biography
Katrin Korfmann’s artistic practice moves between photography, film and installation. Her work explores the relationship between images, time, space and human interaction. Through photography, she investigates how images shape our perception of reality and how visual culture influences the way we understand the world around us.
Korfmann creates a tension between stillness and movement, which gives her work a strong affinity with performance. Her photographs exist at the intersection of documentation and construction: they appear to capture a moment, while simultaneously referring to a reality that has already passed or may never have existed in precisely that way. By combining different moments, perspectives and layers of time within a single image, she creates complex compositions in which time and space unfold as a layered experience.
A central concern in Korfmann’s practice is the way people move through and relate to public space. Her recent works, including images of freerunners in Amsterdam and surfers in Munich, examine how bodies interact with their surroundings and how movement can transform the meaning of a place. Her photographs reveal not only physical locations, but also the social dynamics and invisible structures that shape these environments.
An important aspect of Korfmann’s artistic research is her distinction between three dimensions of time: the time of making, in which the creative and technical process behind the image is central; the time of representation, in which images function as cultural reflections; and the time of experiencing, in which the viewer experiences the image subjectively.
A recurring element in Korfmann’s photographs and installations is the monochromatic backdrop she refers to as ‘space zero’. Like a canvas or a photographic studio backdrop, it creates a neutral field in which movement, interaction and visual narratives can unfold. Through this device, she questions the relationship between reality and representation, and between observation and construction.
Katrin Korfmann [DE, 1971] lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and continued her research through residencies at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Cittadellarte in Biella and the Chinese European Art Centre in Xiamen. Her work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, alternative art institutions and public spaces, and is represented in numerous private and public collections. She has received several awards, including the Prix de Rome (second prize) and the Esther Kroon Award.
