Swetlana Heger

Swetlana Heger
Born in 1968 in Brno, Czech Republic. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

Education
1996-1998 Post Graduate Studies in Video and Communication Art, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan
1990-1995 MFA in Painting and Graphics, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria

Solo Exhibitions
2009 COMA – Centre for Opinions in Music and Art, Berlin, Germany
2008 Effearte, Milan, Italy
Kalmar Nya Konstmuseum, Kalmar, Sweden
Musée des Beaux Arts, Dole, France
2007 galerie frank elbaz, Paris, France
Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York, USA
COMA – Centre for Opinions in Music and Art, Berlin, Germany
Kunstverein Assenheim, Assenheim, Germany
2006 La Salle de Bain, Lyon, France
Haus Am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
2005 Artists Space, New York, USA
Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn & Taxis, Bregenz, Austria
Ibidprojects, London, UK
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
Galeria Javier López, Madrid, Spain
2004 Ap, 4, Art, Geneva, Switzerland
2003 Velan, Torino, Italy
A9 Transeuropa, Vienna, Austria
2002 Kunstwerke, Berlin, Germany
Galeria Javier López, Madrid, Spain
Ibidprojects, London
Hermès Store, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin, Germany
2001 Chouakri Brahms, Berlin, Germany
Mak Galerie, Museum Für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria
Air de Paris, Paris, France
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2008 Bare Market, Thierry Goldberg Projects, New York, USA
Agency: Artists Subvert Advertising, McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown State
University/Ohio, USA
Bass Diffusion Model, Fieldgate Gallery, London, UK
2007 If Water Crystal, Crystal Water, Ingalls Associates, Miami, USA
Constructing New Berlin, The Bass Museum Of Art, Miami, USA
Deutsche Geschichten, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
House Trip, Art Forum, Berlin, Germany
 What We Bought, Camera Austria – Kunsthaus, Graz, Austria
Op-Ed World, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France
Conditions Of Display, The Moore Space, Locust Projects, Miami, USA
Poetic Visions, Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York, USA
The 60 Second Southern Video Festival, Harmony Landing, Pegram, USA
2006 Constructing New Berlin, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, USA
Kit´O´Parts, Can, Neuchatel, Switzerland
Kick Off Berlin, Haus Am Waldsee, Berlin, Germany
Vom Pferd Erzählen, Kunsthalle Göppingen, Germany
Human Game, Fondazione Pitti Discovery, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
2005 Pour de vrai, Musée des Beaux Arts, Nancy, France
Art And Design In The Daily Life, Stedelijk Museum Belfort, Aalst, The Netherlands
Prenez l´air de Paris, Centre National de la Photographie, Paris, France
Mediascapes 3, Fúndacio La Caixa, Girona, Spain
Mediascapes 2, Fúndacio La Caixa, Tarragona, Spain
Simultan–Zwei Sammlungen Österreichischer Fotografie, Museum Der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
2004 Body Display, Performative Installation, Secession, Vienna, Austria
One In A Million In Urban Life, Economies Of The Self In Everyday Urban Life, Austrian
Cultural Forum, New York, USA
Czech Made!, Display, Praha, Czech Republic
Mediascapes 1, Fúndacio La Caixa, Lleida, Spain
2003 Production Unit, Arte Fiera, Bologna, Italy
Deluxe, Monasterio Del Prado, Valadolid, Spain
Total Überzogen, Edith, Russ, Medienhaus, Oldenburg, Germany
Accessoiremaximalismus, Kunsthalle Zu Kiel, Germany
Dispositions #1, Kunsthalle Brennabor, Brandenburg, Germany
Fuckin´ Trendy, Kunsthalle, Nürnberg, Germany
2002 Commodified Aesthetics And Critical Commodities, Monterrey, Mexico
Windsor.Collection, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
Art & Economy, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
Fair, Royal College Of Art, London, UK
Big Social Game, 2nd International Biennal, Torino, Italy
Uncommon Denominator, Mass Moca, North Adams, USA
Deluxe, Sala De Exposiciones De Plaza España, Madrid, Spain
M(Art) Inn, Helsinbörg, Sweden
2001 Encounter, Tokyo Opera City Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
After The Wall, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
Shopping, Generali Foundation, Vienna, Austria
Windsor.Collection, Galerie Philomena Magers, Munich, Germany
The Construction of An Image (Germany), Palazzo Delle Pappese, Siena, Italy
Aussendienst, City of Hamburg, Germany
Swetlana Heger

