she compares their differing copyright statuses and tests strategies to make lesser-known aspects of their work from archives visible.

Manz discovered two texts in the respective artists' archives that offer insights into their creative processes and include instructions. Copyright laws allow Taeuber's text to be freely published. Manz translated and published it in a bilingual German/English poster edition, available in bookshops and libraries, titled 'Sophie Taeuber, Arp: Bemerkungen über den Unterricht im ornamentalen Entwerfen. / Remarks on the Instruction of Ornamental Design.' The edition, based on Taeuber's 1922 essay, features typographic ornaments inspired by her work and is published by STUDIO 47 PRESS.

The text from a letter by Delaunay-Terk to a renowned Basel-based sculptor is copyright protected and cannot be published. However, Manz uses legal loopholes to share it publicly. Two copyright exceptions allow this: quoting short excerpts and transforming the original text into a new work of art. Consequently, the text is displayed on 32.7 meters of hand-stitched patches, arranged on the wall like an abstract painting, inviting viewers to piece together their own narrative.

The installation includes patchworked 'simulationist' carpets made from reused and hand-dyed fabrics from the artist's closet, synthesizing designs by Delaunay-Terk and Taeuber. While the carpets' designs remain recognizable, the copyright status is ambiguous. The designs feature distinctive forms by Delaunay-Terk, arranged in grids from Taeuber, with color patterns blending both artists' use of shades and contrasts. This blurring of boundaries challenges the legal distinctions between 'public domain' and 'copyright protected,' raising questions about 'who owns the artwork.'

'Synthèses Simulationistes' was made possible with the support of Pro Helvetia.

Out now! Limited poster edition of Sophie Taeuber's Essay 'Remarks on the Instruction of Ornamental Design' which was published in 1922. For the first time available as an individual print, the text, which was the first of only two texts published by the artist during her lifetime, offers an exciting insight into Taeuber's working and teaching methods. The bilingual edition German / English is presented in the form of typographic ornaments that are based on Taeuber's work.

Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS.

CHF 9 | EUR 8.50 | GBP 7.50.

Sophie Taeuber, Arp: Bemerkungen über den Unterricht im ornamentalen Entwerfen. / Remarks on the Instruction of Ornamental Design.' Art edition printed in pantone colors on Munken Lynx Rough paper, 2 A2 poster DE / ENG. Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS, editioral and annotations by Céline Manz, editorial assistance and translation by Stefanie Bringezu and graphic design by Jules Estèves. With the support of Pro Helvetia. Edition of 500, printed by Healeys, UK. © STUDIO 47 PRESS, 2021.

Sold out.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Exclusive edition of porcelain plates in tribute of Sophie Taeuber commissioned by the Kunstmuseum Basel (Museum of Fine Arts Basel) on the occasion of the exhibition 'Sophie Taeuber-Arp; Living Abstraction'.

2 designs of 30 pieces each, signed. Dimensions: diameter approx. 20 cm, height 1.5 cm. Material: Limoges porcelain, decal foil. Care: dishwasher safe. However, it is recommended to wash the plates by hand.

This edition was part of the body of work ‚fold;‘ which is dedicated to the artist Sophie Taeuber. The motifs of these porcelain plates were inspired by works that Taeuber realized in the run-up to the Constructivist exhibition in Basel in 1937.

The porcelain plates were hand made with great care. Local suppliers were used to support regional workshops during the pandemic. The plates were turned by hand, glazed and fired by Sandra Häuptli Keramik, Basel, the decal foils printed by Lehmhuus, Aesch. The Basel artist Céline Manz designed, prepared and applied the decal foils one by one to the plates. Every plate was fired 3 times in the oven until it was completed. This gradual manufacturing process can lead to slight variations between the pieces.

Each porcelain plate was a unique homage to Taeuber‘s interdisciplinary work, which oscillates between applied art and fine art.

© Céline Manz 2020 / 2021

'fold;' is a multi-media installation based on a long time research that investigates the notions of copyrights, cultural heritage and issues of gender in art. As a follow-up on the project 'Rythme sans fin', it is centered around the effects of intellectual property on artist legacies after their deaths, when they are no longer in control of what happens to their work.

Building on Walter Benjamin’s idea of the reactivation of artworks, Manz aims to quote cultural artifacts and their makers back into existence through means of visibility. The project consists of several elements; case studies based on the example of Sophie Taeuber-Arp, a multidisciplinary Swiss Avant-Garde artist who, for the 70 years following her death (id est until her copyrights expired), was exceptionally difficult to research.

