About
CHRISTINE MIESS
Born in 1977, lives and works in Vienna, Austria
EDUCATION
Department of Communication, English & Theatre Studies at Vienna University (Diploma 2004)
fotoK - Course for Artistic Photography, Vienna (Diploma 2015)
BOOK
Time Collapsing, 2016, Vienna - 56 pages
PUBLICATIONS
BLACK Fine Art Photography Magazine, All About Photo Magazine, Bleaq Magazine, Art Narratives
AWARDS
MonoVisions Photography Award 2018, honorable mention
International Photographer of the Year 2017, honorable mention
Urban & Human Empathy 2017, best photographer award
FAPA Fine Art Photography Awards 2016/1027, Shortlist
ViennaPhotoBookAward 2016 - 2nd place (Time Collapsing)
Exhibitions
Nur eine Lücke in der Zeit, group exhibition, F23 wir.fabriken, Vienna/Austria, 10 October -20 November 2020
Lines Blurring, solo exhibition, Ateliertheater, Vienna/Austria, 07 -28 May 2019
Time Collapsing, solo exhibition, Bildraum 01 gallery, Vienna/Austria, 18 September - 12 October 2018
Trilogy. Time Collapsing - Lines Blurring - Truth Dawning - portfolio exhibition, Meduza, Beograd/Serbia, 18-30 August 2017
Urban & Human Empathy by Exhibit Around/Trieste Photo Days 2017 - group exhibitions in Łódź/Poland, Budapest/Hungary and Trieste/Italy, 12 July-30 November 2017
Abstraction - group exhibition, Darkroom Gallery, Vermont/New England/US, 22 June-16 July 2017
A Surreal Vision - group exhibition, LoosenArt, Millepiani, Rome/Italy, 21-30 June 2017
Moments of Color - group exhibition, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens/Greece, 28 April-11 May 2017
photo::vienna - group exhibition, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna/Austria, 12-16 October 2016
Handmade III - group exhibition, AnzenbergerGallery, Vienna/Austria, 7 September-31 October 2016
Athens Photo Festival - The Photobook Exhibition, Benaki Museum, Athens/Greece, 9 June-31 July 2016
Manus et Pedibus - group exhibiton, Darkroom Gallery, Vermont/New England/US, 23 June-17 July 2016
Changes - group exhibition, Blank Wall Gallery, Athens/Greece, 8-20 May 2016
BAR I of the series BAR I - IV - group exhibition, fotok [2] Gallery, Vienna/Austria, 2-24 October 2015
Licht_Pause - group exhibition, fotok [2] Gallery, Vienna/Austria 24-31 January 2015
Waschmittel, Zahnpasta, Werkzeug - group exhibition, fotok [2] Gallery, Vienna /Austria, 15 February-1 March 2014
Wir Werden Sehen - group exhibition, fotok [2] Gallery, Vienna/Austria, 22 June-6 July 2013
ARTIST STATEMENT
In her artistic work Christine Miess always moves on the border between truth and deception, reality and illusion. She is searching for poetry in the everyday, for beauty in the present. We may be surrounded by this poetry, this beauty, and yet we often do not perceive it. Time is pressing, life is pulsating, the moment is slipping away. And yet - in the rare moments of pause, of catching our breath, of standing still, in these precious moments we look behind the flood of senses and recognize the grace of the imperfect.
The main work of the photographer is the series of works Time Collapsing, Lines Blurring and Truth Dawning, combined as a trilogy. The photographs resemble a dream sequence. Elements of our perception are condensed, what is shown appears and disappears at the same time. City and country, time and place merge, dissolve in the eye of the beholder. Traces of the real mingle, seduce as dream images and yet allow us to catch a glimpse of reality. The unifying formal element of the trilogy is the technique of multiple exposures of analog film material in different variations. The motifs thus gain in transparency, images are merged on a negative to form new realities, and perception is condensed. The images oscillate between visibility on the surface and disappearance in an abstract spatiality.
Miess addresses different levels of consciousness in her photographs; visually obfuscated impressions leave room for her own thoughts. In her exploration of questions about "unreal realities" or the essential of supposed realities, Miess finds a playful approach through photography to deal with dreams and memories, and subsequently with their effect on thoughts and feelings. In her pictorial compositions, Christine Miess leaves much to the eyes of the viewer. The possibilities to open up the essential are complex in a double sense.