Bettina Hutschek is a visual artist, filmmaker, and curator who lives and works between Malta and Berlin. After studying Art History and Philosophy (BA), she received her MA from Universität der Künste (class of Lothar Baumgarten) UdK, Berlin, and her MFA from HGB Leipzig (class of Tina Bara). She trained and worked in Art Mediation and was visiting scholar at the Department of Performance Studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her work has been screened, exhibited and performed internationally.
She is founder and director of FRAGMENTA Malta, a project to organize pop-up exhibitions in the public space of the Maltese Islands. In 2017, she co-curated together with Raphael Vella the Malta Pavilion at Biennale Arte 2017, Venezia.
Bettina Hutschek ist eine bildende Künstlerin, Filmemacherin und Kuratorin, die in Malta und Berlin lebt und arbeitet. Nach dem Studium der Kunstgeschichte und Philosophie (BA) erlangte sie ihren Absolventenabschluß an der UdK Berlin (Universität der Künste) (Klasse von Lothar Baumgarten), und ihren Meisterschüler an der HGB Leipzig – Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig (Klasse von Tina Bara). Sie arbeitete in der Kunstvermittlung und war Guest Lecturer am Department of Performance Studies der NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Ihre künstlerischen Arbeiten wurden international gezeigt, performt und ausgestellt.
Sie ist Gründerin und Leiterin von FRAGMENTA Malta, einem Projekt zur Organisation von Pop-up-Ausstellungen im öffentlichen Raum auf den maltesischen Inseln. Im Jahr 2017 war sie zusammen mit Raphael Vella Ko-Kuratorin des maltesischen Pavillons auf der Biennale Arte in Venedig.
Education / Ausbildung
| 2020 - 2023 | MA in Conference Interpreting at University of Leipzig, IALT |
| 2020 | ESoDoc-European Social Documentary Film Training (8 months) - Zedig Film School |
| 2008 – 2009 | Visiting Scholar, TISCH School of the Arts, Department of Performance Studies NYU. New York City |
| 2005 – 2007 | Meisterschüler Fine Arts (MFA). HGB Leipzig. Class of Prof. Tina Bara |
| 2004 - 2005 | Training Course for Tourist Guide - Studiosus Reisen GmbH München |
| 2000 – 2004 | Fine Arts (Class of Prof. Lothar Baumgarten). UdK Berlin and Universitat de Barcelona |
| 1998 – 2002 | Study of Art History, Philosophy and Comparative. Universität Augsburg and Humboldt-Universität Berlin |
| 1997 – 1998 | Study of Art History and Etching. Florence, Italy |
Grants & Awards / Stipendien & Preise
| 2023 | DAAD-Grant (Cameroon) |
| 2022 | Malta Arts Fund (Research) |
| 2020 | Yearly Working Stipend- Arbeitsstipendium Berliner Senat |
| 2020 | Artist Residency WAAW "Analogue Extreme" in Mauritania |
| 2018 | Berlin Senate Cultural Exchange Stipend for Istanbul (6 months) |
| 2016 | KUNSTFONDS Bonn. Yearly Working Stipend- Arbeitsstipendium |
| 2014 | Malta Arts Fund |
| 2013 | Yearly Working Stipend- Arbeitsstipendium Berliner Senat |
| 2013 | Malta Film Fund (Development) |
| 2012/ 2013 | Residency Art4Context at Pole Max Jacob, Quimper (F) |
| 2011 | Goldrausch Berlin – Professional Development Course |
| 2011 | Malta Arts Fund (with AP) |
| 2010 | DAAD–Scholarship (for Malta) |
| 2010 | Transient Spaces Research and Production Grant, uqbar Berlin |
| 2009 | Aide à la production, DRAC Bretagne |
| 2008 | Aide à la Création, Conseil Général Finistère, Brittany |
| 2007 | Jury-Award (Prix de la Jury), Jeune Creation Paris |
Solo Shows / Einzelausstellungen
| 2024 | TYPEWRITTEN - Augsburg Contemporary, Augsburg |
| 2020 | Bei den Huix. G37, Berlin |
| 2018 | HAUS 209 - uqbar Berlin. On invitation of Antje Weitzel |
| 2017 | HOMO MELITENSIS – Artist-Curator (with Dr. Raphael Vella) - Malta Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2017 |
| 2014 | Maltese Confabulations - BLITZ, Valletta, Malta |
| 2013 | YS - or: Doubts about the notion of Reality - Centre d’art contemporain Le Quartier, Quimper |
| YS. Greusslich Contemporary, Berlin | |
| 2010 | NEW YORK – BREST – VENEZIA – Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin |
