Boterknieën

Matyn makes images that tell us something about codes; the system of values and habits of a person or a group. Sometimes it results in a portrait in the traditional sense of the word, but often her photos show constellations of lifeless things. Weird constructions, foto-albums, collections, interiors: almost insignificant objects, but animated by the significance that is given to them.

As a consequence, in her photos, even when abandoned places or elements of nature are portrayed, people are always present. Objects become “charged” by their actions and convictions. Because of that, the landscape or the architecture from the habitat are equally as expressive to the photographer as those who retreat to them.

The sensitivity for places that characterizes Matyn’s practice, reflects as well itself in the installations where those images finally find a place. Installations that place the audience in an unknown surrounding forcing them out of their distant position.

The performance collective Bissy Bunder focuses on action theatre, making performances for specific occasions and places, often inviting musicians to accompany them with live music. Their performances are a mixture of current events, popular culture, literature, art, folklore and history. Through the logics of a dream, storylines are mingled with experimental sound, costumes, props and stage settings. Bissy Bunder’s members are Johanna Trudzinski (DE), Julia Wlodkowski (DE), Kati Heck (DE), Michèle Matyn (BE), Tina Schott (DE) and Rani Bageria (AUT).