States of Rebirth

The Photographed Body in Motion

21 February 2025 – 17 August 2025

Exhibition
Gallery
Booklet
Soundtrack
HALLE4 Magazin

About the exhibition

Bodies are storytellers, whether in everyday life or in choreographed movements. Our poses and postures can be seen as the reflection on our embedding in social (power) structures. At the same time, they can be used as a medium for self-empowerment, resistance and transformation. From 21 February to 17 August, the exhibition »States of Rebirth« at Deichtorhallen Hamburg examines the correlation between the body, movement and societal structures in physical and digital spaces, through a focus on documentary and conceptual projects in Performance-, Portrait and Dance-Photography.

The exhibition brings current practices into urgent dialogue. Presented are works by KhingWei Bai, Felipe Romero Beltrán, Moshtari Hilal, Naomi Lulendo, Ana Maria Sales Prado, Roxana Rios, Aykan Safoğlu, Isaac Chong Wai und Farren van Wyk who stage so-called »glocal bodies«. Iranian dance scholar Elaheh Hatami coined the term to describe bodies that hold ties to more than one place.

STATES traces how our understanding of the gaze – from one body to another, the seer to the seen – has reversed, and how these aesthetic principles might help dismantle our sense of belonging. As Moshtari Hilal formulates it in her at-once poetic, autobiographic and analytically precise essay Hässlichkeit (Ugliness, 2023): »The gaze has turned: it is not those who are looked at who are ugly, but those who look with the intention to dehumanize.« A separate room is dedicated to her artistic research and exploration of her own family archive entitled Sculpture and Perfection at the last section of the exhibition.

«Migrationserfahrungen, Marginalisierung und soziale Ausgrenzung prägen vielschichtig die Körpersprache sowie die Selbst- und Fremdwahrnehmung. Performative und fotografische Ansätze adressieren die Frage, wie spezifische Körperbewegungen zum Ausgangspunkt von Selbstermächtigung, Widerstand und Transformation genutzt werden können oder wie das Offenlegen und Zerlegen gesellschaftlicher Blickregime es ermöglicht, diese neu zu ordnen und anders zusammenzusetzen.

Anknüpfend an die VIRAL HALLUCINATIONS Reihe untersucht die Ausstellung auch, welche Körperbilder im analogen und digitalen Raum durch algorithmische Sichtbarkeit privilegiert werden, und welche künstlerischen Arbeiten diese vernetzten Bildregime neu ordnen, unterwandern und transformieren können. STATES OF REBIRTH – KÖRPERBILDER IN BEWEGUNG bringt aktuelle künstlerische Arbeiten miteinander in Dialog, die genau dort ansetzen.

Kuratorin: Nadine Isabelle Henrich, Kuratorin des Hauses der Photographie

Booklet

As part of the »Viral Hallucinations« series, the second free Agency in Media booklet is being published to coincide with the exhibition. It defines 35 central terms from the dynamic field between body images and digital image cultures. Authors: Nadine Isabelle Henrich, Frances Fürst, Katrin Bauer and Sarah Gramotke. With essays by the artists Sheung Yiu and Roxana Rios and a discursive expansion by the author and artist Moshtari Hilal and the media scientist Annekathrin Kohout.

Download here

Soundtrack

For the STATES OF REBIRTH exhibition, PHOXXI has invited the artist Manuel Sékou to develop a sound commission as a soundtrack to accompany the viewing of the works. Sékou describes himself as a collector, assembler, viewer and prosumer. In his artistic work, Sékou moves between visual practice, music and self-publishing. His exploration is based on the associative collection of artifacts of digital image cultures and excessive sampling of audio fragments. Using strategies of “translation”, he approaches the complexity of realities essayistically with the aid of sound, image and text. His work with sound is characterized by analytical patterns of ruptures in the context of pop-cultural deconstruction.

Under the pseudonym luxxuryproblems, he releases productions on various labels such as SPA, katharsis, World Canvas and SM-LL as well as guest shows for online platforms such as NTS, HKCR and radio.syg.ma.

HALLE4 Magazin

Shorty: States of Rebirth – Körperbilder in Bewegung

Julia und Matthias sprechen über die Ausstellung STATES OF REBIRTH – KÖRPERBILDER IN BEWEGUNG, in der die Beziehungen zwischen Körper, Bewegung und gesellschaftlichen Strukturen in physischen und digitalen Räume beleuchtet werden.

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DAS IST KUNST: Moshtari Hilal

Im Podcast spricht Jumoke Olusanmi mit der Künstlerin und Autorin Moshtari Hilal über Schönheit, Kim Kardashian und warum sie schon als Kind Selbstporträts gezeichnet hat.

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10X Aykan Safoğlu

In diesem Videoformat reagieren Künstler*innen unserer Ausstellungen spontan und blitzschnell auf 10 Begriffe – ohne zu wissen, was auf sie zukommt.

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Studio Visit: Isaac Chong Wai

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Symposium Viral Hallucinations #2

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