| NEW YORK – BREST – VENEZIA – centre d’art passerelle, Brest | |
| 2008 | TRANSIT – Solo exhibition at Galerie ACDC, Brest |
| 2001 | Masterworks Don’t Die – 7-day Intervention in the surrealist room at Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice |
Solo Performances
| 2022 | Performance-Lecture Encountering Atlantis - Farfara 2031- Wien |
| 2018 | Visite Surprise “Holistic HanaHana Healing” – Cappadox Festival 2018, Ortahisar Anatlien (TÜR). Curated by Fulya Erdemci |
| 2015 | Performance-Lecture VALLETTA - Fondation Cartier Paris. On invitation of Christian Alandete |
| Performance-Lecture VALLETTA – HilbertRaum, Berlin | |
| 2014 | Visite Surprise “Art Can Heal” – Musée Malraux, Le Havre. On invitation of MUMA |
| Performance-Lecture VALLETTA - BLITZ, Valletta | |
| GINA - reading, Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig | |
| 2013 | Performance Lecture NEWYORK – Kunstverein INGAN, Berlin |
| 2012 | Performance 'Visite Surprise SERVICE' - Museum of Ethnography MARKK Hamburg, in exhibition "Wahlverwandtschaften", on invitation of Peter Herbstreuth |
| 2011 | Performance 'Visite Surprise Parapsychology', on invitation of Artconnexion – Lille (F) |
| Performance-Lecture NEWYORK at Altes Finanzamt, Neukölln, Berlin. On invitation of Lorenzo Sandoval | |
| Performance 'Visite Surprise Real Estate' – Kunstverein Tiergarten/ Galerie Nord Berlin | |
| 2010 | Performance-Lecture BUCURESTI – NGBK Berlin |
| Performance-Lecture BUCURESTI – Menoparkas, Kaunas |
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| Performance-Lecture NEWYORK – Simultanhalle Köln |
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| Performance-Tour Visite Surprise Albertinum, Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden. On invitation of Elodie Evers | |
| Performance-Lecture NEWYORK. Festival Antipodes’10, Brest |
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| Performance-Lecture BREST – Deutsches Haus, New York | |
| Performance-Lecture BUCURESTI – ICCA Bukarest | |
| 2009 | Performance-Lecture NEWYORK – at EXHIBTION, New York |
| Performance-Lecture BREST – Chez Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York Performance-Lecture |
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| Performance-Lecture BREST – Stony Brooks University Long Island | |
| Performance-Lecture BREST – NYU Tisch School of the Arts | |
| 2008 | Performance-Lecture BREST – Art-O-Rama, Friche Belle du Mai, Marseille |
| Performance 'Visite Surprise Ufology' at Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin | |
| Parcours Urbain – Performance Tours in the public space of Brest, on a monthly basis | |
| 2007 | Visite Surprise – monthly at centre d’art passerelle, Brest, in the ongoing exhibitions |
| Visite Surprise "Art of War" – Centre d’Art “Le Quartier”, Quimper (F) | |
| 2004 | 'Hand-Lesen'– 3 Tage palm reading, UdK Berlin, Juli 2004 |
| Palm reading for the public, Kunstverein Langenhagen (Die verborgene Tat) | |
| Performance 'Visite Surprise: Into the OBE' - Rheinschau (Art Cologne) Köln; on invitation of R&B Verlag/M 29, Köln | |
| 2002 | Guided Tour through the academy – UdK Berlin |
| Performance-tour: 'Art is art' - Skoki, Polen | |
| Performance-tour "HEILBAD", Stadtbad Oderberger Strasse, Berlin |
Group Exhibitions and Screenings (Selection) / Gruppenausstellungen
| 2022 | Such Stuff as Worlds Are Made On - Spazju Kreativ, Valletta. Curated by Margerita Pulé, Antje Liemann and Letta Shtoyhryn |
| Filmprogram of The Ordinary Lives of Women - Spazju Kreativ, Valletta. | |
| Schwarz ist keine Farbe - Hilbert Raum Berlin | |
| Anonyme Zeichner - Anonymous Drawings - Galerie im Körnerpark Berlin. Curated by Anke Becker | |
| 2021 | Step Out Of the Strange Light - n.b.k. Berlin. Curated by Krisztina Hunya and Melanie Roumiguière |
| Fluide Realitäten - Kunstbrücke am Wildenbruck, Berlin. Curated by Dorothee Bienert |
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| ARCHIVIO PERFORMANTE - Leipzig. Curated by Alba D’Urbano, Bettina Hutschek and Tina Bara | |
