Keren Cytter

Born in 1977 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Keren Cytter lives and works in Amsterdam and Berlin. Cytter is a prolific video artist as well as a writer. Her videos transform commonplace stories into vulgarized epics that spin out of control. Her erratic camerawork echoes her volatile narratives. The latter are set in everyday contexts and shot according to the rules of diverse television and film genres: from soap opera to musical, film noir via fictitious documentary through to cinema verité. Cytter’s videos record her surroundings, her friends and her family portraying characters in a Freudian universe where egocentric goals, profound frustrations, personal aspirations and intimate wishes surface for the camera. Tension is built up through the inner, psychological struggles of the actors, whose craft is often one of the works’ main subjects. Cytter’s characters slip in and out of alternative states of play, from Stanislawskian immersion to Brechtian de-composure.

Keren Cytter has had solo exhibitions at Centro Huarte de Arte Contemporaneo, Huarte Centro, Spain (2008), Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008), MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (2007), KW, Kunst Werke, Berlin (2006), Kunsthalle Zurich, Zurich (2005) and the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt (2005). Her work has also recently been shown as part of Manifesta 7, Trento (2008), the Yokohama Triennial (2008), the 9th Biennale de Lyon (2007), and the 2nd Moscow Biennial (2007). Karen Cytter was awarded the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel in 2006 and has been short-listed for the The Nationalgalerie Prize for Young Art (2009).

Keren is represented by Elisabeth Kaufmann, Zurich and Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam.