Biography
Katalin Schaak is a visual artist and a filmmaker trained at Uqam in Montreal, Canada (B.A. in Sciences of Art), at the Université de Provence in Aix-en-Provence, France (M.A. with Honors in Visual Arts) under the Direction of Sylvie Coellier / Mohammed M Rabet and at the ENSAPC Beaux Arts Paris (Post-master in Visual Art) under the direction of Orlan. During her studies she attended lectures by Michel Guerin on the concept of Figure and of Jeremy Rifkins on the role of workforce within his research on the 3rd industrial revolution.
In her artistic practice she develops large scale projects in public space such as „Min gheir leisch“, a 84 audio–visual performance held simultaneously in 8 collective taxis in Beirut on the specific sectarian societal landscape, „Driving a cab from Paris and starting to work as a cab driver“ on parallel systems in local transport at the global age and „Das Boot“, a sculpture realized in the outskirts of Berlin known for its heritage of post-socialist module-type based architecture. Correlatively, she collaborates in theatrical productions with Aki Kuroda for the Creation „La Parade“ at the National Theatre d’Aix en Provence under the Direction of Choreographer Angelin Preljocaj, publishes a poetry book „Telephone arabe“ (Umtrieb Presse Kiel, Germany) based on the Arab literary form Karamat, translates Samuel Beckett’s “L’image” into German, initiates a public Arthouse cinema in a private house in Berlin and composes her first electro-acoustic sound piece “hyphen trophics” for the Kieler Museumsnacht. During a series of artist-in-resident stays she develops a work of videogrammes entitled Al Hamra, Vanishing Point, Atkelés, Générique, Verzwischlicht, UnCut, Chora.
With a scholarship awarded by Fondazione Mediterraneo Naples and cinemed/euromed she travels for on-site research on the role of Memory and History through several cities in the larger mediterranean Area.
Upon invitation by German Aircraft she realizes a performance in zero gravity conditions while reproducing the 4 states of matter (liquid, gas, solid, plasma) in a prefabricated dodecahedron, a collaboration with the Institute for Extra-Terrestrial Physics at the Max Planck Institut Munich and French National Centre for Space Studies.
Her work has been exhibited at La Villette Paris, Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin, Galerie de l ́Universite de Montreal, Galerie de l ́Universite d’ Aix – Marseille among other places. Her Film Al Hamra has been selected at the Filmfest Zell am See in 2019.
katalin schaak studio has been supported by Institut Francais, Goethe Institut, Alba University Beirut, Fondazione Mediterraneo Naples, Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Senatsverwaltung Berlin. She is a member of Berufsverband Bildende Künstler Berlin and of Federation for Asian Cultural Promotion.