www.annakott-projects

AFTER SLEEPING MUSE

14.05-1.06.2025

Künstlerhaus Sootbörn, Hamburg

The exhibition challenges the classical image of the muse – shifting from passive projection to active creator.
Some of my earlier works appear in a new presentation – reframed, expanded, and strikingly relevant.
The latest pieces build on previous approaches and take them further – connected through attitude and origin.
Maybe the muse really did kiss me during the preparations?
Curated by Alexia Timmermans.
Special thanks to SUBSTRAT • Artist Management.

Change often begins with a single image.

This double-sided work set many things in motion within my artistic practice.
On the front: new patterns – vibrant, powerful, a conscious step in a new direction (2020).
On the back: an early motif – a chair being lifted. For me, a symbol of departure and new beginnings (2015).
For the exhibition, I developed a custom construction that positions the piece freely in the space – sustainable, and visible from both sides.

When a painting returns, it often still has something to say.

Years ago, I encountered a dancer – his body like liquid fabric: powerful, soft, almost sculptural.
A moment that burned itself into my memory. I couldn’t look away. And even though I tried to forget him, the image stayed with me.
I painted him – and then set the work aside.
Only when it was framed did the feeling return.
Of all things, this painting was selected – and suddenly, the canvas felt too flat for what it held.

Some images resurface – because their story isn’t over yet.

What was missing was the physical presence, the memory, the sensation.
That’s how the idea emerged: to sew a frame from lacquered fabric – shiny, close to the body.
But I wasn’t interested in wrapping the canvas in the traditional way.
I wanted to use the fabric only in parts – leaving it open, like skin that doesn’t reveal everything.
A frame that feels more like a body than an object.
No fixed boundary.
And because of that: more space. More intimacy. More emotion.

What if inspiration doesn’t come from the outside – but rises from within?

“Becoming before being” (2017)
This triptych shows bodies in transition – vulnerable, powerful, in the process of becoming.
A visual impulse at the heart of the exhibition:
The muse as inner movement – not an object, but a source.