The work revolves around archival material - letters Taeuber wrote to her husband - and extracts of her oeuvre. These two elements are presented in an installation that juxtaposes various media ranging from text, performance, fabrics and sound. Manz is notably interested in examining the nuances between ‚being inspired by‘, copying and re-anacting, and which of these methods is the most effective for re-activating Sophie Taeuber‘s voice in a contemporary context.

The title ‚fold;’ refers to the folds in the letters and the folds created by draping fabrics. It is also a concept; as a verb, fold; refers to Manz’s practice of superposing and layering elements with the aim to create a new image.

Image: © Céline Manz 2019.

'fold;' was made possible through the support of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds for young Swiss Artists.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Work based on Taeuber's drawing 'Aubette 63' - the first version of the interior design of the 'Foyer-Bar' at the Aubette, which was rejected by Theo van Doesburg because it was 'too colourful'. The window is inspired by Taeuber's stained glass design, which was co-designed by Hans Arp, but that is incorrectly attributed to Theo van Doesburg and Hans Arp.

Images:1-6: Exhibition view of 'Regionale 22. Picturial Spaces' at Kunsthaus Baselland, 2021. photo © by Raphael Stucky. 7: Exhibition view of 'Regionale 22. Picturial Spaces' at Kunsthaus Baselland, 2021. Courtesy Kunsthaus Baselland, photo © by Gina Folly. 8-16: exhibition views of '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal, 2020. Courtesy Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE and Kasia Malec, l'Aubette 1928 and Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg, M. Bertola.

'9 espaces distincts' was made possible through the support of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds for young Swiss Artists.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Mixed media installation with fabrics (Jacquard weaving, embroidery, sewing, and prints on semitransparent silk), lights and audio.

This series tests various forms of 'Simulationisms'; the appropriation of a style or genre – and not of an existing work – in order to produce a new work in the same manner. Based on the oeuvre by Sophie Taeuber as an applied research into the nuances between art fraud and repetition.

Images: 01 Exhibition view of 'Regionale 21' at Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz (CH), photo courtesy Kunsthaus Baselland, © Gina Folly 2020.
02-05 Exhibition views from the solo show '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal. Courtesy: Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos: CE and Kasia Malec, 2020.

'fold; Simulationisms' is dedicated to circulate Sophie Taeuber's legacy in a contemporary context inside and outside of Switzerland; as an art installation within art institutions and as a 'travelling limited edition' also outside of art institutions in various venues all over Europe, such as Tiffany & Co.'s (Coventgarden, London). The organza silk flags are inspired by Sophie Taeuber's applied art and fine art oeuvres. The series is conceived as an intermediate between affordable art flags and sensuous scarfs. 9 different designs, 100 % silk, handwash only, edition of 10 + 2 AC, signed and numbered. Manufactured and printed in the UK by Think Positive Prints. 2017-2019. Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS.

On the occasion of Art Basel 2019, a selection of these designs was available at Ooid Store Basel.

CHF 500 / piece

Images: Courtesy © Ooid Store Basel, © Tiffany & Co's Coventgarden, London, © STUDIO 47 PRESS.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Exhibition views of 'fold; Tea Towels' - the second of two new works in honour of Sophie Taeuber's interior design work for l'Aubette 1928 - as part of the solo show '9 espaces distincts' at the Kunsthaus Langenthal.

The limited edition of handmade tea towels was made in collaboration with the Kunsthaus Langenthal. It is based on one of the frescos of Taeuber's '5 o'clock Tea Room' at the Aubette. For the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Langenthal, the tea towels are presented in an installation that partially recreates the distribution of the frescos. The tea towels are available for sale at the Kunsthaus Langenthal.

Images: 01 - 05 exhibition views '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal, courtesy Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE. 06 - 10 varying views of one tea towel © Céline Manz.

'9 espaces distincts' was made possible through the support of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds for young Swiss Artists.

Web version of full publication

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Multiple. Risography on various Munken papers, threads, ribbon, stitched cardboard box. 220x175x60 mm. Edition of 12 + 2 AC, signed and numbered. Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS.

Images: courtesy Céline Manz except 7 - 10: exhibition views of the solo show '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal, courtesy Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE, 2020.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'. Credit video: 'fold; DaDa Letters'. Performative lecture based on Manz's 'fold; The Letters'. Interpreted by Laura Lienhard at Ausstellungsraum Klingental during Kunsttage Basel 2021.