“Since the mid-1990s, Heger, born in the Czech Republic and currently based in
Berlin, has worked along the porous boundaries between art, commerce and
corporate patronage, teasing out the double bind that exists between these
systems.“( Stuart Comer, PARKETT Winter-Spring 2003/04). In her recent work,
Heger considers how it is that an artist functions under the conditions of global
capitalism: her pieces resonate at the intersection of aesthetic production and
commercial interest (series The Walk of Fame, Knights and Knaves, 2006); how
urban historiography may become a significant component of her production (series
Animal Farm, 2007); how the abstract portrait of a person – described by other
people, architecture and nature – can emphasize on the background structures of
an art production (video Untitled (The Cohen Residence/Paradise Valley), 2006); how
a series of 'self-portraits' co-authored by a growing network of photographers,
stylists and prominent luxury goods corporations results to establish Heger as a
trademark product (series Playtime, 2002-2005).
View of the exhibition Swetlana Heger, Solo Shows & déjà vus, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, France,
2008, © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole
View of the exhibition Swetlana Heger, Solo Shows & déjà vus, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, France,
2008, © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole
View of the exhibition Swetlana Heger, Solo Shows & déjà vus, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole, France,
2008, © Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole
Swetlana Heger
Smoke (Liberté Toujours)
2008
Mixed media
380 x 380 x 250 cm
Edition of 2

© Sara Södergård ; view of the exhibition Swetlana Heger - Smoke (Liberté Toujours),
Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden, 2008
Swetlana Heger
Smoke (Liberté Toujours)
2008
Mixed media
380 x 380 x 250 cm
Edition of 2

© Sara Södergård ; view of the exhibition Swetlana Heger - Smoke (Liberté Toujours),
Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden, 2008
Swetlana Heger
Smoke (Liberté Toujours) #2
2008
b/w print on chrome de luxe paper, color frame
121,4 x 169,4 cm
Edition of 3

© Sara Södergård ; view of the exhibition Swetlana Heger - Smoke (Liberté Toujours),
Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden, 2008
Swetlana Heger
Smoke (Liberté Toujours) #5
2008
b/w print on chrome de luxe paper, color frame
121,4 x 169,4 cm
Edition of 3

© Sara Södergård ; view of the exhibition Swetlana Heger - Smoke (Liberté Toujours),
Kalmar Art Museum, Sweden, 2008
Swetlana Heger
Random Quotes (About Everything)
Exhibition view, galerie frank elbaz, Paris, 2007-2008
Swetlana Heger
Random Quotes (About Everything)
2007
Mirror, painted frame
50 x 31 x 2,5 cm
Unique
Swetlana Heger
Random Quotes (About Everything)
2007
Mirror, painted frame
60 x 120 x 4,5 cm
Unique
Swetlana Heger
Random Quotes (About Everything)
Exhibition view, galerie frank elbaz, Paris, 2007-2008
”Swetlana Heger’s artistic work is set in the field of tension between art and every day aesthetics; in her
interventionist practice she combines aspects of the trivial and the sacred (and of high culture) with each
other, uncovering new links. Be it design, fashion or architecture – by means of selective shifts of
context she removes the often purely aesthetic, commercial foil of reference from the things and objects
that she partly photographs, thus achieving a re-politicisation of previously purely aesthetic discourses.

