Karen Knorr was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany and was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1960s. She finished her education in Paris and London . Karen has taught, exhibited and lectured internationally including Tate Britain, Tate Modern,The University of Westminster, Goldsmiths, Harvard and The Art Institute of Chicago. She currently teaches photography at the University College of Creative Arts in Farnham, famous for having developed a new vernacular documentary style photography with eminent contemporary photographers such as Martin Parr, Anna Fox Paul Seawright, Keith Arnatt and Eileen Perrier.
Karen Knorr produced a ground breaking series of black and white photographs with ironic and humorous texts that highlighted aspirations, lifestyle and the British class system under the neo liberalist Thatcher era in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Her most well known work called Gentlemen was photographed in Saint James’s clubs in London and investigated contemporary conservative values .In 1986 her work Connoisseurs used colour to explore connoisseurship regarding heritage and art in England in the 1980’s. Here she introduced elements into the architectural interiors of Chiswick House, Osterley Park House and the Dulwich Picture Gallery, in order to challenge the transparency of the photographic document. This is a strategy that still appears in her photography today.
Karen Knorr’s work has developed a critical and playful dialogue with photography using different visual and textual strategies to explore her chosen subject matter that ranges from the family and lifestyle to the animal and its representation in the museum context. Karen Knorr uses photography to explore western cultural traditions from gentlemen’s clubs to elegant Palladian country houses that present and comment on British society. Karen has also photographed fine art academies throughout Europe.The Academies series reflects on the relationship beween the production of art and its consumption. Her work continues a dialogue with conceptual art and feminism. Although Knorr is renown for her photography she has also worked with video and installation.
Karen Knorr is currently exploring our relationship to nature, animals, their represention and display in natural history fine art museums and zoos.. The sites include Carnavalet Museum, the Museum of Hunt and Nature in Paris, Chambord Castle and the Conde Museum in Chantilly Castle. More recently Knorr has been using Corbusier’s Villa Savoye in Poissy, reintroducing life into the modernist aesthetic of a building which has become a shrine to high modernism. The photographs mix analogue and digital photography playfully reconfiguring tales (Ovid, Aesop, La Fontaine )with popular culture (Disney and Attenborough) in museum interiors and heritage sites..
Karen Knorr is presently working on a commission for Grandes Galeries Magazine photographing the collections at The Louvre.
Karen Knorr exhibits her work internationally and her work is in many public and private collections worldwide.
karen1knorr@aol.com
www.karenknorr.com
.05 Lecturer in Contemporary Photographic Practice at London College of Printing School of Media, on the B.A. Hons Photography Course
I acquired experience teaching on foundation level and years 1, 2, 3 on the B.A. Hons. Photography course. I was an active member of the course committee and validation processes. I was third Year Tutor and deputy Course Leader in 1992 responsible for assessment procedures and the curating of the final year show . I left in order to concentrate on my practice and to teach in Stockholm, Sweden
Visiting professor at The National University College of Art and Design, Konstfack, Stockholm , Sweden
I was invited by Hans Hedberg and Jan Eric Lundstrom (Head curator of photography at the Photografiska Museet) to teach students in The Academy of Photography at the Konstfack.
I led tutorial groups and seminars and developed the theoretical aspect of the course.The students and I developed a critical practice beyond the parameters of what was originally a technical and vocational course addressed to editorial and advertising photographers.
Full-time Course Leader of M.A.. in Photographic Studies at The University of Derby, School of Art & Design
My responsibilities included admissions tutor, tutoring,( leading tutorial groups and seminars) lecturing and monitoring students progress, academic course development for the post graduate theory and practice modules on the M.A. which run full time and part time. Additionally I was coordinator of the final year exhibition and wrote the annual programme report. Adaptation of course to modularisation.
I also taught on the undergraduate B.A. Hons. course year two and three. I left in order to concentrate on my practice .
.05 Senior Lecturer B.A.. Fine Arts , Goldsmiths College
As Convenor Group Leader I was responsible for the monitoring of three tutors and 40 students in the convenor groups, their continuous assessment.
Participation in weekly staff curriculum development meetings leading up to the National QAA assessment in 2000.
Postgraduate tutoring on the M.A. in Fine Art.
Visiting Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of Westminster and the Surrey Institute ( UCA)
I became a visiting tutor one day a week at Goldsmiths College in order to concentrate on my fine art practice .I took on additional teaching as a part-time postgraduate tutor on the Photographic Studies course at the University of Westminster and the Surrey Institute where I taught on the Post graduate and undergraduate photography courses.
I led a week workshop for 10 students in the Photography Course Centre d’Enseignement Professional, Vevey ( otherwise known as Vevey Shool of Photography)
Proposed as a workshop the construction of “The Everyday and the Photographic “. Students were asked to document their lives, present aseries of photographs and to produce a description of their work in the form of a written statement.