Part of the body of work 'fold;'.

Exhibition view of 'fold; Cape' as part of the group show 'DURST' curated by Alice Wilke at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna 2020.

"The exhibition explores various forms of vampirism as a metaphor of the interpersonal and ecological parasite. Immortality, seduction, violence – the combination of these attributes associated with the figure of the vampire has laid the ground for popular sex & crime stories for centuries. The myth of the blood-sucking creature is firmly anchored in society’s collective desires, fears, and drives. As is well known, Irishman Bram Stoker was not the first writer to focus on the figure of the vampire more closely – his famous novel "Dracula" (1897) was highly influenced by the work of his compatriot Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and his female vampire "Carmilla" (1872). But it was Stoker’s Dracula character who became the quintessential vampire. His tale is not only a classic of Gothic literature; it has also been interpreted as a metaphor for the hypocrisy and prudery of the Victorian era. With his Count, he created the perfect anti-hero: superhumanly strong, supernatural, uninhibited. Ever since, the vampire myth has adapted to societal contexts and conditions, along with a changing external appearance (from "Nosferatu" to "Twilight"). Secrets, power, sex, fetish, and anarchy are the political as well as aesthetic dimensions of the figure. The exhibition addresses the vampire and his/her enigmatic lifestyle as a fundamental sociocultural phenomenon: When vampirism is defined as the symbolic sucking of energy and resources from other living beings and our environment, the term can also be expanded to parasitic relations and toxic conditions – and doesn’t end with the fascinating character of a living blood-sucking undead. This exhibition stakes out the reception of the vampire myth in contemporary art, which is often conveyed through pop culture, and a broader semantic field that unfolds through the figure of the vampire."

The base of my contribution is a sketch of an unfinished work by Sophie Taeuber which was posthumously 'finished' by Hans Arp in which he used materials he considered being 'real art' - as opposed to textiles (which he did appreciate but didn't consider as 'serious art'). Using Taeuber's original sketch I recreate the motiv as an embroidery on the back of a cape - a reference to vampirism in art and as a tribute to this century-old craft and its many female makers which used embroidery as a form of escape and subversive self-expression.

Many thanks to Willi from Willi's Stickerei in Basel for the embroidery. Image courtesy Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, photos by © Eva Würdinger.

'fold; Rhythmic Sound Patterns' is a collaborative project between Jakob Warmenbol and Céline Manz. It is part of the body of work 'fold;' by Manz; a case study on the role of copyrights in posthumously edited narratives, and the issue of who gets to speak and whose voice gets to be heard on the example of Sophie Taeuber and Hans Arp. The project explores different forms of „voicing“ and encompasses several aspects of Sophie Taeuber’s personal and artistic legacy. Next to "fold; Ryhthmic Sound Patterns", the project encompasses a publication and a series of designs based on Taeuber‘s oeuvre. As part of the project, Manz asked the Brussels-based musician Jakob Warmenbol to create musical reactions that are based on artworks by Sophie Taeuber. For Taeuber, as was the case for many of her contemporaries, music and sound played a significant role in the creation of her work. The 'Rhythmic Sound Pattern's reverse that. Here, the image is the inspiration that creates the sound. The result is a series of experimental pieces of each 1.5 to 2.5 minutes. Each piece is named after the work it is inspired by. The full album with Jakob‘s musical interpretations of Taeuber‘s works was released for free download in May 2019 in the frame of the Regenerative Feedback Festival 2019 at Worm Rotterdam.

All tracks composed and performed by Jakob Warmenbol, Chicago, Ill, United States 2018/2019. Cover by Céline Manz 2018/2019. Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS.

Image: Jakob Warmenbol performing in the immersive installation by Céline Manz during the album release on the occasion of 'Regenerative Feedback' in May 2019 at Worm, Rotterdam. Curated and organized by S. de Jager. Courtesy Regenerative Feedback, photo by Cem Altīnöz.

"Die Rede" is a free edition of Meret Oppenheim's 'Acceptance speech for the art prize of the city of Basel' from 1975 where she famously said that 'Freedom is not a given, you have to take it'.

