solar ‒ Berit Schneidereit
-Berit Schneidereit’s artistic work moves within the spectra of photography. The artist uses different strategies to question the concept of photography and to explore new, independent paths. Her practice focuses on a researching and exploratory approach with a focus on a sensual, physical experience of photographic image spaces.
In many of her works, Schneidereit subtly formulates questions about the relationship between man and nature. On closer inspection, the works show traces of human activity here and there, the industrial nature of which contrasts with the organically growing plants and trees. These fragments of urban parks and gardens open up associations with man’s attempts to tame and contain nature. However, the architectural obstacles seem surmountable. They seem to have been enclosed by the surrounding nature and incorporated into its habitat. For her experimental exposures, she uses photosensitive paper, which reacts with light to create a wide variety of shades. It thus serves as a seismograph of direct, external circumstances. The photogram technique, in which light imprints emerge in direct contact with the paper, is an essential aspect of many of her works. The resulting grids, for example, run through the entirety of the surface, structuring what is shown into a multitude of layers and details that look like digital pixels. In other works, she uses painterly gestures to create the idea of a curtain. The works can thus also be related to a dramaturgical moment: They show while simultaneously concealing.
Schneidereit’s paintings do not exhibit a clear, final state. They are fluid and fragile: the closer you get to the picture, the more unstable the figuration becomes. The work abstracts itself and disintegrates into its individual parts. The viewer is able to immerse themselves in the picture and question the apparent unambiguity that arises from viewing it from a distance and actively allow it to collapse. Schneidereit’s painting thus polarizes as a volatile construct between figuration and abstraction.
The work “placement I, 2022 and 2024” can be seen throughout the exhibition rooms. Here, the artist takes a step into space. Large-format exposures on mobile frames allow us to make temporal and spatial leaps through an organic world in shades of gray. It potentiates the existing spaces and at the same time hints at something new: Like a multitude of avonPortals, this installation invites us to immerse ourselves in an organic world within the exhibition space. The title “placement” refers both to the space within the space and the technical aspects of its creation. The process of analog development is pushed to its limits in various ways: the limits of the negative, the format and characteristics of the light-sensitive paper and, ultimately, the possibilities of manual development in the studio’s darkroom are inscribed in the exposures. The possibilities of photography are thus explored through the artistic processing and disclosure of the image creation process.
In the “shades” series, which can be seen in the exhibition here, color penetrates the images. Here, Schneidereit shows photographs of privacy screens on which shadows of the surrounding vegetation are depicted and the world behind them shimmers through the meshes of the material. While in other works the grid is a basic component of the work, here Schneidereit uses a functional product that imitates the typical grid structure. Here, the privacy screen functions like a camera sensor that serves as a projection surface and thus depicts another facet of the surroundings. The meshes to which the screen is attached distort the seemingly flat surface and bend it, creating a distortion within the image.
A simultaneous movement through figuration and abstraction creates worlds without providing clear answers. By constantly questioning the nature of photography, our relationship to reality is put to the test. The viewer is thus involved in the process of decoding: Constantly exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination.
Text: Leo Wedepohl
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Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter VII, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 150 x 99 cm (155 cm x 105 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter IV, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 100 x 67 cm (104,5 cm x 71,5 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter I, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 150 x 99 cm (155 cm x 105 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter II, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 150 x 99 cm (155 cm x 105 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter V, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 100 x 67 cm (104,5 cm x 71,5 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter VI, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 100 x 67 cm (104,5 cm x 71,5 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shades VIII, pigment print on FineArt pape, 75 x 50 cm, edition of 5, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shades VII, pigment print on FineArt paper, 75 x 50 cm, edition of 5, 2024 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
shifter III, Photogram on baryta paper, framed, 150 x 99 cm (155 cm x 105 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
contact (light wind), photogram on silver gelatin paper, 42 cm x 32 cm (47 cm x 37 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
Installation view ’solar‘, COSAR, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
contact (seeker), photogram on silver gelatin paper, 42 cm x 32 cm (47 cm x 37 cm), unique, 2025 -
Berit Schneidereit
contact (shield), photogram on silver gelatin paper, 42 cm x 32 cm (47 cm x 37 cm), unique, 2025