Visiting part time Tutor, Convenor Group Leader in Fine Art, Goldsmiths and part time lecturer
B.A. Photography, Surrey Institute and University of Westminster( M.A.)
Kent Institute of Art And Design, Westminster University, Fine Art Academy at Valenciennes, Fine Art Academy at Nantes, Goldsmiths College, Lund University,Gothenberg University, Uppsala University, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Sheffield University, Exeter University, Derby University,Central Saint Martins, Winnipeg Museum, Sir John Cass,Byam Shaw,University of Westminster, University of Brighton.Slade School of Art, The Bournemouth Institute, The Art Institute, Chicago, Harvard University
A member of the exam jury for the fine art course in Geneva, Switzerland
External Examiner for B.A. Photography at the Surrey Institute
External Examiner for Mohini Chandra at the Royal College of Art, Thesis:
Pacific Album:Memory,Diaspora and the Visual
External Examiner for Middlesex University for the B.A Hons Photography – AKTO
Greece
External Examiner for Jo- Anne Duggan at the University of Technology, Sydney,
Doctorate in Creative Arts
Thesis: Beyond the Surface: The Contemporary Experience of the Italian Renaissance
Consultant for joint B.A. Hons Photography course document at Roehampton University
Currently .02 Senior Lecturer at UCA , Farnham , Photography undergraduate and postgradute
Lead supervisor for Isla Cunningham Mphil : Photographing Alice: Young Women through the Looking Glass
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Hot Shoe, The Grapes are Sour Anyway!, The Photography Of Karen Knorr ,April/May 2009
Toulouse Culture, Les Fables de Karen Knorr, p45, France November 2008
JM Weston, Humeurs, pp 68-78 , France Oct 2008 ( catalogue)
Urbanites, Filles du Calvaire , pp 56- 59 October 2008 ( catlogue)
Highlights , Cover and Karen Knorr interview, Athens, Greece,October 2008
Knack , Fotografie Fantastische fables, foto’s van Karen Knorr, p 57 Sept 9, 2008
Let,s Motiv , L’Attitude Nord, # 33 Portfolio Karen Knorr, France pp52-59, Septembre 2008
Arte News , Arts en Belgique, Karen Knorr a la Centrale Electrique, Brussels p22-27 Sept 2008
Kunstbeeld, Netherlands NR 7/8 karen Knorr, Aug 2008
Flanders Today , Karen Knorr, July 7, 2008 , p2
The Bulletin, Karen Knorr P12, July 17, 2008
Trends, Expo Karen Knorr 9 95, June 6, 2008
La Libre Belgique , Karen Knorr Fables par Guy Duplat, June 21, 2008
Le Soir, ( full page with image)JExposition/L’univers Animal de Karen Knorr a la Centrale Electrique, 2008 Quand l’animalite revient au galop, Jean –Marie Wynants une 23, 2008,
Summer of Photography Booklet p31, Brussels June 2008
Exporama, Karen Knorr p 17, Paris February 2008
Arts Programme, Cover and Karen Knorr est- elle reele?, Marie Maertens pp 6-9 and Interview by Harry Kampianne, 10-11March –April 2008 ,
Museum Practice Magazine , Cover , Winter 2007, London, UK
Photographies Modernes et Contemporainrs La Collection Neulize Vie,,p165Editions Flammarion 2007
Adrien Goetz/Karen Knorr,le solilogue del’empailleur, editions Gallimard 2007
Cuzin,Jaen-Pierre,Salmon,Dimitri , Fragonard, Regards Croises, pp188-189 Editions Menges 2007
D’Anthenaise, Claude,Le Cabinet de Diane au Musee de Chasse et de La Nature,pp 42-43, Citadelles & Mazenod, 2007
Guardian, G2 Karen Knorr’s Best Shot Thursday March 08,2007 p 27
Paradis no 1, A Magazine for the contemporary man, pp126-127, 146-153, Summer 2006, Paris,Zoo , Catalogue pp 11,pp94-97. pulished by La Centrale Electrique, European Centre for Contemporary Art, Brussels June 2006Exit 22, Living With Animals , Karen Knorr pp102-113, Editor Rosa Olivares, Madrid 2006
Karen Fables, Essay by Lucy Soutter, Portfolio no.42, Edinburgh 2005
Picturing the Self, Doy, Gen, Chapter 4 Focusing on the Self: Karen Knorr pp.98-103,I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd. , London 2005
The Walrus p.26, Volume 2 Issue 3, Toronto, Canada, April 2005
Lapiz 199-200, Revista International de Arte, Animalistic, pg-51, 126-127, Spain,2005
Photographie Plasticienne, Baque, Dominique, L'Extreme Contemporain P.88 , pp 98-101, Editions du Regard, 2004
