The Protagonist - opening April 10, Belmacz, London × The Protagonist Opening reception Thursday, 10 April 2025, 6-8pm On this 25th anniversary of the incorporation and trademarking of the Belmacz name comes The Protagonist, a refractive group show – the exhibitionary embodiment of what the composite word alludes to. (‘Bel’ from de Maupassant’s Bel Ami, ‘ma’ an abbreviation of the Latin maximus, and the letter combination of ‘cz’ found in Slavic languages). This show is a response as well as a reference to the prior The Conformist, (co-curated with Paul Kindersley, 23 February – 16 April 2016). The Protagonist refractures glints from our past to the now: it is a space to live, perhaps also an agora. All material sensibilities are allowed in, all visitors are hosted, all options are open. The Protagonist transforms over its three-month duration, creating transitioning scenes, tableaus and clashes, amplifying the voices of our co-collaborators, constructing reverberations. Like the facets and reflections of the talismans and gems produced in-house, this exhibition is layered, evocative and celebratory. Opening reception Thursday, 10 April 2025, 6-8pm, Belmacz, 45 Davies Street, Mayfair, London Show runs through Friday August 1 Wild West - Mapping My Hollywood c-print, 95 × 75 cm, 2007 Our protagonists are: Carla Åhlander, Tim Berresheim, Aaron Amar Bhamra, Isaac Benigson, Jonathan Baldock, James Lee Byars, Toby Christian, Than Hussein Clark, Coco Crampton, Frederika Dalwood, Michela de Mattei, Dial Records, Magdalena Drwiega, Erté, Francesca Flora, Jean-Claude Freymond-Guth (SAALHOF 1123), Florian Genzken, John Giorno, Duncant Grant, Lina Viste Grønli, Johanna Magdalena Guggenberger, Paul Housley, Steph Huang, Ja Jess, Paul Kindersley, Claudia Kugler, Alastair Kwan, David Lieske, Camilla Løw, Agata Madejska, Mira Mann, Mara dei Boschi, Andrea Marcellier, Hanna Mattes, Elisabeth Molin, Laura Ní Fhlaibhín, Lydia Ourahmane, Paint it Black, Simon Popper, Postcard Teas, Eleni Poulou, Morten Skrøder Lund, Ettore Sottsass, Joel Tomlin, Charlott Weise, Gernot Wieland, Rain Wu, Abbas Zahedi. The Hero Dies video, 0’26, 2008
Naked Janitor × Naked Janitor Naked Janitor portrays the caretaker of a former GDR nuclear bunker and the 450 acres of forest that sit above it. Built in secret, the bunker was disguised as a weather station. It is three floors deep, covering 63 x 40 metres with 3 metre thick walls and a 7 metre thick reinforced-concrete roof. The steel and concrete structure rests on giant shock absorbers and could host up to 455 people. It was equipped with air and water filtration systems, a nuclear decontamination station, and had food and supplies to last for one month. It was intended to quarter the entire Polit-Bureau, the Chief of Staff of the military defense forces, and the security apparatus of the GDR. Fortunately, it was never used. The site itself is 2 square kilometres of mixed forest and it contains a handful of small buildings and one large ‘Staff Building’. The smaller structures each hide an external part of the bunker’s systems: air vents and intakes, exhaust from the generators, plus two main entrance stairs and an escape ladder. The larger building has two storeys and was added later than the rest of the construction. It held several offices and conference rooms that were never intended to be used. The forest is home to many birds and wild animals including eagles, owls, woodpeckers, boar, red deer, foxes, and wolves. The grounds are teeming with insect life; berries and mushrooms litter the forest floor. My friend Olly was hired as a caretaker in the spring of 2023. He is the first constant inhabitant that the bunker and all its above-ground buildings and forest have ever seen. He allowed me to photograph him in his new surroundings and contributes to this publication as a writer. riso printed at Melo Melo Lab, Berlin printed with 3 colors: black, red, flat gold edition of 100
Take Me to That Landscape × The Album Take Me to That Landscape is a multidisciplinary project consisting of a musical album, a photographic series, and texts by various authors. Conceived in early 2020 as a means to stay connected in a locked-down world, it developed into a multi-faceted work of collaboration, dealing with the human need and desire for togetherness. The album collides spoken word and poetry with experimental jazz music and nature sounds. The texts were conceived of during the pandemic and deal with longing for connection, wanderlust, and thirst for discovery. They describe fantasies about sexuality, romance, touch, and transcendence. The participating artists and authors are Ernst Reijseger, David Rothenberg, Irmgard Emmelhainz, and myself. Get the album on Bandcamp Teaser The Book With images and poems by Hanna Mattes and including essays by Irmgard Emmelhainz and David Rothenberg that shed a light on two specific aspects of Take Me To That Landscape: the aquatic and the erotic. David Rothenberg’s “Undersound”, describes his obsession with the tiniest of underwater sounds that finally brings him to the meaning of life. “Polyamorous Love Songs and Sexuality in the Pluriverse”, by Irmgard Emmelhainz, weaves Hanna’s poetry into the historic context of sexuality, eroticism and queer art since the 1960’s. The featured photographic series Aquatic Antipode (Hanna Mattes, 2022), was made at the same time as the musical collaboration. It picks up on the sentiment of being far away from each other with no means of connecting in the real world. Every image is a collage of at least two different negatives of which one was always taken in a different country and sometimes continent than the other. The depicted swamps, ponds, oceans and aquatic zoo life collide mimicking a mirroring effect that doesn’t add up. 80 pages, open back, soft cover graphic design by Bernhard Wöstheinrich with texts by Irmgard Emmelhainz & David Rothenberg printed by Druckhaus Sportflieger documentation: Kari Florentin, 2023