On the occasion of the solo show '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal this text was published for the first time alongside an undated, subsequently written annex by Oppenheim which I found during an extended research in the Swiss Literary Archives. In it, she expands on some of her concerns formulated within the speech. Visitors of the exhibition were invited to take a set of copies of the risograph-printed speech with them. I'm deeply thankful to Lisa Wenger - Meret Oppenheim's niece - for her generosity as well as to the Swiss Literary Archives which both played an important role in making this project possible.

The risographs printed by Gaspard Weissheimer in Basel.

Images: courtesy Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE and Kunsthaus Langenthal.

'9 espaces distincts' was made possible through the support of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds for young Swiss Artists.

Series of case studies that investigate issues around legacy and copyright in digital age.

Website including the research here

Images: 1-10 Kunsthalle Basel, courtesy of Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt, photos by Nici Jost, 11-16 exhibition views of solo show '9 espaces distincts' at Kunsthaus Langenthal, courtesy of Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE.

Website including the research

Limited edition of 8 unique photograms on the occasion of the London Open 2018 at Whitechapel Gallery. Waxed oak frames in size 42 x 29,7cm and UV glass, costum made by the Frame Factory in London.

"Potpourri (paraphrase to 'how to organize and harmonize a wall when you hang paintings')" is a new work on the legacy of Sonia Delaunay's legacy that is based on actual instructions I found in her archives. The work plays with the loophole of paraphrasing a text which allows to re-create her otherwise copyright restricted instructions in an installation that switches the paintings with plants.

Images: courtesy Kunsthaus Langenthal, photos by CE and Kunsthaus Langenthal.

'9 espaces distincts' was made possible through the support of the Kunstkredit Basel-Stadt and the Patronagefonds for young Swiss Artists.

Installation consisting of 5 Volcas, audioreactive EL-Wires, a mixer, speakers, wood and plexiglas. Installation views during ‚9 espaces distincs‘ at Kunsthaus Langenthal, 2020. Courtesy KhL. Photo: CE

Religious chants and avant-garde sound experiments intersect in this musical sequence based on Daphne Oram‘s work, the founder of BBC‘s electronic studio in 1958, and a composition by Hildegard von Bingen. This piece was created for the solo show ‚9 espaces distincts‘ at Kunsthaus Langenthal in 2020.

Exhibition views of 'Zeichnen heisst: weglassen' as part of 'Annemarie von Matt - widerstehlich' at Nidwaldner Museum in Stans, 2020 and 'Dessiner, c'est: supprimer' as part of 'Annemarie von Matt, je ne m'ennuie jamais, on m'ennuie', at Centre Culturel Suisse. Paris, 2020.

German version

The title of the work refers to a drawing by Annemarie von Matt and translates as 'to draw means to omit', the work itself constitutes of an interview that I conducted with a psychoanalyst on the subconscious effects of grieving on the formation of cultural heritage - namely the processes that come into play when an artist husband takes charge of the legacy of his dead artist wife. As a stay-at-home woman against her own wishes, Annemarie von Matt never gave up her vocation as an artist and continued to work in private, without showing her extensive oeuvre to the public. It was only years after her death that her husband Hans von Matt started to promote her legacy and try to get her oeuvre more known. The fact that his gaze was predominant in the creation of her current public image is reflected in the location of 'Zeichnen heisst: weglassen' , which takes form of an intervention in the permanent exhibition in the 'Annemarie und Hans von Matt room', where his oeuvre is facing the oeuvre of Annemarie von Matt.

Courtesy photos: Nidwaldner Museum: photos by Christian Hartmann and Céline Manz; Centre Culturel Suisse.Paris: photo by Margot Montigny.

Limited T-Shirt Edition of 'Annemarie von Matt - Blutzger Photo' on the occasion of the 2020 retrospectives ‚Annemarie von Matt - widerstehlich’ at Nidwaldner Museum Stans and 'Annemarie von Matt. Je ne m'ennuie jamais, on m'ennuie' at Centre culturel suisse. Paris. 100% organic cotton and available in selected sizes in the styles unisex and women. The title of the edition is ‚Annemarie geht auf Reisen’ which translates to ‚Annemarie goes travelling’ - an invitation to take Annemarie along with us on our journeys ♥︎

Published by STUDIO 47 PRESS

Many thanks to the Bildhauer Hans von Matt-Stiftung for making this possible. Images © Bildhauer Hans von Matt-Stiftung, Librairie du Centre Culturel Suisse.Paris and courtesy of the artist / STUDIO 47 PRESS 2020.