| IAFF - International Arts Film Festival - Screening of Kinghts of the Order | |
| 2020 | Debatable Lands - Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Wien. Curated by Maren Richter |
| 2019 | Artist Driven Space - curated by Kris Van Dessel, Antwerp |
| 2018 | Desert Island - Malta Contemporary Art. Curated by Mark Mangion |
| Dahar Madwarha - Capital of Culture-exhibition Valletta, Malta. Curated by Maren Richter | |
| The Broom of the System - Nieuwe Vide, Netherlands | |
| Splitternackt - tête, Berlin | |
| 2017 | Neighbors - VÖGELE Kulturzentrum Pfäffikon (CH) |
| Armel Beaufils, le Regard des femmes – sur invitation de Sharon Kivland, Saint-Briac-sur-Mer/ FRAC Bretagne |
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| Valletta - Ideal City, Colonial Capital, Gentle Metropolis -Exhibition at the European Parliament Bruxelles | |
| 2016 | Crosswords – Galerie Jordan/ Seydoux, Berlin |
| Crosswords – LAGE EGAL Berlin |
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| Valletta Film Festival – Special Mention Short Film Jury |
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| Scottish Society of Artists (Invited Guest) - National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh | |
| 2015 | Verfremdet = Neu Erfunden – at Hilbertraum Berlin |
| The Culture of Aging –St. James Cavallier, Valletta, Malta | |
| Good Walls Make Good Neighbors - St. James Cavallier, Valletta, Malta | |
| 2014 | Give Us The Future - Sennatsstipendiaten Berlin, NBK Berlin. Curated by Frank Richter |
| One-Eyed Date -Autocenter Berlin. A project by Andreas Schlägel | |
| Saison Video Lille |
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| Herz, Reiz & Gefühl - Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig. Curated by Dr. Ralf F. Hartmann and Cora Hegewald | |
| Es werde Licht – Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin | |
| 2013 | Biennale de Lyon – Nuit Résonance |
| Vis-à-vis Videoscreening – Art Claims Impulse und berlinerpool, Berlin | |
| 2012 | La Caravane, Screening at Biennale de Rennes |
| Wahlverwandtschaften – Group Exhibition at Völkerkundemuseum Hamburg |
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| Hamburg Int. Kurz Film Festival | |
| Saison Video Lille | |
| XXIII International Festival of Archaeological Film, Rovereto |
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| Galeria Valle Orti, Valencia |
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| Kinemastik Int. Short Film Festival, Malta |
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| The Rescue of the Effects – General Public, Berlin | |
| 2011 | Tales of the City - Before Exhibition Gallery Budapest |
| 2010 | Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrom Berlin. Traveling group Exhibition at NGBK und Kunstraum Kreuzberg, at Kaunas Menoparkas (Lithuania) and at ICCA Bukarest (RO), curated by Antje Weitzel and Marina Sorbello |
| 2009 | Last Day of Magic at the 53rd Venice Biennial’s official satellite project “Détournement, Venice 2009” |
| Un-/ Gekerbtes – Group Exhibition at Lothringer 13, München |
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| Outers Space ou The Drake Equation – Group Exhibition at Galerie ACDC, Bordeaux | |
| 2008 | Module – Palais du Tokyo, Paris |
| FIAC Paris | |
| Centre d’Art Quimper |
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| Jeune Creation Paris |
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| ALLES – die Columbus Sammlung – Columbus Art Foundation |
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| Dark Ages – Leipzig, Leipziger Kreis |
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| Meisterschülerausstellung – HGB Leipzig | |
| 2007 | Jeune Creation – La Bellevilloise, Paris – Preis der Jury 2007 |
| +10 – Columbus Art Foundation Ravensburg |
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| Biennale de St. Brieuc – St. Brieuc, Bretagne |
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| Birds of a Feather – Galerie ACDC Brest |