Stone × Stone “Stone” is a book showcasing rocks that I collected and photographed between 2015 and 2018. Apart from a couple of minerals bought in stores or given to me, the book is composed of stones I found on streets, in gardens and beaches, in meteorite impact craters, volcanoes and other interesting or ordinary places around the world. The images are accompanied by my own texts as well as excerpts from C. G. Jung’s “Man and His Symbols”. The book celebrates the beauty of rocks, stones and pebbles. It shines a light on ordinary objects and questions the value we give to things. What determines the price of a stone is commonly based on beauty (its clarity, colour and cut), rarity, durability, demand, tradition and portability. Based on this logic, it could be said that any rock could be classified as a gemstone if it meets the above criteria. If they are presented like gemstones, perhaps they are? self-published with Louise West 2022 Text: Hanna Mattes; excerpts from “Man and His Symbols”, C.G. Jung, 1964 64 pages, hand bound Why is a mineral or a diamond, that can be bought in a store, more precious than a pebble found on a London street? Provided the latter is connected to a specific memory, place or time it could possibly have more meaning and thus (personal) value to us. Jung explains: “{We} have collected stones since the beginning of time and have apparently assumed that certain ones were the containers of the life-force with all its mystery.” I have always felt connected to stones and rocks. In 2016, I started a more serious collection, when I dived into research on meteorites, or ‘alien stones’, that would eventually lead to my first photographic monograph “Searching for the Cold Spot” (2017, Deutscher Kunstverlag). Picking up ‘common’ stones from meteorite impact sites, made me understand that any object can have immense value once we assign it thus. printed by Melomelo Print Berlin Every stone depicted in this book has personal meaning to me and is connected to an important event in my life. Let me tell you the story of the stone on the book’s cover: In 2017, I first accompanied Mason to his home town in Arkansas. We met up with his oldest friend Eric and went on a hike in the Ozarks. It was a wild trail leading us through thick forest to waterfalls and gorges. Despite the summer heat, we wore long sleeves, trousers and knee high boots against the bugs, ticks and other critters that await human blood in the Ozark jungles. Eric and Mason were catching up and reminiscing about past adventures. Both are collectors of rarities, have good eyes and an intuitive feeling for their surroundings. Suddenly Eric jarted down and grabbed a stone that looked like it came from outer space. It had veins. Metallic, maybe? We didn’t know what it was. Maybe it was valuable for it might be a very rare find. When Eric realised how much I admired it and him for finding it, he didn’t lose a beat before saying that actually, I had found it and he had only picked it up. It was not true, yet a very sweet gesture of giving me the present of not only a special rock, but also of the glorious feeling of being the finder of such a rare thing. Eric, being Mason’s oldest friend, and Mason being a very big love in my life, thus created a bond between us that is now unbreakable. His gift cemented our bond. unique negative of a stone in each copy edition: 100
The Lunar System × The Lunar System The Lunar System was established as an innocent attempt to mythologize my life. It started when I was a teenager and my friends and I gave each other nicknames that related to the planets and stars in our galaxy. I was the moon and my best friend the sun. We still revolve around each other’s axis and my system kept growing during the course of my life. I never thought much of it and kept it mainly to myself until I stumbled upon the mythology of the Licanantaí, the indigenous people who have lived in the Atacama desert in Chile for more than 2000 years. Their mythology revolves around the array of volcanoes that borders the desert on the east. The sun and all the planets and stars rise behind it. They too play a vital role in the mythology. It reminded me of my own system and I started understanding it as a mythology as well. The Lunar System is only loosely related to the solar system and not at all to astrophysics. Many of the poems were written at a moment in my life when an important relationship fell apart and others sprang from its destruction: an exploding star, dying and creating at the same time. 120 pages; 20.4 × 33.3 cm, published by K. Verlag Berlin, 2019 Graphic Design: Studio Harris Blondman documentation: Louise West, 2021 The Lunar System cycle, with Ernst Reijseger
Searching for the Cold Spot × Searching for the Cold Spot In mythological accounts meteorites are described as magical bridges between heaven and earth. This reflects their remarkable property of bringing about both destruction and life. Depending on a meteorite’s size, its strike can be as powerful as an atomic bomb. It has the potential to destroy life and devastate the surrounding landscape. At the same time, we now know that meteorites were responsible for bringing water and amino acids - the main ingredients of human life - to the young planet Earth. The images in this book are analog photos of stones and craters taken over the course of three years. Hanna Mattes scrutinized the mineral collection of natural history museums in Harlem, Berlin, London and New York, selecting and recording specimens, and travelled to Upheaval Dome, Barringer Crater, Sunset Crater, and Ubehebe Crater to photograph these impact sites where meteorites struck long ago. She later transformed the negatives of meteorites using watercolors, creating images that merge painting and photography. 128 pages, 20.4 x 33.3 cm, published by Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2017 Graphic Design: Studio Harris Blondman text: David Colosi
