Franziska Megert

Franziska Megert studied Psychology in Berne from 1971 to 1978, then took a course (1979-80) in Film, Video and Photography at the Kunstakademie, Düsseldorf. In the academic year 1993-94 she held a guest professorship at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris and in 1994 lectured at the Université du Quebec and the Université Concordia, Montréal. Megert's work as a video artist has received many awards and prizes. She lives in Berne and in Düsseldorf.

In her first series of photographs, Megert sought to achieve new insights into her subjects through adopting a particular process - the use of dissolve techniques. She used this process, for example, in portraits, in order to articulate her interest in human physiognomy. In 1981, these series of photographs were followed by Megert's first video tapes (which also employed dissolve techniques), and in 1984 her first video installations. Megert has also made short films. Since 1991 she has used a computer in her work and in 1995-96 she produced her first computer animations. Her work in video and photography is informed by her commitment to exploring traditional myths and motifs from literature and poetry, as also to her interest in challenging traditional associations regarding the artistic categories. In Megert's view, the function of art is to present a critique of social, political and economic structures, implicit in which is a critique of the role of the mass media. Using the possibilities offered by media technology, she wishes to create a new reality, in which experience and action merge in a novel fashion. 

Individual exhibitions (selection)
 
1982 Kunstmuseum, Berne
1990 Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen
1992 Galerie Hubertus Wunschick, Düsseldorf
1994 »Philemon und Baukis«, Kunstverein, Schwerte
1995 »Franziska Megert: Videoinstallationen, Fotos, Collagen aus der Trilogie«, Galerie Susanne Kulli, Berne
 
Group exhibitions (selection)
 
1982 »3ième Festival d'Art Vidéo Locarno et Ascona«, Locarno
1984 »stromabhängig«, Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn; »World Wide Video Festival«, Kijkhuis, Den Haag; »Deutsche Videokunst 1982-1984«, Skulpturenmuseum
Glaskasten, Marl, subsequently at Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Kunstverein, Cologne
1986 »Thema Totentanz - Kontinuität und Wandel einer Bildidee vom Mittelalter bis heute«, Kunstverein, Mannheim
1987 Ars Electronica, Linz
1991 »MultiMediale 2«, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1992 »Moving Image - Electronic Art«, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
1993 »German Video Art«, Anthology Archives, New York; »MultiMediale 3«, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe
1994 »Interconnexions Copigraphiques«, La Maison de la Culture Cöte-des Neiges, Montréal
1995 »RAM - Realität, Anspruch, Medium«, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, subsequently at Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen; Lindenau-Museum Altenburg, Wiesbaden
1996 »Video-Skulptur in Deutschland seit 1963«, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Ghent, subsequently at Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid; »Happy End«, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
1997 »100 Femmes d'ici et d'ailleurs«, Toît du Monde, Vevey

[Konstanze Thümmel, 1997]