Isabelle Wenzel (b. 1982, Germany) studied to be a photographer/artist, but is also a trained acrobat. Usually, she sets her own body before the camera. Within the seconds that the self-timer allows her, she assumes an impossible position and continues to hold it until the camera has clicked.
The central focus of the photographs of Isabelle Wenzel is the body as a physical form, rather than people themselves. By making a photograph, she freezes a pose in time as it were, and in doing so draws attention to the sculptural qualities of the body. In order to achieve a certain image, the manoeuvres need to be carried out repeatedly. In this way, Wenzel does her own little experimental performance in front of the camera, which captures it for us in ‘frozen’ form as a photograph.
Artist statement:
I stretched forward. Felt sensations of heaviness. Was overwhelmed by choice. Got lost. Stumbled. Failed. Started again. I’m a space in the landscape. A geological formation. A botanical shape. An island of isolation. A thinking body. Look at me in slow motion. Look at me frozen in time.
Isabelle Wenzel
Curriculum Vitae
Born 1982 in Wuppertal, Deutschland
Lives and works in Wuppertal
Education
2008-2010 Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, (NL)
2005-2008 Fachhochschule, Bielefeld, (DE)
Residencies / Nominations / Grants
2020 Arbeitsstipendium Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, DE
2016 Individuelle Projektförderung, Kunststiftung NRW, DE
2013 Jahresstipendium, Mondriaan Stiftung, Niederlande, NL
2011 Startstipendium, Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving, Bouwkunst, Amsterdam NL
2011 European Photo Exhibition Award - Körber-Stiftung, Hamburg DE
2010 Virtual Zoom, Fotografie Stipendium, Virtual Museum Zuidas, Amsterdam NL
2007 Des Prix-Leica, Fachhochschule Bielefeld, DE
Collections
Albert Heijn collection NL
ENECO Kunstcollectie, NL
SBK Kunstuitleen & Galerie, Amsterdam, NL
Kunstcollectie Ymere, Amsterdam, NL
FOAM/ Photographie Museum/ Amsterdam/ NL
VU MC Sammlung/ Amsterdam/ NL
Publications
2024 Play Buch, Art Paper Editions, BE
2020 Counting till ten, Art Paper Editions, BE
Up coming
June 2024, Fotografie-Forum, Aachen, DE
Solo Exhibitions
2024, Isabelle Wenzel, C41, Milan, IT
2024 Room of possibilities Expo Bart, Nijmegen, NL
2023 Best, Isabelle Wenzel, C41, Bim, Milan, IT
2022 Isabelle Wenzel, Tiger of Sweden, Schlacter, Berlin, DE
2022 Isabelle Wenzel, Galerie Bart @ approche, Paris, FR
2022 Dual Corpus, Galerie Bart, Amsterdam, NL
2021Bored in the house, Museum Jan Cunen, Oss, NL
2020 Counting till 10 – Solo – Galerie Bart, Amsterdam, NL
2017 ‘Unernstes unterfangen’, Galerie Bart, Amsterdam, NL
2016 London Art Fair, Solo, Galerie Bart, London, UK
2015 Scotiabank CONTACT Fotografie Festival, Isabelle Wenzel, Metro Hall Toronto, CA
2013 Isabelle Wenzel, what the body knows, 44 Gallery, Brugge, BE
2013 10 Seconds, Isabelle Wenzel, Rene Hauser Gallery, Zürich, CH
2013 I'D Like To Double Your Entendre, Warte für Kunst, Kassel, DE
2012 Solo, Isabelle Wenzel, Ku Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan, CN
2010 Building Images, Kunst Kapel, Amsterdam, Virtueel Museum Zuidas, Amsterdam NL
Selected group exhibitions
2023 Photo Tenniffa, TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, ESP
2023 Paris Photo, Thorsten Brinkmann, Jürgen Klauke, Annegret Soltau, Isabelle Wenzel
2023 Self on Stage, Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt, DE
2023 Anniversary Galerie BART, Amsterdam, NL
2023Group exhibition „ansitzen und weitblicken“, Sparkasse Wuppertal, DE
2022 Von draußen nach drinnen – Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal, DE
2021 Taste contemporary, Geneva, CHE
2021 Une Petite robe de fete – Galerie Regala, Arles, FR
2021 Galerie Bart – Photo Basel, CHE
2021 Galerie Bart – Unseen Amsterdam, NL
2021 Alte Glaserei, Normal, Wuppertal, DE
2021 B/U/ILD – Neuer Kunstverein Wuppertal, DE
2019 Emergent, Platform for contemporary art, Veurne, BE
2019 Pick Me – We Like Art at Collectie DE.GROEN, Arnhem, NL
2019 – Naak Of Bloot, Museum Jan Cunen, Oos, NL
2018 – Loch – Galerie – Let’s Pretent You Don’t Know Me, Anne Huijnen, Michel und Isabelle Wenzel, Wuppertal, DE
2018 – A Balancing Act – Kunsthal Amersfoort, NL
2018 – Paradise – performance at Schauspielhaus Wuppertal, DE
2018 RAY – Extreme Self, TU Darmstadt, Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie, DE
2018 Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop. PHotoESPAÑA, Madrid, ES
2018 NOTHING NEW, Lensvelt, Maarten Spruyt, Museo Diocesano during this year’s Salone del Mobile, Milan, IT
2018 Koorts, by Frank Maes, Emergent, Veurne, BE
2018 A collective act, Expoplu, Nijmegen, NL
2017 The Dark Room, Brugge, BE
2017 The Body Issue, Human Stories, NOW GALLERY AND GREENWICH PENINSULA, London, UK
Positions Berlin, Galerie Bart, Amsterdam,NL
2017 “JE NE SAIS QUOI”, Jan De Nys, EMERGENT, Veurne, BE
2017 “My Feminine Ways” Galerie EL, Elle, BE
2017 Genda Magazine ‘Body as Packaging’ Arte Fiera, Bologna, ES
2016 WOGA, open studio Isabelle Wenzel, Wuppertal, DE
2016 Vogue Photo Festival, The Female Gaze, Milan, IT
2016, Moooi, Isabelle Wenzel + Martin Usborn, at Marcel Wanders show room, Amsterdam, NL
2016 Photography Festival Unseen Amsterdam, Galerie Bart, NL
2016 Gegenspieler, Marta, Herford, Museum fur Kunst, Architektur, Design, DE
2016 Posture,Curated by F.L.O.A.T. at Contemporary Art Space Batumi, Batumi, Georgia
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