Eli Cortiñas (*1979 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, lives and works in Berlin) challenges our visual memory through her film and video art. She scrutinizes existing footage from advertising, film, and pop culture, re-contextualizing it through subtle modifications or combining it with her own original content. Central to her practice is the technique of “editing as writing,” a playful manipulation of narrative flow employing interruptions and rearrangements to expose and question prevailing myths and hegemonic narratives. In the work Walls Have Feelings (2019), part of the n.b.k. Video-Forum collection, Cortiñas addresses the impact of objects and architecture within the realms of politics and labor. Drawing from the spatial design of totalitarian systems, the film unfolds as an essayistic narrative, linking structures of political rule, industrial production conditions, and neoliberal value creation systems.

Cortiñas studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and the European Film College in Ebeltoft, Denmark. She was recently appointed Professor of Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB). Previously, she taught alongside Candice Breitz at Braunschweig University of Art from 2019 to 2022 and held visiting professorships at Kunsthochschule Mainz and Kunsthochschule Kassel. In 2014, she was a fellow at the Villa Massimo German Academy in Rome. Cortiñas’s work has been showcased globally in solo and group exhibitions, as well as at various film festivals. As part of the n.b.k. membership program, the artist invites interested n.b.k. members to a discussion where she will elaborate on her latest projects.

In English

Participants: max. 15 pers.

Location: The meeting point will be announced after registration

The number of participants for the event is limited. Thus, we ask for a binding registration specifying your n.b.k. membership number. Further information on the event and the meeting point will be sent to you by email. If you want to sign up for an event or if you have any further questions, please send an email to: kunstvermittlung@nbk.org or call us: (+)49 30 280 70 20.

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