Nina Röder & Ingo Taubhorn
Röder and Taubhorn each represent two photographic positions that intersect at the junctures of identity, familial structures, and performative self-positioning. The artistic oeuvre of both artists features a series of works in which their mothers are portrayed as central figures. These works employ the technique of staged photography to raise questions concerning family genealogy, the politics of memory, and the transmission of ideas between generations. The works of these artists situate personal biographies in broader social contexts, combining autobiographical impulses with performative strategies, role-playing, costumes, and moments of absurdity.
It was at this point that Röder and Taubhorn reached a consensus to amalgamate their respective roles in the form of a collaborative exhibition project. The joint presentation of their works is intended to create a productive dialogue between two different but complementary aesthetic styles. A parallel viewing allows for a mutual sharpening of their themes: while differences in generation, perspective and formal implementation unfold visibly, the overarching questions of identity, family role models and the performative staging of the private sphere are simultaneously reinforced. This creates a resonance space in which the individual narratives of both artists gain new dimensions of meaning.
Ingo Taubhorn
Since the inception of his passion for this extraordinary medium, Ingo Taubhorn has been extensively engaged with the reception of photography – as an exhibition curator, publicist and mediator. In the course of his work as curator of the House of Photography at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg, he has overseen numerous presentations by international artists. Nevertheless, the focus of the biography remains firmly on the artist's personal evolution and the creation of his oeuvre.
In his photographic oeuvre, Taubhorn engages with foundational questions concerning human existence, including the significance of familial bonds and the depiction of masculinity.
The subject's friends are located within their private spaces, the confrontation with his own past and his relationship to his own body are evident, and the world is perceived as a sequence of images. On occasion, he engages in this practice in close collaboration with his mother, as evidenced by his preference for wearing her attire, thereby reinterpreting family role models. He is one to seek the universal in the personal. His gaze is an engaged one: he not only accompanies queer ways of life, but also negotiates social phenomena in the field of tension between artist and viewer. In doing so, he draws on the ideas of philosopher Jean-François Lyotard, who advocates for the recognition and defence of the uniqueness and autonomy of different ways of life, orientations, and cultures. In contrast to the prevalent notion of reconciliation, Taubhorn emphasises the significance of tensions as an integral component of a thriving society.
This thus brings the study full circle, connecting the artist's own oeuvre with his rigorous analysis of the reception of photographic images.
Ingo lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Nina Röder
Nina Röder is a visual artist, professor of photography and freelance curator. Her academic background is in media art and design, which she studied at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany. In addition to her photographic practice, she holds a doctorate in artistic research.
Two thematic complexes have been identified within Nina's artistic practice: On the one hand, she draws on a post-Romantic sensibility in which nature no longer appears as an untouched ideal, but as a site of reflection and performative encounter — as an opportunity to explore the human relationship to the natural world and, concomitantly, to emphasise its fragility and the urgency of its preservation.
Conversely, she produces series that address her family's biographies, with a deliberate focus on the implicit dynamics of identity formation and the transmission of intergenerational trauma. This encompasses the historical background of her family in Bohemia, who resided in what is presently known as the Czech Republic until their expulsion following the conclusion of the Second World War. The frequently absurd or poetic atmosphere of her scenographies conveys the tension of her characters' biographical experiences, while a playful – often humorous – approach plays a decisive role.
Nina lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
