I AM NOT A LOCAL GIRL

Kampnagel Hamburg
28 – 30 November 2019
Video installation and participatory online theatre
Cornelia Sollfrank supported by #purplenoise (Charlotte Bonjour, Andrea Kelemen, Marlene Halser, Johanna Thompson)

Project website

The installation consists of two screens facing each other: On one screen there is a video with dreamlike sequences from various locations in Hamburg, in which the protagonist reflects from a great distance on past events. Opposite is the projection of a “social wall” on which flashbacks in the form of images, animations, text pieces, slogans, concepts, names, faces and places flood the social media channels of #purplenoise. The fragments create a narrative that will never be complete and yet brings hidden stories back to light.

“What we remember does not depend on what actually happened, but on what we can later tell a story about. What is remembered from the past and what is not ultimately depends on who needs the story and for what purpose”. (Aleida Assmann)

German artist Cornelia Sollfrank belongs to the first generation of net artists* and cyberfeminists* of the 1990s. She began experimenting with artistic hacks and initially pursued international networking initiatives, such as the Old Boys Network, before working specifically with the use of digital networking for local organization in Hamburg. The installation was created in collaboration with #purplenoise, an interdisciplinary technofeminist research group that uses real events as an opportunity to explore and use social media as a venue for political manipulation.

The Art of Making Trouble, lecture by Cornelia Sollfrank, 29 November 2019 (in German)

The artist Cornelia Sollfrank lived in Hamburg for over 20 years and was actively involved in the cultural politics of the city. She was particularly interested in the use of digital, networked technologies to test new forms of organization and the possibility of developing influential online platforms for artistic-critical engagement – with comparatively few resources. In her lecture, she looks back at various projects, evaluates them from today’s perspective, and reflects on how artists* can use new aesthetic practices to live up to their social responsibility beyond the art market and city marketing.

All photos by Oliver Goernandt, Tranquillium Photography Hamburg