Biography

Bernd Uhlig's photography seeks out a realm between fiction and reality - staging the staged and exposing the staging of reality. From Chinese twins in an unreal one-child society (“Twin-kle: TWINS IN CHINA”) and 100 portraits of Russian citizens (“100_RUSSIANS_4_SEASONS”) via the fictionalisation of movement at dance performances to portraits of performing artists looking for their own non-performance; Bernd Uhlig, born 1951, has been taking photographs since 1972 and currently lives in Berlin.

Beside the human portrait, always a fundamental subject in Bernd Uhlig's photography, since 1990 he has worked with an increasing number of directors and choreographers at various theatres, like Berliner Ensemble, Schaubühne Berlin, Volksbühne Berlin, Burgtheater Wien, Salzburger Festspiele, La Monnaie Brüssel, Opéra National de Paris, De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, and others. From 2001 until 2007, Bernd Uhlig had attended to the photographic needs of the Deutsche Opera Berlin.

Between 1995 and 2000 the TANZBILDER (Dance Pictures) cycle was created, in which any accentuation of the dancer-personalities is largely forgone. (Some review headlines: "The disappearance of the body", "Dance into the light", "Flickering flames", "Pinned beauties", "Dance of lights", "White surging".) In 1998 he presented his first large-scale installation of the TANZBILDER in an empty shed of the VON ROLL EISENWERKE iron works in Bern; an exhibition and catalogue in the WILLY BRANDT HOUSE in Berlin followed in 2000.