Encounters × Encounters Inspired by early photographers, spiritualists, and psychologists around 1900, Hanna Mattes works with analogue photography in her series Encounters. As a continuation of the project, she realised the 16mm film series Supernatural. These works document abandoned landscapes, where the apparently “natural” merges - through analogue image manipulation - with supernatural manifestations, glowing spheres, and peculiar light phenomena. Mattes employs a technique that was already used by fin de siècle photographers to “prove” extraterrestrial and irrational phenomena, such as apparitions and auras. She produces superimpositions and collages, then retouches the negatives directly. By manipulating and displacing reality, the images combine with phantasms that have crept into our collective memory - bizarre scenes, which challenge our rational perception of the material world and leave behind a sense of awe. (Daniela Hahn and Andrea Lehsiak for ‘Stone Telling’, exhibition at Kunstraum Niederösterreich, 2019) collection of 5 print items, A4, self-published, 2013 Graphic Design: Our Polite Society scans from the book “Natural History” by Pliny The Elder edition: 100
Aquatic Antipode × Photos collage with negatives, 2022 Aquatic Antipode is part of the larger body of work Take Me to That Landscape, which also encompasses a musical album and texts by various authors. Conceived in early 2020 as a means to stay connected in a locked-down world, it developed into a multi-faceted work of collaboration, dealing with the human need and desire for togetherness. The photographic collage series was made while the musical collaboration was already underway and tries to pick up on the sentiment of being far away from each other with no means of connecting in the real world. Every image is a collage of at least two different negatives of which one was always taken on a different country and sometimes continent than the other. The depicted swamps, ponds, oceans and aquatic zoo life collide mimicking a mirroring effect that doesn’t add up. collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022 collage with negatives, 2022
Mexico City × Photos Nora c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 During a residency at Casa Lü in Mexico City in 2021, I was interested in the subject matter of water and its political, economical and historical importance to Mexico and Mexico City. As part of it, I researched and compared the mythologies of the Aztec water deity Chalchiuhtlicue and the catholic Virgen Guadalupe. The latter, painted with a belt which symbolizes her pregnancy, stands for fertility just as Chalchiuhtlicue, the goddess of the horizontal waters and guardian of the newborn. Fertility and water are of course tightly connected not only in mythology but also in agriculture; to put it bluntly: without water (or women) we don’t exist. As part of this research, I photographed Mexican women in my surrounding and painted a colorful halo around them, alluding to the common catholic virgin representation. The results are intuitive portraits of modern Mexican women, conscious of their diverse heritage. Stef c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Mabel c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Gardi c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Ana Lorena c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Silvia c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Maria José c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Lissi c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Coco c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Valerie c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Lula c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Camilla c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Pil c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Yuriria (La Juris) c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Mariel c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Maria Louisa c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Brenda c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021 Hanna c-print, watercolor on negative, 2021, with help from Ana Lorena Pérez Ríos
The Lunar System × Photos Sunrise outside Coyo, Atacama c-print, 2017 The Lunar System was established as an innocent attempt to mythologize my life. It started when I was a teenager and my friends and I gave each other nicknames that related to the planets and stars in our galaxy. I was the moon and my best friend the sun. We still revolve around each other’s axis and my system kept growing during the course of my life. I never thought much of it and kept it mainly to myself until I stumbled upon the mythology of the Licanantaí, the indigenous people who have lived in the Atacama desert in Chile for more than 2000 years. Their mythology revolves around the array of volcanoes that borders the desert on the east. The sun and all the planets and stars rise behind it. They too play a vital role in the mythology. It reminded me of my own system and I started understanding it as a mythology as well. The Lunar System is only loosely related to the solar system and not at all to astrophysics. Many of the poems were written at a moment in my life when an important relationship fell apart and others sprang from its destruction: an exploding star, dying and creating at the same time. Traveling Light, Atacama c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017-2019 Bonneville Salt Flats, Fire and Approaching Storm c-print, watercolour on negative, 2017-2019 Total Eclipse, Wyoming c-print, 2017 Kimal Burning c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017-2019 Things behind the Sun, Arkansas c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017-2019 Full Moon, yellow c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017-2019 Moonrise c-print, 2017 Half Moon, blue c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017-2019 Licancabur, sunrise c-print, 2017 Atacama, painted Sky c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017 - 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2017 - 2019 Valle de la Luna, before Sunrise c-print, 2017 The Lunar System Cycle with Ernst Reijseger at Earth Based Art Space, Zutphen, 2020 online performance hosted by Gallery Lauwer, The Hague Documentation
