Marta Bogdańska

LH, PM, LR: In your artistic work you uncover hidden histories, examine the politics of archives, and challenge the way we perceive the relationship between humans and animals. Your project Shifters, for example, brought to light the often-overlooked roles animals have played in intelligence, surveillance, and warfare, questioning human-centered narratives and hierarchies. In the context of the Artist Meets Archive program of Internationale Photoszene Köln, you have been working with the photographic collections of the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum. We are excited to hear more about your approach to archival research, your artistic decisions in working with historical images, and how your interest in the animal point of view is reflected in this new project. Could you tell us more about it?

MB: You mentioned Shifters, which is one of the two long term projects I've been working on. I guess such projects are kind of never ending. Other-than-human animal¹​​​​​​ agency and looking for it in history – asking how animals are not only objects but also agents of history – has interested me for a long time. Developing out of Shifters, my new project called Vive la résistance! is looking into ways in which animals resist humans, human oppression and exploitation. It is based both on archival and theoretical research as well as discussions with experts from different disciplines.

There are only very few publications on the topic of animal resistance, so I have to really create my own archive. In research for my Artist Meets Archive project I soon realized that city archives can be very eclectic and that it is there that I have the chance to find the kind of material I am looking for. This is why I decided to work with the collections and holdings of the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum when applying to the Artist Meets Archive program. I already had good experiences with for example the Stadtarchiv in Karlsruhe, where I found an amazing amount of images to work with.

During my research stay in Cologne I saw most of the materials related to animals. Trust me, my eyes are trained now, I can spot even the tiniest animal somewhere in the background of the image. It’s amazing – I love it! It's like your whole brain got rewired and your focus is directed to something most people don't even notice.

There is a story about this famous chimpanzee from the Cologne Zoo, Petermann, which forms the background of my entire research in Cologne. Petermann became well known after escaping from the zoo in 1982 and somewhat of a legend. This story was always on my mind and will also play an important role in the exhibition. But I don’t want to simply repeat what has already been told but rather take a new approach: Petermann will be present, but from a more critical perspective.

Also, there was a very interesting and amazing thing that just happened right before I came to Cologne: a family of pigeons had just settled on the balcony of Volker Hille, the curator of the photographic collection of the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum, and had made a nest. When I arrived, two eggs were already there. We got a small camera and made a recording for a few weeks on the balcony, which will also be part of the project and fits very well because there are plenty of images of pigeons in the archive.

We are building chapters around certain findings in the archives that in their entirety will form a coherent story. There will be between five and seven chapters in my exhibition, which will be shown at two different venues.

LH, PM, LR: More generally speaking, what potential do you see in the collaboration of artists and archives?

MB: I think we all know that archives are not neutral. This is common knowledge in the academic world. They are seats of power and they are entangled in all kinds of political hierarchies. Even in my small research projects I already had so many issues finding things in archives and accessing archives. I think it's really important to still work with archives and try to uncover these power dynamics and different layers, and even build your own archives. I love projects of social archives or citizen archives, where people are trying to build another approach to archiving.

I think with digitalization, archives are becoming more accessible. Vernacular photography is also entering archives. There is an increasing number of initiatives or platforms working with archives that are popping up and offering different kinds of critical approaches or tools to think about archives and understand them differently. I still find that very important.

LH, PM, LR: What did you learn from working with the archives of the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum? What did surprise you most?

MB: I was hoping to find more about resistance, but instead we found these “ghost images” – photographs of animals that appear blurred or smudged, becoming invisible as they move – which will be a really beautiful part of the exhibition. They allow us to come full circle, starting with a photographic archive and ending with resistance to the materiality of photography, resistance to being photographed. There are a few images of animals from the Stadtmuseum’s archive that refer as well to the Cologne cathedral.

I really enjoyed working with Volker who is a great curator, very open and helpful. Our process has been amazing. I like discussing with someone, who is willing to give that time and energy, to create a kind of conceptual framework and has similar understanding of site-specific installations. It is truly great!

LH, PM, LR: We were also wondering how your care for animals, that we have seen in other projects, is being carried through in your project for Artist meets Archive. Listening to you makes us think that maybe the stories of the local animals are going to be the main subject of the exhibition?

MB: Yes, I'm working on this general topic of animal agencies and animal presence in history, but of course, I am finding specific stories in the museum archive. And then things coincidently occur in the present, like the pigeons on the balcony. All of this gives form to the project.

I really like the process and working with the site-specific conditions of an exhibition space. It gives the project the character of a laboratory. I had a few ideas before coming to Cologne for example about artworks I wanted to create here and these ultimately are the videos. But many things are only happening now, after I saw the exhibition space and discussed ideas with Volker. I came up with some crazy thoughts about how to show certain violent gestures of history imposed on animals. These artworks are embedded so to speak, first of all in the material I have been finding, as well as in the process of thinking about the project.

LH, PM, LR: We also wondered how your perception of animals, in work and life, has changed throughout your process of going through archives and learning more about this animal agency and animal resistance?

MB: I came to this topic with a lot of interest but not as an expert in the beginning. In my previous project, Shifters, the catchy point was to ask what could make an animal a spy or an agent? My background in philosophy triggered all the questions about the intentionality and subjectivity of animals. My process is multi-dimensional: reading, learning, talking to people and finding out things for myself. I think I've learned a lot and started feeling some kind of responsibility or obligation towards the individual animal. We cannot talk to them; we can only make approximations and try to imagine. That's why art is so important. That kind of perspective we can take when we try to get close to the animal experience, it is all based on some kind of imagination.

My approach to animals has become more ethical I would say. The question is more about how we can make the world more equal, how we can negotiate interests, and what kind of political representation we can give to them. They are beings that have rights and that need to be respected and be given space, time and attention. I think this is where we should be going and slowly changing societies.

LH, PM, LR: We would like to thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. It's been really great learning more about your project and what you are doing and your vision as an artist. We wish you the best of luck with the ongoing process and we're really looking forward to seeing what the exhibition will look like.

¹Other-than-human animals is a term used in Animal Studies to refer to non-human beings, emphasising that humans are, of course, animals as well.

The interview was conducted online in English on 25 February 2025.

Marta Bogdańska's exhibition "Footprints on the Sands of Time" at Photoszene-Festival 2025