Ulrike Ottinger, “the queen of Berlin’s underground”
Ulrike Ottinger, “the queen of Berlin’s underground”, is one of the pioneer figures of experimental cinema of post-war Germany in the 1970 and 80s. Ottinger’s artistic output extends far beyond film, encompassing theatre and opera productions, exhibitions, photography, painting, and artist book publications. As a filmmaker and camerawoman, she has crafted a complex oeuvre of both surrealist fictional films and ethnographic documentaries (of up to twelve hours), resonating greatly among queer-lesbian and postcolonial discourses of today.
Ulrike Ottinger, “the queen of Berlin’s underground”, is one of the pioneer figures of experimental cinema of post-war Germany in the 1970 and 80s. Ottinger’s artistic output extends far beyond film, encompassing theatre and opera productions, exhibitions, photography, painting, and artist book publications. As a filmmaker and camerawoman, she has crafted a complex oeuvre of both surrealist fictional films and ethnographic documentaries (of up to twelve hours), resonating greatly among queer-lesbian and postcolonial discourses of today.
The term Theatrum Mundi, or ‘world theatre’, serves as a playful metaphor for a global spectacle. Ulrike Ottinger explored this idea as part of her Berlin Trilogy. This creative period is marked by close collaborations with feminist icons such as Tabea Blumenschein, Delphine Seyrig or Madgalena Montezuma. Their flamboyant, audacious and avantgardist oeuvre shines particularly brightly today among the men of Neuer Deutscher Film (New German Cinema) such as Schroeter, Fassbinder and Schlöndorff.
Ulrike Ottinger (*1942) lived in Paris in the 1960s as a painter as part of the circles of Nouvelle Figuration. Since the early 1970s she is based in Berlin. Her work has been shown at international festivals and retrospectives, such as documenta and Venice Biennale and has been honoured with the Berlinale Camera and most recently with the German Documentary Film Award for Honorary Lifetime Achievement, a. o. She is currently shooting her 29th film.
From December 2024 to February 2025 CINEMATEK and Goethe-Institut Brussels are showing a complete film retrospective. A companion exhibition explores select projects and an insight into the filmmaker’s creative working processes as well as emerging artistic positions in response to her oeuvre.
Welcome to the world theatre of Ulrike Ottinger!
- 06.12.24 — 28.02.25
- Theatrum Mundi, Ulrike Ottinger Retrospective
A cooperation of CINEMATEK and Goethe-Institut Brussels. Made possible with kind support of Ulrike Ottinger Filmproduktion, Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin and Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Ulrike-Ottinger-Archiv.