An artist’s portrait as a social media documentary series – Cornelia Sollfrank and the HAP Grieshaber Prize

Cornelia Sollfrank is one of the defining voices in digital art. Since the early 1990s, she has been asking uncomfortable questions: What does authorship mean when an algorithm creates the work? Who owns art when it emerges from a collective web of relationships? She is an artist, researcher and networker – and above all, someone who intervenes where conflicts become visible.

This year, as the 27th recipient, she receives the HAP Grieshaber Prize from VG Bild-Kunst – one of the most prestigious awards for artists in Germany, worth €25,000 and presented by a jury of fellow artists.

On behalf of the Deutscher Künstlerbund, Basiliscus Film visited Cornelia Sollfrank at her studio in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin-Kreuzberg – and spent an intensive day of filming with her. The result was not a single production, but a carefully conceived three-part series for social media: a portrait, a studio walkthrough, and a prize profile.

Three films – three perspectives on art, work and award

It was clear from the concept phase that a single video would not do justice to the many layers of Cornelia Sollfrank's work. Together with the Deutscher Künstlerbund, we therefore developed a three-film concept that serves different target audiences and distribution channels – while still functioning as a cohesive whole.

• Film 1 – The Portrait shows the artist preparing her exhibition "Nothing comes without its world". Sollfrank guides viewers through the film herself, speaking about her methodology, her perspective on collective artistic practice, and the participatory approach that defines her exhibition at the Deutscher Künstlerbund. The exhibition title says it all: Sollfrank did not only present her own works, but invited her entire artistic network to become part of the show.
• Film 2 – The Career offers an insight into some of her most significant works – including the Net Art Generator, with which Sollfrank was already producing automated net art in the 1990s, and female extension, an intervention that reframed questions of authorship and the visibility of women in the art world. Both films build on each other thematically and complement one another.
• Film 3 – The HAP Grieshaber Prize is deliberately timeless in its design and can be used independently. It profiles the woodcut artist and advocate for artists' rights HAP Grieshaber, and explains the background of the prize named after him. Narrated by professional voice artist Petra Bogdahn, with original music.