Exhibition view of 'I have crossed oceans of time to find you I & II' of the exhibition 'DURST' curated by Alice Wilke that explores various forms of vampirism as a metaphor at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich.

I have crossed oceans of time to find you I © Céline Manz, 2020

I have crossed oceans of time to find you II © Céline Manz, 2020

The title of the installation is based on the quote of Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula' from 1897, a quote now most famously known from Francis Ford Coppola's adaption from 1992. The work juxtaposes an animated video of the subversively coded still life 'Panaches de mer, lithophytes et coquilles' (1769) by Anne Vallayer-Coster, one of the very few accepted and successful female artists of her time, slowly drowning in water that turns into blood - with a video collage of found footage films of sunrises and sunsets which refers to the romanticized notions of the bliss of feminine passivity in domesticity that was propagated in novels since the 16th century and earlier, where the ‚outside world’ was a place of adventure which had to remain an eternal source of longing.

"Immortality, seduction, violence – the combination of these attributes associated with the figure of the vampire has laid the ground for popular sex & crime stories for centuries. The myth of the blood-sucking creature is firmly anchored in society’s collective desires, fears, and drives. As is well known, Irishman Bram Stoker was not the first writer to focus on the figure of the vampire more closely – his famous novel "Dracula" (1897) was highly influenced by the work of his compatriot Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and his female vampire "Carmilla" (1872). But it was Stoker’s Dracula character who became the quintessential vampire. His tale is not only a classic of Gothic literature; it has also been interpreted as a metaphor for the hypocrisy and prudery of the Victorian era. With his Count, he created the perfect anti-hero: superhumanly strong, supernatural, uninhibited. Ever since, the vampire myth has adapted to societal contexts and conditions, along with a changing external appearance (from "Nosferatu" to "Twilight"). Secrets, power, sex, fetish, and anarchy are the political as well as aesthetic dimensions of the figure. The exhibition addresses the vampire and his/her enigmatic lifestyle as a fundamental sociocultural phenomenon: When vampirism is defined as the symbolic sucking of energy and resources from other living beings and our environment, the term can also be expanded to parasitic relations and toxic conditions – and doesn’t end with the fascinating character of a living blood-sucking undead. This exhibition stakes out the reception of the vampire myth in contemporary art, which is often conveyed through pop culture, and a broader semantic field that unfolds through the figure of the vampire." - Press release.

Courtesy Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, photos by © Eva Würdinger.

Direct link here. Works best on a Laptop or Desktop Computer. Might not work on every Browser.

Scroll at your own pace through Arthur Aron's "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings." - or, as it is more commonly known; the "36 questions to fall in love with a stranger".

Part of deuxpiece presents: SCREEN_by ADA W. POTTER: 5 NEWSLETTER / 5 WEEKS / 5 ARTISTS - Aida Cheng (CN/USA), Esther Hunziker (CH), Céline Manz (CH), Jessie Stead (USA) & Daniela Brugger (CH).

Ada W. Potter's project SCREEN_ [ "screenspace"] is an email-based art "space" that produces monthly artworks, sent/received via email. Each participating artist creates a unique artwork for each installment. Email recipients are asked to subscribe. This opt-in structure is meant to elicit an engaged audience and help the project avoid spam status. Subscribe here

Link video

Comission for the group show "Chäs u Chole" at Kunsthaus Langenthal, Switzerland.

"Chees and Coal. A photographer from Gondiswil, Johann Schär (1855–1938) 3 x 3 contemporary approaches. David Elsener, Nicolas Fernandez, Matthias Gabi, Nina Haab, Urs Mannhart, Céline Manz, Valerio Moser, Nele Stecher, Maria Ursprung.

Stately farms, beautiful cows, proud cheese makers, youngsters and cheerful women picking berries in the forest – Johann Schär's photographic documentation of a sedate rural life at the beginning of the 20th Century has no comparison in its density and quality in Switzerland. The documentation of the coal surface-mining in and around Gondiswil is unique and gives an impressive testimonial of this rare activity of mining in Switzerland.

For the first time, Kunsthaus Langenthal presents an overview of Johann Schärs's (1855–1938) work. Over 4000 glas-negatives, historic prints, album and postcards were secured, researched and digitalized by Fotobüro Bern.

The exhibition was curated by Markus Schürpf (Fotobüro Bern) and will be accompanied by an extensive catalogue that will be published on 18 March 2017.

