Katharina Gaenssler (b. 1974, Munich, Germany), lives and works in Munich.
From 1999-2005 she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Between the years of 2013 and 2014, Gaenssler was positioned as a visiting Professor at Hamburg Art Academy.
Gaenssler’s primary concern is not the perfect individual photograph. Rather, the object of her enterprise is to collect detailed pictorial information capable of translating a real location into a sophisticated spatial experience. She uses photo collage to reproduce a prismatically fractured vista, granting the observer a spatial sensation all its own. Gaenssler’s décollages – what remains after an installation is taken down – shift the perspective again while enabling the surface and habitats to correspond to the temporary appearance.
Her work has been shown in Germany and abroad, including Museum of Modern Art New York, Pinakothek der Moderne, Folkwang Museum Essen, Sprengel Museum Hanover, Lenbachhaus Munich, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Her works are held in the collections of Museum of Modern Art New York, Pinakothek der Moderne Munich, Folkwang Museum Essen, Bavarian State Library, Bibliothèque d’Art et d’Archéologie de Genève and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden amongst others.
Her publications ‘Ephemer’ and ‘SIXTINA MMXII‘ were awarded Best German Book Design by Stiftung Buchkunst Frankfurt. Other awards Gaenssler has received include a Working Scholarship from the Foundation Kuntsfonds Bonn and the Erwin und Gisela von Steiner Trust Project Award.
