![Ronit Porat © Yair Barak](/site/assets/files/1885/ronit.0x600.jpeg)
Ronit Porat was invited artist at the Kölnisches Stadtmuseum as part of the first edition of the Artist Meets Archive project.
In parts, her collage-like procedure may be classed as a Dadaist photomontage method. Porat uses these images, which she alters by means of trimming, as well as private photographs in order to allow new narratives to arise and historical boundaries to become visible in her installations. With the help of the found “photographic traces and remnants”, Porat’s works are charged with psychological, emotional and gender-specific aspects and, along the way, also make reference to concepts of origin, the exertion of influence, and reproduction. Specifically, she investigates the transparent boundaries of gender and equality in Europe into the late 30s, when notions of a liberated “New Woman” were popularized and the camera became a personal research tool that placed the identity of these women at the focus. The Second World War and the necessity to preserve, pass on and responsibly deal with stories and documents also play an important role in Ronit Porat’s oeuvre.
When entering an archive I approach it as a researcher in a crime scene, looking for clues into how the past penetrates the present in order to gather visual sources that will help me to decipher the cognitive-emotional space in which I operate. I am interested in the movement that shifts between the personal and the collective and back to my personal biography, to examine the power of images to resonate in the memory and to create a sense of belonging.
Ronit Porat
The Graphics Collection at the Cologne City Museum, which comprises approximately 20,000 illustrations of Cologne’s urban and cultural history, invites Israeli artist Ronit Porat to perform a rediscovery and a reinterpretation of these archived items.
Internationale Photoszene Köln
![From Vies possibles et imaginaires © Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh and Rozenn Quéré, 2012](/site/assets/files/1867/vies_possibles_et_imaginaires_01.720x576.jpeg)
Yasmine Eid-Sabbagh
Artist Meets Archive #2: Rautenstrauch-Joest cat Scratching the Black Box of Colonial Photographs
![Joan Fontcuberta © Damian Zimmermann](/site/assets/files/1870/joan_fontcuberta_-_timetunnel.720x576.jpg)
Joan Fontcuberta
Artist Meets Archive #2: Gossan: Mars Mission
![Philipp Goldbach © Karin Ruëtz](/site/assets/files/1873/philipp_goldbach_portrait_karin_ruetz.720x576.jpg)
Philipp Goldbach
Image Cycle
![Naoya Hatakeyama © Marion Mennicken](/site/assets/files/4723/bildschirmfoto_2023-11-17_um_10_44_20.720x576.png)
Naoya Hatakeyama
Artist Meets Archive #3: Yokohama Souvenirs
![Erik Kessels © Erik Kessels](/site/assets/files/1876/erik_kessels_portrait.720x576.jpeg)
Erik Kessels
Artist Meets Archive #1: Archive Land
![Lebohang Kganye © Lerato Ntombela](/site/assets/files/4711/rmp9va_fm1910ad_085.720x576.jpg)
Lebohang Kganye
Artist Meets Archive #3: Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
![Ola Kolehmainen © Maija Toivane](/site/assets/files/1879/ola_kohlemainen.720x576.jpeg)
Ola Kolehmainen
Artist Meets Archive #1: COELN. Cathedral of Light
![Pablo Lerma © T. Ripa](/site/assets/files/4715/20_photo_plerma_photoszene.720x576.jpg)
Pablo Lerma
Artist Meets Archive #3: NS-Documentation Center
![Lilly Lulay © Enrique Ramirez](/site/assets/files/4719/lilly_lulay-c_enrique_ramirez.720x576.jpg)
Lilly Lulay
Artist Meets Archive #3: Rhenish Image Archive
![Anna Orłowksa © Chrobot&Filak](/site/assets/files/1882/orlowska_portret.720x576.jpg)
Anna Orłowksa
Artist Meets Archive #2: A Part of the Part
![Rosângela Rennó © Julia Rennó](/site/assets/files/1888/rosangela-renno.720x576.jpg)
Rosângela Rennó
Artist Meets Archive #2: Eaux des Colonies
![Fiona Tan © A van Leeuwarden](/site/assets/files/1891/fiona-2001avleeuwarden_bw.720x576.jpeg)
Fiona Tan
Artist Meets Archive #1: GAAF
![Roselyne Titaud © Yves Bresson](/site/assets/files/1894/roselyne_musee_2.720x576.jpeg)
Roselyne Titaud
Artist Meets Archive #1: Die Hummer-Quadrille
![Antje van Wichelen © Antje van Wichelen](/site/assets/files/1897/antjevanwichelen.720x576.jpeg)
Antje van Wichelen
Artist Meets Archive #1: NOISY IMAGES
Participants
The Artist Meets Archive programme invites international artists to collaborate with the Cologne Archives & Collections. Within the framework of a residency, they can immerse themselves in the city's photographic holdings and develop an exhibition project for the Photoszene Festival. In the first two editions of Artist Meets Archive, eleven artists were able to participate and present their projects in Cologne.