Under the title «3x3» the Kunsthaus invited nine artists and writers to approach the photographs by Johann Schär from a contemporary perspective and react to them with a new work." Source: Website Kunsthaus Langenthal

Episode for RietveldTV

Based on some of Hitchcock‘s notorious scenes that subverted the Hays Code and an artist‘s trials and tribulations to make the perfectly legal piece of appropriation art. The film humorously depicts some of the problems when working with appropriation within a European context that lacks the „Fair use“ exception.

Commissioned by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam, this episode aired on Dutch TV channel AT5. It was inspired by a real conversation during a collaboration that didn‘t materialize, in the context of my role as a guest tutor.

Contribution to the Pictures Generation issue of Metropolis M Magazine. Based on Sherrie Levine’s Statement from 1982, including plagiarized quotes by Sherrie Levine, Sarah Charlesworth and Barbara Kruger. Samples of interviews and artist statements given between 1981 and 2016:

THE TRIANGULAR NATURE OF DESIRE

I worked for many years using images from popular culture, but never related to the word ‘appropriation’. I'm not interested in stealing images. I want to know what this strange world of images is that I live in. This is why I deconstruct images, take them apart, to find out what they're made of, how they function and how they picture the world for us. A symbolism is attached to particular images, becomes marked in the unconscious. So I abstract objects that socially carry a strong emotional charge or symbolic significance. The arrangement of images is loaded in many different ways which allows multiple interpretations. The viewer completes the act of interpretation. It allows even contradictory interpretations. To me, a picture is a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centers of culture. To exorcise it, to rearrange it, to reshape it, to make it my own, involves unearthing it, describing it, deploying it in form, and then rearranging it. Casting my world back into the given world. It’s like a reformulation of language, a recreation of a new metaphor. I'm interested in as many layers of meaning as possible. The more you know, the more meaning and the more history can be brought to bear on it. Ergo the viewer is very, very important. He is the tablet on which all the quotations that make up an image are inscribed without any of them being lost, so to speak. I did a lot of commercial art for money and freelance illustration stuff when I was younger, so I do understand how magazines work. I use images drawn from that culture because I see in each piece an interface between my personal subjectivity and a given world. Being socialized within similar constructs of myth and desire, it is not surprising that most people are comforted by popular depictions. Sometimes these images emerge as ‘semblances of beauty;’ as confluences of desirous points. We have seen that pictures and words have become the rallying points for certain assumptions. There are assumptions of truth and falsity and the narratives of falsity are called fictions. In most design work, received images and words are arranged and aligned to produce assigned meanings. I am engaged in rearranging and realigning these dominant assignments. The idea is to broaden the discussion, not to narrow it. The idea of multiple images and mechanical reproduction fascinates me. When I first started to work as a commercial artist, I was really interested in how advertisers dealt with the idea of originality. If they wanted an image, they'd just take it. It was never an issue of morality; it was always an issue of utility. There was no sense that images belonged to someone; all images were in the public domain and as an artist I found that very liberating. I just imagined that they're mine. Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that copyright and so-called intellectual property is a euphemism for corporate control in so many ways. But don't get me wrong. I believe in copyright. I do. But it's been taken to such lengths. So much of our sense of art history is based on copies, fakes and forgeries. I think of originality as a trope. It's not that I don't think that the word ‘originality’ means anything or has no meaning. I just think it's gotten a very narrow meaning lately. What I think about in terms of my work is broadening the definitions of the word ‘original’. Sometimes when things are almost original they can be as disturbing. When it is close, but not the same, as the original, in my mind, there's a different kind of tension. The pictures I make are really ghosts of ghosts; their relationship to the original images is tertiary, that is, three or four times removed. I like to celebrate doubt and uncertainty. To provoke answers but don’t give them. To withhold absolute meaning by incorporating parasite meanings. As far as the visual presentation goes, I purposely avoid a high degree of difficulty. A lot of people are like me: they have relatively short attention spans. So I shoot for the window of opportunity. Whatever power, whatever affect the images have, works on its own. A new work should have as much aura as its reference. The tension between the reference and the new work doesn't really exist unless the new work has an auratic presence of its own. It's all about what the work makes you think about. Somebody would say, ‘They’re really awful but come to think of it, they’re really beautiful.’ A picture's meaning lies not in its origin, but in its destination.