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| ?Révolution! – Centre d`Art passerelle, Brest. Curated by Ulrike Kremeier | |
| Dokumentar- und Videofilmfest Kassel | |
| Slick VIDEOArt 07 | |
| 20eme Instants Vidéo, Marseille |
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| Aires de Conflu(x)ences, Luxembourg | |
| Kurzfilmfestival NoBudget, Heilbronn | |
| 2006 | Eine Frage nach der Geste – Opernhaus Leipzig. Curated by Alba d'Urbano and Tina Bara |
| Utopia – HGB Leipzig |
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| Outliners – Projekt des Berliner Pool |
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| Raumvermittlung – ein /D/O/C/K-Projekt, HGB Leipzig |
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| Open Office – R&B Verlag/M 29, Köln | |
| 2005 | Erzähl mal was … – Kunstverein Langenhagen |
| 2004 | BOOKIES – R&B Verlag/M 29, Köln |
| 2001 | Museums Project – Intervention in a room of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venedig |
Contributions in Books, Catalogues and Magazines/ Beiträge in Büchern, Katalogen und Magazinen
- FRAGMENTA Malta – Art and Life in Public Space. Edited by Bettina Hutschek. Fragmenta Publishing 2019
- Homo Melitensis – an incomplete inventory in 19 chapters. Mousse Publishing Biennale Arte 2017
- Maltese Confabulations. Artist Book, 2014
- Give Us The Future. Senatsstipendiaten 2013. NBK, Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2014
- Herz, Reiz & Gefühl. Exhibition Catalogue Leipzig. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, 2014
- PATRON Magazine Valletta 2014
- Wahlverwandtschaften. Imaginationen des Nomadischen. Hg. Peter Herbstreuth. Gudrun Schröder Verlag Leipzig, 2012
- Transgressive Tales. Queering the Grimms. Wayne State University Press, 2012
- A Printed Thing, AP+ Malta 2012
- TRANSFER. Beiträge zur Kunstvermittlung N. 8. Schöppinger Forum der Kunstvermittlung, – Stiftung Künstlerdorf Schöppingen, 2011
- CONFABULATIONS. Annotations to History. Einzelkatalog – Goldrausch 2011
- UNCOMMON Malta. Miranda Books, Malta 2010
- Transient Spaces – The Tourist Syndrome, ed. Antje Weitzel + Marina Sorbello. Argobooks Berlin 2010
- Stories from the City. Before Exhibition Gallery Budapest 2011
- Entretien Bettina Hutschek. Espace Digital Sporadique, 2008
- +10/2007. Columbus Art Foundation, 2007 Frauen Kunst Wissenschaft. Heft 36, Dez. 2003
More abouts ..
Bettina uses fragments of different realities to tell stories. Through storytelling, she analyzes contemporary questions and concerns, and translates them into contemporary “myths”. Her research deals with mythological tales, urban space, collective memory and the politics of images. In her work, she juxtaposes and melds layers of fiction and “truth”, in order to question “reality” in an absurd and ironic, however mostly poetic way. Often set in imaginary lands, her stories create versions of an “extended” history.
Her artistic practice generates various forms: essay-films, books, texts, fictive documentaries, performances, guided tours and installations. All of her stories examine the possibilities of knowledge transfer – what do we know, and what do we believe to know?
Bettina verwendet Fragmente verschiedener Realitäten, um Geschichten zu erzählen. Durch das Geschichtenerzählen analysiert sie zeitgenössische Fragen und Anliegen und übersetzt sie in zeitgenössische “Mythen”. Ihre Forschung befasst sich mit mythologischen Erzählungen, urbanem Raum, kollektivem Gedächtnis und der Politik der Bilder. In ihrer Arbeit stellt sie Schichten von Fiktion und “Wahrheit” nebeneinander und verschmilzt sie, um die “Realität” auf absurde und ironische, jedoch meist poetische Weise zu hinterfragen. Ihre Geschichten, die oft in imaginären Ländern spielen, schaffen Versionen einer “erweiterten” Geschichte.
Ihre künstlerische Praxis bringt verschiedene Formen hervor: Essay-Filme, Bücher, Texte, fiktive Dokumentationen, Performances, Führungen und Installationen. Alle ihre Geschichten untersuchen die Möglichkeiten der Wissensvermittlung – was wissen wir, und was glauben wir zu wissen?