Takeover: #100 - Henriette von Muenchhausen
Henriette von Muenchhausen: Instagram / Website
#100 (10/2 - 16/2 2020): written by Anisa Demirci and Cheyenne Pattiwaël
Hailing from Germany, Henriette von Muenchhausen has studied Fine Art at the KABK in The Hague, followed up by a postgraduate program, Bcademie, in Rotterdam. She is now based in Berlin and The Hague.
She is inspired by memories and everyday life. In her artworks, she integrates poetry, photography, installations and paintings into her visual art. To her, poetry is an attitude. Like in a poem, the words are just words, but they can be very strong and stay in people’s minds. Henriette hopes that some of her artworks work like this as well. She wishes to give people something valuable (to remember) with making her art. In the best way, art can be a present, to keep as a treasure, it carries much more meaning than just the material.
When asked why it is that she makes art, Henriette explains that she cannot not do it. She sees her work as slightly animistic, ‘they take over me, they want to exist and I am facilitating this’. It is this magical creation that she describes, where the works are sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract and sometimes they are creatures, where the forms are alive.
Henriette approaches every exhibition as a party, and the works are going to that party. The works have different characters and different relationships between them. She likes to play with these thoughts and asks herself questions like: “What do they do when nobody is watching?”
Colour plays a big role in her work, drawing from different vibrant memories from her youth and giving her a positive feeling. But don’t be fooled. On first sight, people might assume that all works are colourful, happy and cute, but they can also be sensual and mean. Henriette plays with expectations and it is this play between attraction and repulsion, which also makes the artworks flirt with the visitors.
Absurdity and humour, playfulness, colour, and this flirtiness matter a great deal to her in making her work. Interacting with a space in a playful manner, suits her way of working very well. In this digital space she will also take a playful approach by seeing it as a ridiculously small exhibition space - or should we say a party?
“Don’t take life too seriously, even if it is.”
She is inspired by memories and everyday life. In her artworks, she integrates poetry, photography, installations and paintings into her visual art. To her, poetry is an attitude. Like in a poem, the words are just words, but they can be very strong and stay in people’s minds. Henriette hopes that some of her artworks work like this as well. She wishes to give people something valuable (to remember) with making her art. In the best way, art can be a present, to keep as a treasure, it carries much more meaning than just the material.
When asked why it is that she makes art, Henriette explains that she cannot not do it. She sees her work as slightly animistic, ‘they take over me, they want to exist and I am facilitating this’. It is this magical creation that she describes, where the works are sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract and sometimes they are creatures, where the forms are alive.
Henriette approaches every exhibition as a party, and the works are going to that party. The works have different characters and different relationships between them. She likes to play with these thoughts and asks herself questions like: “What do they do when nobody is watching?”
Colour plays a big role in her work, drawing from different vibrant memories from her youth and giving her a positive feeling. But don’t be fooled. On first sight, people might assume that all works are colourful, happy and cute, but they can also be sensual and mean. Henriette plays with expectations and it is this play between attraction and repulsion, which also makes the artworks flirt with the visitors.
Absurdity and humour, playfulness, colour, and this flirtiness matter a great deal to her in making her work. Interacting with a space in a playful manner, suits her way of working very well. In this digital space she will also take a playful approach by seeing it as a ridiculously small exhibition space - or should we say a party?
“Don’t take life too seriously, even if it is.”