Oberflächentiefe / Sur Face Depth - Birgit Graschopf

Since 2000, Birgit Graschopf has stood out for her performative works and staged photographs, in which she turns her own body into an object and uses it as a material. On one hand, Graschopf encourages viewers to intervene during her performances, which she defines as the "presentation of a sensory spectrum": touching, cutting, and even tasting grasses she has previously grown on her own body are all permitted. Shaken out of their passive role, visitors are invited to use all their senses to interact with both the artwork and the artist.

In her recent photographic series, Graschopf explores (social) spaces and cultures, critically examining the very concept of adaptability—from acculturation to integration. She illusionistically opens up walls through "wall exposures," perforates Japanese rice paper to create fragile body images, exposes poetic stagings onto scratchy sandpaper, and draws bodies or bodily fragments in "calli-choreographic" relation to their surroundings.This richly illustrated catalogue compiles Graschopf’s work since 2000 for the first time. In an accompanying interview, the artist discusses her post-feminist stance and, echoing Susan Sontag, calls for more sensuality in art.