Cortis & Sonderegger are a collaborative team of two Swiss artists; Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger. This Swiss photographic duo began their collaborative work during studies at ZHDK in 2005. Collectively they conceive and manufacture surreal worlds in their compositions of ‘staged’ photography.
CORTIS & SONDEREGGER
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The Swiss photographic duo of Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger began their collaborative work during their studies at ZHDK in 2005. Collectively, they conceive and manufacture surreal worlds crafting compositions of ‘staged’ photography. Their most well know series titled, Icons (2012 to Present) is a collection of recreations revisiting ‘iconic moments’ in history. The duo use their precision model-making skills to construct three-dimensional miniature dioramas of famous scenes depicted in original photographs. Once the diorama is built, the artists step back to reveal the overall scene of making, including some of the tools and materials used in the final composition, to reveal that the work is indeed an obvious counterfeit of the original.
“Cortis & Sonderegger’s works are characterised by a clear aesthetic diction. Their image tricks are satirically created, ingeniously staged and metaphorically back-filled. Objects and people take off, hover, fall… The trade mark in their pictures is the fact that the impossible is nimble and playful, their photographic raw materials are simple fabrics, props and tools. The artificial structure with linkage and equipment, with reductions of foreground and background to an image scenery, with light and smoke machines etc. are often made transparent at the edges of the image, reinforcing the message with digital retouching… the two photographers make themselves known as the true inventors for their visual ideas…”
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
2022
Walker Evans Revisited, Kunsthalle Helmond (NL), Until March 2023
Panoràmic Granollers Festival, Barcelona (SP)
T3 Photo Festival Tokyo, Tokyo (JP)
“Me, myself and I”, Cortona on the Move Festival, Cortona (IT)
“To Imagine”, Getxophoto Festival, Getxo (SP)
2021
“Illustré – 100 ans”, solo show at Images, Vevey (CH)
2020
“The Architecture of Deception“, B’NK’R, Munich (DE)
“20/20Twenty Artworks Celebrating Twenty Years”, Gallery Bryce Wolkowitz, NYC (USA)
“Athens Photo Festival 2020”, Athens (GR)
“Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie 2020”, Mannheim (DE)
“Rabbit Hole”, Ljubljana (SLO)
2019
“Human Impact”, Künstlerhaus Dortmund (DE)
“Maan/Moon”, FOMU, Antwerp (BE)
“Icons”, Ravestijn Gallery, Amsterdam (NL)
“Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography”, MET, NYC (USA)
“Photo Basel”, Basel (CH), Ravestijn Gallery
“Photo Schweiz 19”, Zurich (CH)
“Ways of Seeing” by Sam and Til, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
“Belfast Photo Festival“, Belfast (Northern Ireland)
“Double Take”, C/O, Berlin (DE)
“Modell-Naturen in der zeitgenössischen Fotografie“, several places (DE)
“Stories That Matter“, Objectifs, Singapore (SG)
2018
Paris Photo presented by East Wing (with Cédric Delsaux) Grand Palais (FR) November
“Ways of Seeing” by Sam and Til, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
Solo exhibition, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, NY (USA)
“NEXT IMAGE – The Past of the Future”, Daegu Photo Biennale (KOR)
“Double Take”, Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur (CH)
“10. Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie”, Darmstadt (DE)
“UNVERIFIED”, Museum of Contemporary Art/Jacksonville (US)
2017
“Lianzhou Foto 17”, Lianzhou (CHN)
“Landskrona Foto Festival 2017”, Landskrona (SE)
Ways of Seeing / (curated by Sam and Till),Villa Empain /The Boghossian Foundation, Brussels BE
Ways of Seeing / Istanbul Contemporary, Arter Gallery (curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath), TR.
Photo London – presented by East Wing, – London, UK
Art Dubai, presented by East Wing, Dubai, UAE
PHOTOFAIRS | San Francisco, presented by East Wing, Dubai – San Francisco, CA, USA
2016
“Bilderstrom. The Rhein and Photography 1853 – 2016”, Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (DE)
31ème Festival International de Mode et de Photographie 2016, (DOTATION MEMORIES LAB) Hyères,(FR)
“Photography never dies”, Wroclaw, (PL)
“What’s Up Photo Doc“, Paris (FR)
“Nothing But Blue Skies“, Group exhibition, Rencontres d’Arles (FR)
“Icons”, Solo Show at East-Wing Gallery, Dubai (UAE)
“Icônes”, Solo Show at Galerie Robert Doisneau, Centre Culturel André Malraux, Nancy (FR)