Biography

Kirsten Geisler was born in Berlin in 1949 and studied at the Vrije Academie in The Hague from 1984 to 1985, then at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam from 1985 to 1989. In the nineties she was a guest lecturer at the Art Academy in Utrecht, New Media Department.

Her work uses new media and also relies on the technical possibilities of the computer. This results in video sculptures and image projections that blur the boundary between material production and the spiritual presence of her figures.

Her main theme is female figures and faces that are supposed to convey beauty. The concept of beauty has been researched very intensively, as it is one of the "eternal" ideals. Recently, this has also been done with the help of computer models. Long before the invention of computers, however, psychologists were already copying photos of faces on top of each other and thus arrived at a somewhat blurred, but recognizable, generalized face. When people were asked to rate a face in terms of beauty, the most beautiful was always the one that came closest to the artificially generated face. There is therefore a deep structure underlying beauty, and this has also been investigated using computers. It has been possible to determine precise data, such as the distances (between the eyes, for example) and the proportions. With such scaffolding, it is then possible to create models that possess beauty, at least in relation to the principles applied.

Kirsten Geisler's women all possess this beauty, but they still irritate the viewer. Some have an artificial, alien, metallic appearance, others look more natural, but even these are somewhat unsettling because they have a very impersonal expression. These virtual women (Kirsten Geisler called her first virtual woman "Maya Brush") represent the stereotype of the feminine as propagated by the media, but Kirsten Geisler defines this as a misguided dream.

Museum and single exhibitions (selection)

2012

Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Maskerade

Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Jäger und Gejagte – Insekten in der Gegenwartskunst

Sala de Exposiciones Hospedería Fonseca, Salamanca, COLAPSO. UN ENSAYO SOBRE EL FRACASO Y LA RUPTURA

2011

Kumu, Kulturhauptstadt Tallinn: "gateways. Kunst und vernetzte Kultur"

2010/2011

Netherlands Media Art Institute, Amsterdam: Technology Requested

2009

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario (MACRO): HUéSPED

2008

Kunstmuseum Bremerhaven: Die Sammlung

Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden: In voller Blüte

2007

Chelsea Art Museum, New York

Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft: Contour

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis: Interface

Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Neapel: Dangerous Beauty

Städtische Galerie Ravensburg; Kunstverein Konstanz: Leibhaftig

2006

MNAC – National Museum of Contemporary Art (Muzeul Național de Artă Contemporană), Bukarest: “Dutch Installation Art”

Audio Relay, Lafayette

Stadtmuseum Oldenburg: Das Tier in der Kunst

Kunsthalle Osnabrück: Kunst-Körperlich