Her Ornamental Remix #1-7 series can be seen in this context. It consists of black-and-white photos of
the interior of a Gothic church that she visited in the Czech Republic. Only on closer inspection do we
notice that the ornamental elements are all made of human bones. This ‘recycling process’ puts the
found material – the bone finds – in a new context of meaning as decoration. In her work, Heger
translates the historical interior decor of the Gothic church in a renewed remix into modern pictures in
which the human skull and other remains become contemporary fetishes, as are being constantly
produced by western industries. What once was sacred becomes a commodity once and for all.”

From the brochure published on the occasion of the group exhibition What We Bought, Camera Austria,
Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, 2007

Swetlana Heger
Ornamental Remix
2007
b/w pigment print on chrome de luxe paper, color frame
62,5 x 92,5 cm each
Edition of 3
Swetlana Heger
Ornamental Remix #1
2007
b/w pigment print on chrome de luxe paper, color frame
62,5 x 92,5 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
Swetlana Heger
Ornamental Remix #2
2007
b/w pigment print on chrome de luxe paper, color frame
62,5 x 92,5 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
 « Swetlana Heger has been taking photographs of bronze animal statuettes that
are scattered in parks, zoos, and defunct kindergartens throughout the eastern
part of Berlin. There’s a peacock with its plumage replaced by intricate metal
lacework, a pair of baby giraffes, a fierce goat, a cuddly bear, a trio of plump
chickens. Innocent as all the beasts seem, they guard a secret: they’ve been
made from Stalin’s remains.
In 1949 the Stalinallee became the main drag in the socialist half of the city. A
giant bronze statue of the benevolent leader was eventually erected to crown and
commemorate the achievement. Upon Stalin’s death in 1961, it was urgent that a
new name be found for the boulevard. This time, however, party officials waged
on a name that was perhaps beyond opprobrium. They went with the much safer
choice of Karl-Marx-Allee. A choice so safe, a name so beyond reproach, that it
still stands today. But even after finding the perfect name for the street, there was
still the matter of that bronze monument. It stood like a bad reminder of Stalin’s
intolerance, of the magnitude of his crimes, surely, but also of the quiet
complacency of all those who had to pass by it everyday on their way to grim jobs
and scripted university lectures. The statue itself needed to be eradicated. And so it was brought down.
Unlike the images that censors and revisionists simply made go away whenever someone refused to toe the Party
line, there was the matter of the actual physical substance that made up the Stalin statue. The bronze was melted
and redistributed into all the animal figurines that Heger has been hunting down and documenting throughout Berlin.
These insignificant animals, tucked away in insignificant parks, quietly carry not only a bit of the historical narratives
of the last century but literally some of the material through which these narratives found physical form in the world.
These innocent and abandoned animals, like a big joke on History, have become its depository. It’s like alchemy,
but in reverse. These are the cuddly forms where the narratives that we banked on with such hope go to die, adding,
as they say, insult to injury. »
Excerpt from a text by Gean Moreno

Swetlana Heger
Animal Farm
2007
Black & white pigment prints, colored frame
152,5 x 112,5 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
Swetlana Heger
The Walk of Fame (Knights and Knaves)
2006
10 b&w photographs, color frames : 42,5 x 52,5 cm
1 color photograph, framed : 62,5 x 72,5 cm
edition of 3 + 1 EA
 Vincent Pécoil
Swetlana Heger, Knight and Knaves

Press release for Swetlana Heger’s solo exhibition at

La Salle de Bain, Lyon, 2006

Knights and Knaves the new set of photographs exhibited by Swetlana Heger at La
Salle de Bains, takes its origins in the rumours that are put about concerning well-
known artists. With its growing importance in the mechanisms of the culture
industry, art is attracting ever more media coverage; and for some of its
practitioners, at least, it has become a source of considerable income. This media
interest, stimulated by the buoyancy of the art market, has generated all sorts of
legends and gossip about artists' lifestyles, their supposed fortunes, their luxurious
possessions, the extraordinary number of assistants required for the completion of
their projects (whose production costs are staggering), and so on. "More is more"
seems to have become the adage of the age, and celebrity the ultimate aim of the
artistic enterprise.

