Studio: Blending Model With Reality

At first glance, the images appear to show an artists’ studio, that of German-Swiss artist duo Cortis & Sonderegger, with its clutter of everyday objects. Yet, suddenly, perspective shifts―large things appear small, and small ones appear impossibly big. In Studio, Jojakim Cortis and Adrian Sonderegger play a sophisticated game with and about the authenticity of photography. Boundaries between the genuine and the fake become blurred.

Cortis & Sonderegger built a detailed model of their workspace near Zurich complete with much of its furnishings, of which they took countless photographs. These images turn our viewing experience upside down and invite us to take a closer look. The artists’ play with reality becomes visible on various levels: the view from the model’s window shows the real studio space; proportions look weirdly distorted; and occasionally, Cortis & Sonderegger themselves appear as protagonists.

In today’s world, with myriad images produced every day, Cortis & Sonderegger’s Studio series constitutes a counterpoint to the latest developments in photography and artificial intelligence-based image generation. A brief text by the Catalan conceptual artist, photographer, writer, educator, and curator Joan Fontcuberta rounds off this intriguing volume.