Valerie Stahl von Stromberg was born in 1976 in Munich, Germany. She grew up in Cologne. After attending school in Germany and England she went on to study at Central Saint Martins College in London, graduating in 2000. In spring 2002 she was selected for the Festival International des Arts de la Mode a Hyeres. Her work has also appeared in the following publications: Big, Boilermag, Jetzt, Lab, Mined and Qvest.

Valerie Stahl von Stromberg currently lives and works in London.


Additional Images
KF Venice Biennale essay



Essay (German version):

From opposite directions, two people turn a corner and collide: two older men in "shopping" and two kids in "dancing". In "sleeping" two young men bump into each other and then finally two men of dissimilar age and build confront each other, in "jogging". Forever frozen in their discomfort and noticeable uneasiness... arbitrary and everyday street scenery.

Although seemingly accidental, these collisions are directed constructions by the photographer, Stahl-v.Stromberg. Although she selects both location and action beforehand, she draws her performers from the streets just prior to the shoot. The resulting images create a tension between a perceived snapshot spontaneity, and the knowledge of an underlying manipulation of this moment by the artist.

And it is the resulting human reaction to this moment that Stahl-v.Stromberg's photographs intend to expose. That sensation of discomfort produced from involuntary gesture, confusion and a momentary loss of self-control. The photographic eye suspends the instant, and translates it into timelessness. The meeting of any two people could be seen as a microcosm of the social order, and questions of intimacy, individuality and public and private identity are raised. Here, the rules of interaction and communication have failed.

Each facet of the composition is fabricated to support this discourse. With obvious reference to street photography, Stahl-v.Stromberg selects an unspectacular, architecturally banal urban environment, whose characteristics leave the setting free for alternative associations. Walls of buildings and windows become monochrome blocks of colour, that function both as background, and foil for the collisions.

There is a noticeable tranquility, an absence of the accidental. In Stahl-v.Stromberg's images, there are no passers-by, no traffic, and the light is shadowless and strangely dull. With her formally reduced elements, Stahl-v. Stromberg establishes connections to the artistic strategies of minimalism. Through the eternity of "the moment", she creates pictures of great reflection.


Ursula Truebenbach
December 2002