A few decades ago, Andy Warhol stated that business was the highest
form of art. Today, it would seem that art has become the highest form
of business – its new model. Art is the ideal of the modern company – a
dematerialised entity, or a Nike-type design office that outsources the
entire production process. Like most of today's artists, in fact.

It used to be the case that one of the artist's natural roles involved
projecting an image of what art was supposed to be. Artists embodied
the image people had of them; which meant that they were seen as not
being like other people. This was the case, for example, with Van Gogh,
the first of the visionary artists. And it was also the image that Jackson
Pollock represented, for a time. As the objects created by artists
became more and more abstract – and more intimately individual – the
image they projected of themselves took on more and more
importance.

But the abstract character of art has ceased to be compensated for by

a particular image that sets apart the kinds of artist who, like Warhol
and his successors, identify themselves as "entrepreneurs", and who
have made their public persona a part of their stock in trade. They have
turned into Dan Graham Inc., or IFP (Information, Fiction, Publicité), or
Swetlana Heger®. There is nothing that makes them different from
other members of the public. A part of art's current problem stems from
the fact that there is no longer a public image of the artist to refer to.
So what is the image of today's artists, following on from the one that Richard
Prince's generation gave of themselves, with photos in magazines showing
Pollock at work, or Franz Kline in his studio? Does any of them perpetuate the
time-honoured image of the inspired bohemian? Representations of the artist at
work loom up out of the past like fading auras – that of the painter or sculptor
alone in his studio, the solitary genius living on the margins of the social world. But
in what precise way does the everyday reality of a famous artist differ from that of
a designer or an international architect? Warhol's vision of the future (in which
each individual is famous for fifteen minutes) meets Beuys's utopia (in which each
individual is an artist). Everyone's "creative". By giving the modern artist's
individualistic values a positive spin, the economic world has ushered art into a
populist era. The image of the artist is now that of the man in the street. It has
merged with that of creativity; and the memory of past art makes up the deficit, if
only by default.

Knights and Knaves takes its place, precisely, at the heart of this void. By
choosing to show images of computer-filled rooms – in a possible evocation of
contemporary studios – and the attributes of the business manager, which are the
same as those of the successful artist (the private plane, the briefing of an
assistant from behind a desk, or the external signs of wealth that correspond to
the function), these photographs illustrate a crossover between two worlds – that
of art and that of business – and reflect back, to those who look at them, their
own expectations about art.

"All the found images", explains Heger, "are based on myths, legends and
rumours about successful artists. […] An artist in today's world is a constant
traveller, a manager, an estate agent… In search of inspiration, artists go off to
distant isles to meditate. They learn to fly planes; they buy designer clothes and
have call-boys… They don't come up with ideas by themselves, given that they're
always working on a number of important projects simultaneously; but they have
the wherewithal to pay assistants, and they use them as think tanks, computer
experts, etc."

The framed photographs, taken from image banks, have been rendered in black
and white (as opposed to Richard Prince's first "rephotographs", which were black
and white images photographed in colour). This procedure gives the source-
images a look of seriousness or documentary veracity that is lacking in the
originals. The images are generic, and thus anonymous, awaiting legends (in both
senses of the word), like the coloured star on the opposite wall (which comes from
Los Angeles' Walk of Fame, with its palmprints of Hollywood stars.) The star is still
blank, still lacking a name – an (abstract) image of the artist onto which one can
project oneself, and to which one can aspire. The artist as star, nabab – celeb.
Swetlana Heger
Untitled (The Cohen Residence)
2006
Video 7:30min
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
Swetlana Heger
Playtime (SH & Purification Garcia, photographed by Marcus Gaab)
2005
Lambda Print on Chrome de Luxe paper, mounted on acrylic glass and aluminum
140 x 167 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP
Swetlana Heger
Playtime (SH & Adidas, photographed by Ali Kepenek)
2002
Lambda Print on Chrome de Luxe paper, mounted on acrylic glass and aluminum
180 x 220 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP