OPENING: 31 July 2026, 7 pm to 10 pm
Fotoforum Dresden, Neustädter Markt 12

In her photographic works, Christine Molis works with optical paradoxes that, at first glance, appear entirely normal.

At second glance, however, upon closer and more prolonged examination, one recognises precisely fitted insertions that add something unexpected to the seemingly everyday and familiar nature of what is depicted. Our visual habits initially merge both levels; in doing so, the optical illusion creates insights into tilting spaces, disorienting structures and shifts in perspective that defy all logic.

In Moli’s photographic works, both the dystopian dream of nature that has died and been suppressed, and the reflection of subversive land-grabbing through meandering plants and translucent animals, blend into habitats in the sense of preservation, change, the past and the future.

For her works, Molis uses her own photographs from the last thirty years: she combines conceptual rigour with the visual language of painting. No longer interested in the smoothness and objectivity of professional photography, she intervenes in the photographic image using montage and silhouette-like inlays. It is not digital technology but the artist’s signature—with stencil-like, hard edges—that is meant to be visible.

Through the interlocking of her precisely cut photomontages, Molis invites us to explore the fictional spaces thus created and the real world. Consistently devoid of people, they remain model spaces and peep-boxes for an imaginative and ethical stance that shows us what ought to be done and which spaces offer utopian potential for this.

Christine Molis works without words, yet she condenses and conveys the message by allowing the unexpected to emerge through visual disruptions and by transforming photography into a stage for the imaginary.

(Excerpt: Man Schneider, Return to Life – (Re)conquered Spaces, The Photomontages of Christine Molis)

Christine Molis (born 1983, Wuppertal) lives and works as a freelance artist in Berlin. She completed her studies from 1988 to 1991 at the State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe in Freiburg im Breisgau, under Prof. Peter Dreher, amongst others. She went on to study under Prof. Thomas Bayrle at the Städelschule (State Academy of Fine Arts) in Frankfurt am Main. Her numerous exhibitions and insights into her series can be found at: https://christine-molis.de

The exhibition and public programme, which also includes our pop-up format, was funded in 2026 by the Office for Culture and Heritage Protection of the City of Dresden.