Connaissance des Arts. Photo 2, Novembre 04-Fevrier 05 pg 77, Paris
Beaux Arts no. 239 April 2004 p. 62, Paris
Exit Book No 3, Cover Image, 2004, Madrid, Spain
Exit Book 13, What a Laugh! by Rosa Olivares, pg 20. 2004, Madrid Spain
Foto pozytyw n. 11 Kopalak, Eliza Karen Knorr,pp34-39.,lodz, Poland, Nov 2003
Art And Photography, Campany, David , Pp 64, 291, London 2003
Contemporary Issue 51. Genii Loci: The Photographic Work of Karen Knorr, Kathy Battista, pp76-77, July 2003, London
Art Review ,Castle Cartier p 76, July/August 2003, London
The Art Book, Volume 10 , Issue 4 Genii Loci, Review by Doy, Gen pp. 52, London
Art Press July 2003 La Photographie : du Musee Au Visage, Baque, Dominique p.90, Paris
Art Press no/ 287 February 2003 p 76, Paris
Art Press no. 290 Mai 2003 p. 8. Paris
Beaux Arts no. 227 April 2003 p. 36, Paris
Ein Bilder buch: Die Fotografische Sammlung im MuseumFolkwang pp 237,Steidl,Museum Folkwang 2003, Germany
Match de Paris no. 2811, Tendance, Des Animaux pour Decaler Notre Regard , Francois de Labarre Paris
Match p.26, April 2003, France
Spaces for Art, EXIT 9, pp 80 - 88, Madrid, Spain 2003
La Photographie Contemporaine, Poivert, Michel, pp 76,85,108,115, Flammarion, France 2002
Lost in the Archives, The Peripatetic Philosopher and Other Photographs by Karen Knorr , edited b
Rebecca comay, pp 63-72, Alphabet City Media, 2002
Art in America, Report from London, Life After YBA mania, pp78-79 Oct 2002
Animaux Au Chateaux, Anne- Marie Romero, Le Figaro Culture, p. 28 26/27 October 2002
Swings and Roundabouts, Catherine James, pp 68-71, Contempoarary, June July, August 2002
Putting Pictures in their Place, Tom Lubbock 31/07/01 The Independent Art and Feminism, Helen Reckitt and Pegy Phelan. pp116 Phaidon Press, 2001
Karen Knorr: Amantes del Arte Contemporaneo, La Fotografia Revista no: 86
pp36-39, Agosto- Septiembre 2001 , Bracelona Spain
Old Masters with New Teeth, Charles Darwent, The Independent on Sunday, July 8,2001
Karen Knorr, Profifoto, May-June 2001 pp. 36-38
Pick of the Galleries, Independent on Sunday 18/02/01 p. 5
Rennfahrer, Bergbluten und ein Papagei, Jorn Ebner, Kunstmarkt, Frankfurt
Fables, Filigranes publishers , with texts by Lucy Soutter and Nathalie LeLeu, Paris 2008
Genii Loci, Black Dog Publishing, texts by Antionio Guzman, David Campany and Interview by Rebecca Comay, London 2002
Karen Knorr par Antonio Guzman Frac Basse Normandie, France 2001
Signes de Distinction, Thames and Hudson, France, 1991
Marks of Distinction, Thames and Hudson, England 1991
2008 Louvre Grandes Galerie Commission
2008 M Weston Commission
2005 Commission for Le Musee de la Chasse et la Nature
2003 Printemps des Musees French Ministry of Culture and NSMD Bank
2002 Images au Centre 02, France for The Venery
2001 The Arts Council Of England Award
1998 Hasselblad Foundation Research Grant ( Sweden)
1992 Cross Channel Commission
1992 Ferney Voltaire Commission
1986 National Endowment for the Arts
The Arts Council of Great Britain
The Government Art Collection of England
Bradford N ational Museum of Film and Photography
British Council Collection
Centre Georges Pompidou
Cabinet des Estampes, Geneva
The Chase Manhattan Bank, London
The Cartier Foundation
Folkwang Museum, Essen
FNAC, France
FRAC Acquitaine,France
FRAC Bretagne, France
FRAC Lorraine, France
FRAC Rhone et Alpes
FRAC Haute Normandie
FRAC Basse Normandie
Heiting Collection, Germany
L’Hoiste Collection, Belgium
Hokin Collection, Chicago
Lamarco Collection, Geneva
Lambert Bank Collection
MAG Collection
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Musee de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris
ING Real Estate photography Collection, Germany
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Norton Collection, Los Angeles
NSMD Bank Collection, Paris
Palomon Collection, London
The State of Geneva Collection, Switzerland
San Francisco Museum of Art
Texaco Corporation, London
Towner Art Gallery Collection
Uppsala Museum of Modern Art
The Victoria & Albert Museum
Vigo Council, Spain
Warburg Bank, London
Winnepeg Art Gallery, Canada
all content © 2009 Karen Knorr