Eclipse × Documentation Eclipse Installation: c-print, light box, spot, collaboration with Mason Juday exhibition view, London, 2018 exhibition view “Macrodoser”, SP2 Gallery, Berlin duo with Anna Steinert, 2019
Searching for the Cold Spot × Photos c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 Searching for the Cold Spot carries us off into a magical world. In analog photographs Hanna Mattes captures meteorite craters, stones of cosmic origin, as well as breathtakingly filigreed minerals. She traveled through large parts of the USA on her search for craters that were created by the impact of meteorites. While dealing with such occurrences and places steeped in legend, Hanna Mattes finds her very own visual interpretation that is neither purely documentary nor excessively esoteric. Her photographs – occasionally transformed through the use of watercolors – capture the mysteries and stunning relics without robbing them of their secrets or their fascination. At the same time Mattes combed through mineralogical collections in diverse natural history museums, looking for unusual relics from interplanetary space, ores, opals and crystalline quartzes. Hanna Mattes’ first photographic monograph inspires us to an almost metaphysical contemplation about the life-giving, but also life-destroying powers of meteorites. c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 c-print, 2019 c-print, watercolor on negative, 2019 Exhibition views Searching for the Cold Spot Belmacz Gallery London, 2017 Making Off Ubehebe Crater, California, 2016, image: David Colosi Meteor Crater, Arizona, 2017, image: David Colosi Upheaval Dome, 2016, image: David Colosi
Supernatural × Videos Supernatural #1 digitized 16mm film, 1 min, 2015 Supernatural #2 digitized 16mm film, 1 min, 2015 Supernatural #3 digitized 16mm film, 1 min, 2015 Supernatural #4 digitized 16mm film, 1 min, 2015 Documentation exhibition view: State of Cling, 2022, photo: Rob Groot Zevert exhibition view: State of Cling, 2022, photo: Django van Ardenne exhibition view: Stone Telling, 2019, photo: Eva Wuerdinger Making Off
Encounters × Photos Sterntaler c-print, 2013 Inspired by early photographers, spiritualists, and psychologists around 1900, Hanna Mattes works with analogue photography in her series Encounters. As a continuation of the project, she realised the 16mm film series Supernatural. These works document abandoned landscapes, where the apparently “natural” merges - through analogue image manipulation - with supernatural manifestations, glowing spheres, and peculiar light phenomena. Mattes employs a technique that was already used by fin de siècle photographers to “prove” extraterrestrial and irrational phenomena, such as apparitions and auras. She produces superimpositions and collages, then retouches the negatives directly. By manipulating and displacing reality, the images combine with phantasms that have crept into our collective memory - bizarre scenes, which challenge our rational perception of the material world and leave behind a sense of awe. Mirror Mountain c-print, negative collage, 2013 No title (Gartensonne) c-print, 2013 No Title c-print, paint on negative, 2013 Studio #2 c-print, 2013 Meteorite c-print, 2013 Eric’s Mountain c-print, 2013 L.A.U.F.O. c-print, paint on negative, 2013 Bullet Holes c-print, holes in negative, 2013 Meteorite c-print, paint on negative, 2013 4 Suns c-print, 2013 Red Rock c-print, paint on negative, 2013 Meteorite c-print, paint on negative, 2013 No title c-print, paint on negative, 2013 Studio #1 c-print, 2013 Rote Sonne c-print, 2013 Venice Beach c-print, paint on negative, 2013 Documentation Encounter duo show with Pim Leenen, ACF - Amsterdam Center for Photography, 2013 showing “Encounters” publication
Day for Night × Photos Day for Night #4 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night was developed during a residency at LMCC on Governor’s Island, NY, in 2011. Inspired by films shot in New York, I made card board cut outs, placed a light source behind them and photographed them. The series deals with the recognisability of New York through its many media representations while playfully challenging the medium of photography. “For me photography is at its best when you don’t know whether it is photography or not. Enjoying the uncertainty, questioning the circumstances and subject presented before me, photographer Hanna Mattes ‘Nightscapes’ & ‘Day For Night’ series do exactly that. While inviting such an inquisitive response, Hanna’s images simultaneously offer beautiful landscapes crafted from vivid light sources and meandering forms, a successful combination so often strived for, but rarely achieved.” From Wandering Bears Blog Day for Night #2 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #3 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #1 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #5 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #6 (für Julchen) c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #7 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #8 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #9 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #10 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #11 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #12 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #13 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #14 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #15 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #16 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011 Day for Night #17 c-print, 40x50 cm, 2011
