Installation views by Katja Illner
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Anna Laudel Düsseldorf presents Dutch artist and photographer Brigitte Spiegeler’s comprehensive solo exhibition titled “How to Dance with Butterflies” between 12 August - 15 October 2022.    

Spiegeler’s works are about an imaginary time that only exists in our minds. She explains them as “time without time, vague with some details popping up, the memory is now, right here, but at the same time endlessly far away and intangible”.   

The title of the show ‘How to Dance with Butterflies’ refers to a poem about the present and the past, an everlasting moment of a still alive childhood memory, in the so called ‘nunc stans’. Also a twist of a quote from Muhammed Ali, ‘Fly like a butterfly, sting like a bee’. Spiegeler’s camera brings out the reflection of the experience and timelessness into being and her works are positioned at the juncture, presenting manifold layers that extend from the surface of the paper into time.   

Spiegeler uses these moments of transience that in a certain way do not hold enough significance to be regarded as ‘places’ in her photos. She focuses on thoughts, reflections, visual images that pass in our mind and these multi-layers are shown in both the works in colour made with risography as well as the black and white camera obscura photographs.   

The artist adds three dimensional layers to her work, in order to create space and freedom in her photograps. Spiegeler puts aside the high-tech possibilities in order to return and focus on each moment unveiling various stories: real and imagined. With the artist leading us in a timeless and spaceless atmosphere we are immersed in the moment and that’s where we are situated, as the 19th century French poet Henry David Thoreau said, ‘Find eternity in every moment’.    

The exhibition “How to Dance with Butterflies” featuring Brigitte Spiegeler’s poetic and mysterious works can be seen at Anna Laudel Düsseldorf until 15 October 2022.