Embodied Photography is a selection of works from a private collection curated by Katia Krupennikova that is focused on the complex interplay between the body, the photographer, and the spectator in photography. Conceptual artists such as Dieter Appelt, John Coplans, and Ulay challenge traditional notions of representation, autoethnography, and perception, each engaging with the body as a site of negotiation, transformation, and relationality.
Through photography and performance, Dieter Appelt oscillates between presence and erasure, materiality and dissolution. He creates visual metaphors that test the liminal spaces between presence and absence, the visible and the invisible. Dieter Appelt’s Membranobjekt (Membrane Object), worn on his head, amplifies hidden memories, the layers of the mysterious and the unconscious. Appelt’s body becomes both a tool and a subject—a site of experimentation that bridges the self and world beyond it. In 1976 on Monte Isola island, Appelt suspended himself from a tree, marking a pivotal initiation into direct communion with nature. This act of endurance led to works like Die Befreiung der Finger (Liberation of the Fingers) (1977-79), where his body merges with the natural world. Enacted through the body, Appelt’s photography emphasizes performativity, with the body serving as both a site of presence and a symbol of impermanence.
John Coplans’ self-portraits focus on his aging body, often fragmented and faceless, challenging conventional notions of identity and beauty. By presenting his body as an abstract, sculptural form, Coplans shifts the focus from individuality to universality, inviting the audience to confront aging, mortality, and the challenging presence of the human body. His work transforms the body into an archive of lived experience, raising questions about photography’s role in preserving decay and the fleeting nature of identity. The absence of a face and the fragmentation of his self-portraits further destabilize the act of photographing, suggesting the body as both a personal and cultural repository.
Ulay’s piece from the series From China Red: VIP room (1988-98) interrogates the relationship between the body and the camera, but here, the bodies are absent, leaving only empty chairs touched by the sunlight. These elements challenge the spectator’s position, shifting it from external to internal, as if the viewer is hidden within the image. The empty chairs suggest potential presence, while the light acts as a metaphor for the gaze. This shift from the physical to the psychological and from rational to affective blurs the boundaries between observer and observed, making the artwork a site of introspection.
Together, the selected artists highlight the relationality and performativity in photography, where the body is not merely documented, or observed, but actively positions itself as a researcher, creating and interpreting its own presence. In these images the authors act as vessels and embody archives of memory, time, and the surroundings. Their works challenge the boundaries between subject, artist, and audience, inviting deeper reflection on the power dynamics of looking. Through their diverse approaches, they reveal the body as a site of negotiation, resistance, and transformation within the photographic medium.
Dieter Appelt (1935, DE) photographer and video artist explores the tension between presence and absence, the body and nature in his work. With his performative approach to photography and video, he captures the fluidity of time and investigates the boundaries of perception.
John Coplans (1920, UK – 2003, US) was an artist, writer, and curator. A co-founder of Artforum, he shaped art criticism. His raw, fragmented self-portraits confront aging and question photography as an archive of time.
Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) (1943, DE – 2020, SI) was an artist who redefined performance and photography. His work explored identity, relationships, and the body, pushing physical and emotional boundaries.
Katia Krupennikova (1982, RU) is a curator, researcher, and educator based in Amsterdam. She teaches Curatorial Studies at HKU and has curated for institutions like V-A-C Foundation in Moscow and Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw. Recent projects include Beyond a Certain Point There is No Return (Tale of a Tub, 2023) and It’s OK...commoning uncertainties (Oude Kerk, 2022–2023).