Mapping My Hollywood × Photos Mullholland Drive c-print, 80 × 100 cm, 2007 - 2009 Pacific Coast Highway c-print, 160 × 200 cm, 2007 - 2009 Car passing c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Binoculars c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Flashlight c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Motel 1 c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Joshua Tree c-print, 80 × 100 cm, 2007 - 2009 Stop I c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 c-print, 80 × 100 cm, 2007 - 2009 Wild West c-print, 160 × 200 cm, 2007 - 2009 Wild West II c-print, 160 × 200 cm, 2007 - 2009 Rain Forest c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Darkroom c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Rearview Mirror c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Tumble Weed c-print, 30 × 40 cm, 2007 - 2009 Documentation Mapping My Hollywood ACF - Amsterdam Center for Photography, 2010
All the Invisible Voices × Documentation Performance, with David Rothenberg, Fleetstreet Theater Hamburg, 2022 Hanna Mattes and David Rothenberg evolve their collaboration TAKE ME TO THAT LANDSCAPE from its original virtual form of text and sound interaction into a live theater show, developed at the Fleetstreet Residency. ALL THE INVISIBLE VOICES is based on acousmatic sounds, that is, sounds whose source is invisible. Rothenberg’s rhythms can’t be grasped, his instruments are made out of pond creatures and plants. Similarly, Mattes’ texts allude to people and situations that seem to be unknown but are rather universal characters in life’s own dramaturgy. The show also incorporates Mattes’ paintings and photography. Performance: Tuesday, May 24th, 7pm, Fleetstreet Theater, Hamburg video documentation by Lima Vafadar
Take Me to that Landscape × Recording Take Me to That Landscape is a body of work consisting of a musical album, a photographic series and texts by various authors. Conceived in early 2020 as a means to stay connected in a locked-down world, it developed into a multi-facetted work of collaboration, dealing with the human need and desire for togetherness. The participating artists and authors are Ernst Reijseger, David Rothenberg, Irmgard Emmelhainz and myself. Take Me to That Landscape was released in early 2023 as a musical album at the Berlin label Iapetus and accompanied by a book (see publications for impressions). Here are some impressions of the album and record release performance at Heimathafen Neukölln in April 2023 with Ernst Reijseger. The Spectacle with David Rothenberg, 3’17 Poster for performance at Heimathafen Neukölln with Ernst Reijseger record release performance Breathe In Breathe Out with David Rothenberg, 6’49, 2020 The World is in Upheaval with Ernst Reijseger, 1’50, 2020 In Times of Crisis & Everything is Everything with Ernst Reijseger, 2’27, 2020 About Podcast for Montez Press Radio first aired November 2020, 58’00
The Lunar System Cycle × Recording The Lunar System Cycle with Ernst Reijseger, recorded online in our studios, 2020 Announcement for live performance at Hopscotch Reading Room, summer 2021: We welcome you to The Lunar System - a poetry & music collaboration by artist Hanna Mattes and jazz cellist Ernst Reijseger. Together they created a program around Mattes’ book, The Lunar System, published by K. Verlag (2019). During the performance in our lovely hof, Mattes will recite texts and poetry from her publication which inspired Reijseger’s musical improvisations. The result is an unexpected, hypnotic and cosmic experience. In The Lunar System, artist Hanna Mattes interweaves reality and mythology by juxtaposing photographs taken in Chile with autofictional poems. Basing her views on the planetary system of our galaxy, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter give structure to her life: already as a teenager, Mattes and her friends gave each other as well as family members and loved ones secret planetary nicknames. In 2017, she spent a residency in the Atacama Desert photographing the night sky, sunsets, and moon-rises. She also stumbled upon the ancient mythology of the Licanantai, the Indigenous people of this region. Reminded of her own planetary system, she began to perform her subjective mythology, starring as actor, poet, photographer, and director at once. The main role however has the Moon, the center of the system, expressed through autofiction, painted-on negatives, and romantic poetry. - K. Verlag The Lunar System Sound Collage with David Rothenberg, 2021 The Lunar System Sound Collage is a sound and poetry collaboration between musician and philosopher David Rothenberg and myself. After having worked on several sound pieces remotely for a year – him in New York, me in Berlin – we finally had the chance to meet and record in person. The Lunar System Sound Collage is the result of an improvised recording session in Berlin in the summer of 2021 using instruments we found in the studio, but also pre-recorded hydrophone sounds from Upstate New York ponds, put together with the texts of my artist book The Lunar System (2019, K. Verlag). The Lunar System Sound Collage was first published on The Alienocene - Journal of the First Outernational, Stratum 10, November 2021. Documentation live performance with Ernst Reijseger, 2021 at Hopscotch Reading Room live performance at Earth Based Art Space 2020 Announcement for live performance at Earth Based Art Space, summer 2020: Als afsluiting van haar zomertentoonstelling bij Earth Based Art Space aan de Zaadmarkt, geeft kunstenaar Hanna Mattes een performance samen met cellist Ernst Reijseger. Tijdens de uitvoering in de tuin van het gebouw zal zij teksten en poëzie voordragen uit haar publicatie The Lunar System waarbij Ernst Reijseger zich liet inspireren voor muzikale improvisaties. De performance heeft twee keer digitaal plaats moeten vinden, en heeft live een premiére gehad bij Galerie Lauwer in Den Haag. Inmiddels is er nieuw materiaal te beluisteren dat tijdens de Lockdown tot stand is gekomen. Het resultaat is een onverwachte, hypnotische en kosmische ervaring die zij graag met een select gezelschap in Zutphen willen ondergaan. In verband met de covid maatregelen zijn er een beperkt aantal plaatsen beschikbaar. Voor een sfeer impressie kun je onderstaande video bekijken. Zet alles om je heen even uit, ga er rustig voor zitten en laat je alvast meevoeren naar The Lunar System. The World is in Upheaval phone video from The Lunar System announcement for performance at Earth Based Art Space, 2020
