1976 Born in Regensburg
1998-2000 Studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in The Hague
2000-2005 Received a Diplom (German academic degree) from the Fachhochschule Dortmund (the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund)
Since 2006 Working as a freelancer in Berlin
2007 Werft11 Gallery, Cologne
2007 Tristesse Gallery, Berlin
2008 Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie
2009 Contemporary Art Ruhr, Zeche Zollverein Essen. Gallery Werft11
2005 Kodak Nachwuchsförderpreis (award for youth)
2007 Screenings Award (UpDate07)
2007 Voies off Festival, Arles
Personae
Ben Plefka and Christian Angl work together as a team, producing photographs that directly appeal to the viewer’s readiness to engage in dialogue.
Like film stills, the large, playfully opulent photographs from their Personae series present irritatingly puzzling situations that cannot be said to be part of "normal" everyday life. The captured situations can only be explained through the context of a story whose true plot remains hidden.
Not only are the photographic possibilities obviously limited, but numerous reconstruction and interpretation models are revealed to the viewer.
The photographers’ style questions the limits and potential of the photography medium as well as basic normative societal concepts such as normality and security. This is done through the photographers’ use of unspecific protagonists to design fictional scenarios focusing on the loss of socially acceptable masks - the Personae.
Website
www.christian-angl.de
