Ulrike Ottinger is an internationally renowned artist whose work has been called a 'small universal theater' of its own (kleines Welttheater). Embracing film, photography, theater, and exhibitions, it draws the viewers' attention to the different ways of showing. The presentation will focus on this deictic structure in Ottinger's work and its presence both in her figures, her scenography, and the compositions of each frame. Showing her way of showing, Katharina Sykora wants to reflect upon this form of pointing things out demonstratively, like with the gesture of the index finger, and on how it generates cultural, historical, and gender differences.

Prof. Dr. Katharina Sykora received her doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1983, after which she worked as a research assistant in archives and museums. From 1994 to 2000, she was Professor of Middle and Contemporary Art History with a focus on gender studies at the Ruhr University Bochum. From 2001 to 2018, she was Professor of 19th and 20th Century Art History at the Institute of Art History at the University of Fine Arts Braunschweig. Between 2013 and 2018, she also held the post of head of the DFG Research Training Group The Photographic Dispositive. Her research focuses on the construction of gender, authorship and affects in visual culture and the media comparison of photography, painting and film. Katharina Sykora also works as an exhibition curator.