Ms Texticles × Documentation I won’t play happy couple chalk on sidewalk, 2020 Texticles are temporary text messages written with chalk on sidewalks. Like graffiti, they always appear at night and vanish after just a few days under the influence of weather and the normal usage of the sidewalk. They are direct, short expressions of the self, reaching out to the anonymous bypasser. Often, they are mini-poems or excerpts from larger texts. Ms. Texticles is the alter ego performer whose feather they emerge from. I need to see your dick chalk on sidewalk, 2021 Choose Me chalk on sidewalk, 2022 This is my Stage chalk on sidewalk, 2022 Neighbors chalk on sidewalk, 2020 Tell me all your secrets chalk on sidewalk, 2022 I don’t like drama chalk on sidewalk, 2020 All the invisible voices video documentation, 2022 You satisfy everything video documentation, 2022
Contact × Hanna: info@hannamattes.com Gallery: gallery@belmacz.com Buy my books in any bookstore, by writing an email to me, or here: Berlin Zabriskie - Buchladen für Natur und Kultur Hopscotch Reading Room Amsterdam Boekie Woekie - books by artists Terry Bleu London The Photographer’s Gallery Bookshop Tenderbooks Belmacz
CV × Hanna Mattes lives in Berlin works also in Amsterdam Education 2002–2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam 2000–2004 Linguistics, Religious Studies, Indian Phylology, Freie Universität Berlin & Universiteit van Amsterdam Residencies 2024 Naturphilia, Jacksonville State University, Alabama Forecast Journal residency, working on issue #12, online, California 2022 Art Farm Nebraska Fleetstreet Hamburg, with David Rothenberg 2021 Casa Lü, Mexico City 2018 Lumen Residency, Atina, Italy 2017 La Wayaka Current - Desert, Atacama Desert, Chile 2011 Lower Manhatten Cultural Council (LMCC), New York 2009 Fleetstreet Hamburg Stipends 2022 AKF - project subsidy for Dead Darlings auction “Issues!” - winter edition at Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Rudolph-Augstein-Stiftung, Behörde für Kultur und Medien for Fleetstreet Residency, Hamburg 2020 Deutsche Botschaft Helsinki supporting the show “Cooking for the Apocalypse” 2019 ALE Stiftung for book project “The Lunar System” 2017 AFK - project subsidy for Dead Darlings auction “Entropy” at Foam Museum Amsterdam 2013 AFK - project subsidy for exhibition and publication “Encounters” at Amsterdam Center for Photography Stichting Stokroos for publication “Encounters” 2011 Workbudget, Fonds BKVB (now Mondriaan Fonds) for residency LMCC, New York Stichting Niemeijer Fonds for residency LMCC, New York 2009 Kulturbehörde Hamburg for Fleetstreet Residency, Hamburg Exhibitions, Performances 2025 coming up: The Protagonist, group show, Belmacz London IV International Conference Art and Nature & Humús, group show, Espaço das Artes at the University Campus, Sao Paolo, Brazil 2024 Forscherinnen der Bewegung, evening of short film screenings at Heimathafen Neukölln during 48-Hours-Neukölln, Berlin Was Ihr Wollt, group show and a live performance with Ernst Reijseger, AtelierFrankfurt Love Yourself First, group show with FemxphotographersOrg; a traveling show with stops in Museum Schloss Moyland, AFF Galerie Berlin, Kunstraum Elsa Bielefeld 2023 Women of the 20’s, group show, Belmacz, London A Public Affair - Amsterdam Art Week, Young Collectors Circle Record & Book Release of Take Me to That Landscape, performance with Ernst Reijseger, Heimathafen Neukölln, Berlin Finally, group show, SP2 Contemporary, Berlin Mind over Matter, book launch with Femxphotographers.org, Deichtorhallen - Internationale Kunst und Fotografie, Hamburg 2022 Pop up, Indie publishing pop up store by Auslöser Magazine, Vienna Vier mal Vier, Live-Hybrid-Exhibition-Performance-Radio-Show, curated by Filomeno Fusco, Bibliothek von Menschen Formen e.V., Berlin Off Grid, Photofestival, Vienna All the Invisible Voices, performance with David Rothenberg, Fleetstreet Theater, Hamburg State of Cling, group show curated by Syzygy, Arnhem, NL this is the time, group show & book launch of STONE, Villa Heike, Berlin 2021 TBC, group show with artist collective TBC, Galerie im Saalbau, Berlin Who is not a Stranger, group show, Casa Lü, Mexico City Mom, I am a rich man!, group show with FemxphotographersOrg, Galerie Rathaus Johannisthal, Berlin Take Me To That Landscape, live online performance with David Rothenberg for K. Verlag at Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair 2020 Three Pieces, solo, Gallery Lauwer, The Hague, NL The Lunar System, solo, Earth Based Art Space, Zutphen, NL 20x20, group show curated by René Wirths & Nicole Wendel, WEB, Berlin, DE Cooking for the Apocalypse, group show curated by Jack Faber, Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki, FI Silvopasture Works, curated by Anna-Sophie Springer, screening program accompanying I Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel at Schaulager 2019 Macrodoser, duo with Anna Steinert, SP2 Gallery, Berlin Stone Telling, group show, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna B, group show, Belmacz, London The Cosmic Sublime, group show curated by Lumen Studios, Pie Factory Margate, London Falling Stars / Stella Cadenti, group show curated by Lumen Studios, The Euston Crypt Gallery, London Stromlinien, group show, Interaudio, Berlin TBA, group show, 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin 