In the late 1980s, Dörte Eißfeldt photographed a snowball in black and white. She returned to that image again and again, reworking it, playing with contrast and light — so intensely that today you might think she had captured more than thirty different snowballs. In the series, she presents the ice as a small treasure. At times, it resembles a sparkling rough diamond, at others a crystal ball, or even a velvety bundle of fur. Her variations suggest that, as long as you’re willing to look closely, the world can be many different versions. At C/O Berlin, Eißfeldt’s explorations of snow can be experienced throughout the summer. Curator Boaz Levin has brought together works spanning more than four decades, guiding visitors through the 75-year-old artist’s oeuvre, made all the more intimate thanks to previously unpublished sketches and notebooks. It’s worth visiting the exhibition more than once. Eißfeldt’s way of looking at the world is contagious.
After studying art in Hamburg in the 1970s, she came to experimental photography in an autodidactic way, via film and painting. That sense of searching and playfulness has remained a defining quality of her work to this day. Her series Rücken (1990) vividly demonstrates this tactile, probing movement. With her camera, Eißfeldt traces surfaces — so much so that you want to follow the lines, shadows, and contours she sketches on paper with your own finger. In her images, skin appears velvety soft, matte, or metallic, gleaming like polished aluminum. She never shows people or objects in their entirety. Instead, as she herself puts it, she captures fragments of reality — sections of the visible world. Between the treetops in her series Wald (1991), stories linger in the darkness. And in her undulating waves, on view at Galerie Thomas Fischer since 21.02.2026, there is more than mere observation of nature. Her focus on detail is an invitation to study how we perceive. It opens up an intense dialogue — between artist and viewer, but also, crucially, between the viewer and their surroundings. Those willing to engage can come close to her fleeting fragments of moments. And, in the end, perhaps see the entire world within a single snowball.
Text: Laura Storfner / Credits: Schneeball 01, 1988, Doerte Eissfeldt, VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2025; Großer Flieger, 1986, Doerte Eissfeldt, VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2025; Hand Dessauer 02, Doerte Eissfeldt, VG Bild-Kunst Bonn 2025
C/O Berlin, Hardenbergstr.22–24, 10623 Berlin–Charlottenburg; map
Dörte Eißfeldt: Archipelago until 10.06.2026
Galerie Thomas Fischer, Mulackstr.14, 10119 Berlin–Mitte; map
Dörte Eißfeldt: Conil until 18.04.2026
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