Double Take
Cortis & Sonderegger
C/O Berlin

15 March – 1 June 2019

The artist duo Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger have been reconstructing iconic images in detail since 2012, in their long-term project as three-dimensional dioramas, models in miniature, which they photographed together with all the utensils and materials; cardboard, plaster, glue, cotton wool and sand – remaking them again as a photographic image. A meticulous bricolage and sculptural performance by the artists, who always ask questions: is that real? Or a surrogate?

Their photographs are equally fascinating and irritating not only through the perfection and bold staging of these almost identically replicated images, but Cortis and Sonderegger also humorously reveal the pictorial illusion by incorporating the studio situation into their photographs. The shots are a subtle play between photographic truth and manipulation. 

At a time when we are discussing the authenticity of images as well as alternative and false facts, the work of Cortis and Sonderegger challenges us to verify the truth of photography. But these icons are also an ironically entertaining reflection on photography as a medium that asserts reality, but is a product of media mediation. Sensitizing the senses and sharpening the vision: this is how Cortis and Sonderegger understand their artistic mission.

Jojakim Cortis (B 1978, Aachen, Germany) is a freelance photographer and lecturer. Cortis lives and works since 2001 in Zurich. In 2006 he completed his studies of photography at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), where he also begins his collaboration with Adrian Sonderegger and since 2009 teaches as a technical assistant and lecturer.

Adrian Sonderegger (B 1980, Bülach, Switzerland) is a freelance photographer and lecturer. Sonderegger has been living and working in Zurich since 2001. Together with Jojakim Cortis, he studied photography at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). From 2007 to 2011 he worked as an assistant to the artist Jules Spinatsch. Cortis & Sonderegger’s works have been exhibited worldwide at festivals and in museums. They teach together at various art schools.