2018 Astronomia, Arte e Religione, group show with Lumen Residency in Atina, Italy Wild Encounters, curated by La Wayaka Current, Guest Projects, London Cosmic Perspectives, group show organised by Lumen Studios at Ugly Duck, London If I Was Your Girlfriend - A Jam, group show, Belmacz, London 2017 Searching for the Cold Spot, solo & book launch, Belmacz, London Collectivism - Collectives and their quest for value, Foam, Amsterdam Künstlerbücher für Alles - Artist’s Books for Everything, Weserburg Zentrum für Künstlerpublikationen, Bremen 2016 On the Distant Horizon, group show curated by Joe Wolek, BLAM, Los Angeles InterKontinental, group show, Gallery Belmacz, London 2015 Carbon Content, curated by Marc Philip van Kempen, Kreuzbergpavillion, Berlin Atelier von Soßenberg - 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin The Mirror and Lamp Show, Jagtlust, Gallery Ton de Boer 2014 The Nutcracker, Gallery Belmacz, London Plastic Poetics, Salon Mutlu, Berlin Circus TM, Gallery Belmacz, London 2013 Encounter, ACF – Amsterdam Centre for Photography; Duo with Pim Leenen Light / Colours, Huis Marseille – Museum for Photography, Amsterdam Kleider machen Leute, Galerie im Saalbau, Berlin 2012 48 Stunden Neukölln, Kohleladen, Berlin Match #1 – Hollywood, Ein Abend in Neukölln, Gallery Team Titanic, Berlin; collaboration with writer and film producer Wolf Jahnke When The Night Falls…, KiK - Kunsthuis Kolderveen She Views Herself – Emerging Women Artists and the Self-Portrait, Bank Oddo, Paris 2011 Day for Night - open studio at LMCC, New York To The Netherlands, Diplomat Gallery, Philadelphia New York, New York, Open Atelier, Kohleladen, Berlin 2010 Digitaal? Analoog!, Huis Marseille – Museum voor Photography, Amsterdam Theater & Fotografie, Galerie Kampl, Munich; solo Mapping My Hollywood, Amsterdam Centre for Photography; solo Werkraum - Temporary IX, Secondhome, Berlin; Duo with Marc Philip van Kempen Young Talent XXL, Art Olive, Amsterdam 2009 Fleetstreet – Tagebuch eines Theaters, Fleetinsel, Hamburg; solo Perforation UAMO Festival, Kunstarkaden Munich True Lies, Kunsthaus Essen 2008 Work in Progress – Het Proces, Amsterdam Centre for Photography Cheap Like Wow!, UAMO Festival, Kunstarkaden Munich 2007 Aan de rand, Gallery Aan de Wand, Amsterdam 2006 Contrasten Fotomanifestatie Gouda, Stadsgalerie Gouda een selectie - eindexamen Fotografie, Amsterdam Centre for Photography Art Olive Young Talent 2006, Westergasfabrik Amsterdam Publications 2025 coming up: LOVE, artist publication with FemxphotographersOrg, Hatje Cantz 2024 Naked Janitor, hand made artist book, Living Stone Press, with a text by olly olly oxford freak, cover design by Lina Ozerkina, Riso printed by Melo Melo Lab Berlin, printed in three colors: black, red, flat gold 2023 Forecast Magazine, Issue #11 - Atmosphere, contributing with image and text Take Me to That Landscape, album & artist book, published by Iapetus Media & Living Stone Press, graphic design by Bernhard Wöstheinrich, with texts by Irmgard Emmelhainz & David Rothenberg 2022 Mind Over Matter, artist publication with FemxphotographersOrg, edited by Roula Seikaly, Hatje Cantz STONE, hand made artist book, self published, graphic design by Louise West State of Cling, magazine accompanying the show by Syzygy collective, Arnhem 2021 TBC, self published zine by artist collective TBC on the occassion of the show TBC at Galerie im Saalbau The Lunar System Sound Collage, The Alienocene, collaboration with David Rothenberg Auslöser, magazine for independent photography, Issue #4, Interview & Portfolio 2020 Take Me To That Landscape, Podcast for Montez Press Radio, sound & poetry collaboration with David Rothenberg Eco Noir: A Companion for Precarious Times, edited by Jack Faber & Anna Shraer, University of Helsinki; featuring original artworks and writings of 34 prominent artists and researchers, this publication is a textual and visual collaborative exploration of interspecies relations in times of crisis. The Body Issue, FemxphotographersOrg, Hatje Cantz Heartfelt, Catalogue, Gallery Lauwer 2019 The Lunar System, artist book, published by K. Verlag, Berlin, graphic design by Harris Blondman The Ashtray Show West, publication by Belmacz 2018 Parking Lot #4, contributing text & image “Dream Diary”, publication by Katerina Karagianni 2017 Searching for the Cold Spot, artist book, published by Deutscher Kunstverlag, text by David Colosi, graphic design by Harris Blondman 2016 FEAD Magazine, Australia, Edition #2, portfolio & cover image, interview by Augie Rathjen-Duffton 99%Urban, portfolio “Day for Night”, text by Anna-Lena Wenzel 2015 Harper’s Magazine, readings section, issue April 2015 The Mirror and Lamp interviews, by Vanya Pieters, publication on the occasion of the group show “The Mirror and Lamp Show” Match #1, self-published online magazine about the event “Match #1 – Hollywood, ein Abend in Neukölln”, which took place in 2012 and started my curatorial initiative Match Getemde Hemel, publication by Miek Zwamborn 2013 Encounters, self published artist book, graphic design by Our Polite Society, edition: 100 2012 Catalogue “When The Night Falls…”, Kolderveen 2011 Foam Magazine, Talent Issue 2010 tenwordsandoneshot, Kevin Krumnickl, Aufbauverlag, Berlin 2009 Commonground, Groundmagazine #3, online magazine by Mieke Woestenburg Rietveld Arsenale, a project by Johannes Schwartz in cooperation with Christiane Kuhlmann for 53rd Venice Biennale, Dijkman Offset, Diemen 2008 Coverphoto for Simulacrum – Magazine for Art and Culture Nr.16/2, Amsterdam 2007 cover illustration for De Nederlandse kinderpoëzie in 1000 en enige gedichten, collected and edited by Gerrit Komrij, Prometheus, Amsterdam Projects Dead Darlings is an anonymous art auction that explores the complex love triangle between artist, artwork and collector. I have been part of the team since 2015 as a producer and participating artist. The team today: Tania Theodorou, Lina