Contemporary artists have adopted diverse strategies in their explorations of the construction of history and the role of politics, society, the media and indeed individual biographies in shaping this process. Within this context, photographs and film stock held in archives – the visual building blocks of what is supposedly a collectively-constructed memory – frequently serve as the inspiration or raw material for artistic practice. In her series Working on Myth (2011) Luise Schröder sets her sights on the city of Dresden. After distorting photographs found in coffee-table books with fire, sand, and water in an analogy to the destruction wrought by the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and the floods of 2002, Schröder created new visual compositions from these raw materials. The work includes a video installation documenting the performative aspect of her art-making and illustrating at a metaphorical level a process of continuous construction which entails numerous participants. Other works created by Schröder in the mediums of photography and video offer a critical view of the construction of historical narratives and cultures of remembrance, and their manifestation in memorials, monuments, and national holidays. Her 4-channel video projection The Invisible Battle (2015) features scenes from a re-enactment of the Battle of Leipzig from 2012. The Historical Front (2013) presents a study of the Czech monument “Victory of the Red Army over Fascism” during the sculpture’s restoration and re-installation in both video and photogravures. Facing the Scene (2011), a collaborative work created with Anna Baranowski, documented the preparations for the consecration of the world’s largest statue of Jesus on the transit route between Berlin and Warsaw.

Image 1 and 2: „Arbeit am Mythos“, 2011

Film // idea: Luise Schröder * camera: Martin Jörg * cut: Nadja Smith * sounddesign: Frieder Nagel * production: Nadja Smith