SUMMER 07, WM Issue #4: Oliver Guy Watkins in Discussion with Curator Lisa Bosse

Lisa Bosse is a curator currently living in Berlin, who studied in London, and completed an MA in Curating at Goldsmiths University. She has held exhibitions in London and Geneva and opened a show, ‘One Way’, in Berlin on June 18th 2007.

Her series of exhibitions entitled ‘Three Storeys’, of which the German capitol will host the second of the three, is a series of curated exhibitions in domestic spaces, investigating and questioning the traditional ways of displaying art. I met Lisa in a secluded restaurant, in one of Berlin’s many parks in the area of Mitte.

First of all can you tell me about the exhibitions you staged in London?

I founded, in conjunction with Hotshoe magazine, a space, which was called Hotshoe Projects and locted within their building, an old warehouse space in Clerkenwell. It was used for photography exhibitions, with the focus being on international and emerging photographers. It actually happened just as I was moving to Berlin, so it meant I went back and forth a great deal, but it worked very well.

And how many shows did you hold there?
It was over the course of a year, and there were five shows in all. The magazine was published bi-monthly, so we ran in line with that.

What led you into the association with photography?
There were a lot of things that happened at the same time, for example I did Art History (at University) and one of my research projects was on photography in the nineteenth century and how people had their picture taken when they were already dead. They would be all dressed up and to commemorate them a photograph was taken. I found that really intriguing. They actually looked alive, well sleeping. I think that was one of the first times I researched into photography properly. This and a number of other things led onto an interest that grew over time.
Some people see photography as just snap-shots, which isn’t the way it works. I am a really great fan of Juergen Teller, and I always end up having the same argument when someone says ‘Oh you know, it’s just about his family and himself…’ And yes some part of his work is, but it does not matter, he can do whatever he wants to do. I also liked Wolfgang Tillman’s show at the Tate Britain in 2002, I appreciate his work, and I love the way it was installed, how he played with size and tacked things to the walls. It really worked well for me.

So how did your exhibition in Geneva come about?
I try to give myself as much time as possible for each project. It means that my ideas can naturally transform over time, so the original concept may be slightly different from the end product but I end up with something I really wanted.
I had two artists, Tessa Payne who is a collage artist straight up, and Guy Shoham, though he is a painter works in a collage style way and uses collage as source material. The two together created a very interesting dialogue.


‘One Way’ an exhibition by Lisa Bosse is currently showing at 18m Gallery in Berlin.