Ozerkina and Jessie Yingying Gong (former members include Joris Landman, Eva-Fiore Kovacovski and Kai Reichert) 2023 Dead Darlings #18 - Athens Calling!, in collaboration with T.A.F. The Art Foundation & Cream Athens, Athens Dead Darlings #17 - Jewelry, in collaboration with Current Obsession & Fashion for Good Museum during Obsessed! Jewellery Festival, Amsterdam Dead Darlings #16 - A Public Affair, in collaboration with Oedipus Brewing & Young Collector’s Circle, Amsterdam Dead Darlings at Design Fair, in collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam 2022 Dead Darlings #15 - Issue!, summer & winter edition, in collaboration with Vrij Paleis, Amsterdam Dead Darlings #14 - From Stage-fright to Limelight, in collaboration with Heimathafen, Berlin 2021 Dead Darlings #13 - Love for Sale: Alles moet weg? fundraiser for W139 in collaboration with Stampa 2020 Dead Darlings #12,5, in collaboration with Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam 2019 Dead Darlings #12 - Jewellery, in collaboration with Current Obsession, Amsterdam Dead Darlings #11 - Design, in collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam 2018 Dead Darlings #10 - Flash in the Pan, at Hollanda Turkiyeli Isciler Birligi De Vereniging van Arbeiders uit Turkije in Nederland The Agency of Things, a talk with Louise Harpman, Sam Jacob and Hanna Mattes and an intervention by Dead Darlings at Thursday Night Life, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam 2017 Dead Darlings #9 1/2, in collaboration with UNSEEN Dead Darlings #9 – Entropy, in collaboration with Foam Museum 2015 Dead Darlings #8 – Occupational Hazard, in collaboration with Looiersgracht60 FemxphotographersOrg is as an independent, non-profit, non-hierarchical collective that aims at the professional advancement of women through visibility. I am a member since it’s founding year in 2018. 2023 Mind over Matter, book launch, Deichtorhallen - Internationale Kunst und Fotografie, Hamburg 2022 MIND OVER MATTER, Hatje Cantz, 176 pages, 122 illustrations, Editor: Roula Seikaly, Publication Paris Photo, Hatje Cantz, Book signing L’oeil de la photography, “Mind Over Matter”, Press 2021 Mom, I Am A Rich Man, Kommunale Galerie Rathaus Johannisthal, Exhibition Neustart Kultur BBK Digitalgutschein, Stipend Kontext Wochenzeitung „Frauenbilder“, Press 2020/21 The Body Issue, Kulturkiosk Stuttgart, Exhibition 2020 THE BODY ISSUE, Hatje Cantz, 144 pages, 100 illustrations, 2. Edition 2021, Editor: Elisabeth Biondi, Publication Kirsten Becken on The Body Issue, Dlfkultur “Fazit”, Talk 2019 Vogue Jubiläumsausgabe “Die Revision der Bilder”, Press Profifoto “Body”, Press Monopol “Fotografinnen gründen Netzwerk”, Press Vogue Italia, Press Leica Fotografie International “New Collective for Women, Photographers”, Press Photo News, Press Kirsten Becken: “Es geht um die Perspektive”, Dlfkultur, Talk Matches are one night events in which a visual artist and a text based artist present their work together. This was my first curatorial iniative. 2015 Match #4 – over verzamelen, artists: Miek Zwamborn & Erik Fens, at the private residence of Erik Fens 2014 Match #3, artists: Erik Mattijssen & David Colosi, at gallery Amstel 41, Amsterdam 2013 Match #2 – Flora und Fauna, artists: Eva-Fiore Kovacovski & Ilse Ermen, at gallery Team Titanic, Berlin 2012 Match #1 – Hollywood, ein Abend in Neukölln, artists: Hanna Mattes & Wolf Jahnke, at gallery Team Titanic, Berlin Teaching, Talks and Other Stuff 2024 Workshop at Gerrit Rietveld Academy with Tania Theodorou & Dead Darlings, Amsterdam 2023 Teaching assignment at University of Applied Sciences & Arts Bielefeld, summer semester Producer and assistant director to Réka Kincses play “Furios! Eine wütende Show mit fünf Göttinnen, Band und Seminarleiter”, Heimathafen Neukölln 2022 Teaching assignment at University of Applied Sciences & Arts Bielefeld, summer semester Various photography workshops in collaboration with Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Liebermann Villa am Wannsee, Gemeinschaftsunterkunft Hohenschönhausen, C/O Berlin 2021 Producer and assistant director to Hito Steyerl for the stage performance “I play, therefore I am! A digital peasant revolt” with Mark Waschke for steirischer herbst Photography workshops for C/O Berlin 2020 Online and live performances of The Lunar System - poetry & cello improvisations, with Ernst Reijseger, in collaboration with Gallery Lauwer & Earth Based Art Space The Lunar System, book launch at Photoq Bookshop, Amsterdam Guest Teacher at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam 2019 The Lunar System, book launch at Zabriskie book store, Berlin Producer on set for Vogue Germany shoot with Katharina Grosse, Wir machen das, Issue January 2020 2018 Artist Talk and Workshop at Alma Manutsbildning, Sweden Production coordinator for “Power Plants” by Hito Steyerl; Artist studio production coordinator for “Actual Reality” by Hito Steyerl Conversas Berlin #30, talks by Hanna Mattes, Isi Wagner and Alejandro Camacho, Popova Showroom, Berlin 2017 Searching for the Cold Spot & Templates - Classic, Culture, Minimal, Nature; Book Launch at Hopscotch Reading Room Berlin with Rebecca Ann Tess, moderated by Terri Warpinski Studio Manager for Trevor Paglen (2015 - 2017) 2015 Assistant to Laura Poitras at Praxis Films Berlin 2013 Da kommt der Affe aus dem Ärmel, production of an event about German-Dutch cultural exchange; assigned by Alumniportal Deutschland, collaboration with Goethe Institut Amsterdam, in the team with Jasmin Moeller 2012 Guest teacher and artist talk, Webster University Leiden 2009 workshop Film als inspiratiebron, ACF, Amsterdam 2006 Guest teacher at TheFotoFactory Amsterdam and School voor Fotografie Breda Buy my books in any bookstore or here Berlin Zabriskie - Buchladen für Natur und Kultur Hopscotch Reading Room Amsterdam Boekie Woekie - books by artists Terry Bleu London The Photographer’s Gallery Bookshop Tenderbooks Belmacz
