Ulrike Ottinger

Aus der Spiegelserie: Straußenfeder (Tabea Blumenschein), ca. 1974/2022, Berlin

Analogue b/w Print from the Negative on Baryt-Paper
Sheet size 25.70 x 38.10 cm
Signed and numbered
Edition of 20


This Edition Hatje Cantz by Ulrike Ottinger shows Tabea Blumenschein at one of the many photo sessions using mirrors, in which the two artists embraced various different identities in a distinctive, avant-garde aesthetic and challenged many norms, in the process revealing the performativity of gender.

ULRIKE OTTINGER (*1942, Constance) is one of the most import- ant German filmmakers. Moving to Berlin in 1973, she became a pioneer of avant-garde cinematography. Ottinger’s photographic works, feature films and documentaries have been shown at major international festivals and retrospectives, including the MoMa in New York, Berlinale, the documenta and the Venice Biennale. 

TABEA BLUMENSCHEIN (1952–2020) was a cult figure of West Berlin’s queer feminist subculture in the 1970s and 80s. For about ten years, she played a key role in Ottinger’s films as leading actress and costume designer, and was part of legendary avant- garde punk collective Die tödliche Doris. In the 1990s she withdrew from the public, yet remained active as an artist until her death.