STUDIO 47 is a collective reflection on property and ownership in digital age initiated by Céline Manz. The studio’s activities are complemented on the website studio-47.org. For information on the program please contact us here

STUDIO 47 originates from a coalition with the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Foam and De Appel and is part of the 3Package Deal, a program supported by the AFK and Bureau Broedplaatsen Amsterdam.

STUDIO 47 PRESS is the publishing platform of STUDIO 47. It is dedicated to multiples and small editions studio-47.org/press.

8 artworks and the corporate logos of their respective owners.

Series of physical and digital Logo-Reproductions of artworks that are the most representative pieces in the corporate art collection they belong to. A Logo-Reproduction is a technique that uses the corporate logo of a respective artwork owner as a digital brush. The reproductions are made on the occasion of the exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections – VBCN. Presented both on wall-filling advertising banners and a website, the BANNERs were juxtaposed with the original artworks that served as their models. The work is based on statistics made by the winners of the VBCN Open Curatorenprijs, Alix de Massiac and Vincent van Velsen. The exhibition united the most representative and the most exceptional art works from 29 Dutch corporate art collections. Exhibition views showing "Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken: Jeroen Henneman - Koningin Beatrix" and "AMC: Wouter van Riessen - Narcissen" made by Konstantin Guz.

Catalogue accompanying the installation BANNERs - 8 artworks and the corporate logos of their respective owners.

Commissioned work for the Dutch Art Magazine Metropolis M for the issue Nr 3 2014 - Summer of Love & Hate: Tribute to Ed van der Elsken.

After Ed van der Elsken's 'Beethovenstraat 1967'

Courtesy of Metropolis M

44 ColorWave poster prints in DIN A1. A catalogue of selected images from the A1-series in an edition of 25 was made in collaboration with Xavier Fernandez Fuentes, titled 'Hungry for Love'.

Nominated for the Gerrit Rietveld Award in Fine Arts 2013

Art - Das Kunstmagazin: Interview 06.05.2014

Riso and digital print, 16 pages, 10x14 cm

Manual that addresses all professionals working with found imagery. It provides an overview of copyright law, answers frequently asked questions about copying and originality, includes an appropriator’s checklist to determine copyright infringement, and lists further resources. Developed in collaboration with the copyright lawyer Annelies Lesuis, the booklet offers a detailed analysis of sample images using appropriated material. Following her legal advice, I created new, „legal“ versions of previously „illegal“ images.

The booklet is part of my thesis 'What do you know about art, you’re not a lawyer' for the Photography Department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam. Next to the booklet, the thesis also includes an essay that examines the potential legal repercussions of appropriation art, provides a historical overview, and discusses the legal definition of originality. A digital version of the 'User Guide' is accessible via intranet to all students of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Institute Amsterdam, and a printed copy is available at the library of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

Aude Debout, graphic designer, and Annelies Lesuis, lawyer specialized in copyright.

1 hour 28 minutes 04 seconds of clapping, webcam performance.

Video and audio installation.

Title inspired by Abigail Solomon-Godeau’s essay on photography and postmodernism. First reflections on gender representation in photography.

Photographs under hypnosis.
Rietveld Uncut is an annual happening at the Brakke Grond Art Center in Amsterdam. Each department of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie is invited to contribute a project. The 2011's edition theme was the living object. Taking the photographer's ambition to "photograph the beyond" by word, I asked a hypnotist to hypnotize me during the opening and convince me that I was able to photograph the invisible.

The Rorschach Tableaux are Inspired of Roland Barth's Essay "Camera Lucida", in which he describes his unability to -literally - recognize himself on photographs. These 4/5 inch analog portraits were abstracted in the darkroom. Following the principle that photography is a highly subjective medium, the viewer is invited to create his own projection on the person portrayed.

Extract from a series of photograms made with objects which belonged to my grandparents. Both of them had the habit of keeping whatever could be re-used again. When clearing their flat we found an extensive collection of neatly stored everyday objects; used wrapping paper, buttons, corks, elastics, nails, etc. I felt very attracted by these little objects which told my family's story over many years. Before throwing them away I used a part of this collection for an abstracted photographic review. By lightening the photographic paper indirectly with mirrors, glass and punctual lights, the photograms don't show their imprints but just their reflections.

Experiment.
Three photographs a day, all uploaded before midnight, dealing with the double meaning of the french word "vanité" (meaning both vanity and vanitas). As the capacity of free websites is limited, the project ended the day no further pages could be added.
Enter here.