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3 Questions to Documentary Filmmaker Barbara Visser

Who stands behind Fountain (1917), the most influential artwork of the 20th century? Is it by a celebrated male artist or perhaps by a forgotten female artist? Documentary filmmaker Barbara Visser (Haarlem, 1966) crafted a film called Alreadymade about this urinal that turned the art world upside down. In an inventive manner, she questions the authorship, identity, and originality of the work, while the documentary itself takes on the form of a readymade artwork. Through her films, Visser aims to make art accessible to a broader audience to demonstrate to viewers that art is important.

By: Elles Hesseling
2 April 2024

What drew you to make this documentary?

"When I heard about the theory that the female artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874-1927) could have created the work Fountain, my heart skipped a beat. In the art world, Marcel Duchamp is almost deified. It would disrupt a lot if it turns out to have been conceived by a woman! And whether this is true or not, the idea is appealing. As a creator, I have always been fascinated by the obsession with authenticity, with the individual maker, and what makes one artwork resonate with the public at a certain moment while others do not. I saw all of this reflected in the story of and around Fountain."

What do you hope to convey to the viewer?

"I hope that everyone can interpret the documentary in their own way and take something for themselves from it. But for myself, a very powerful element is the story of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven and the way her life unfolded. She was far ahead of her time as a woman and artist, but tragically passed away and fell into obscurity. Very little is known about her, and in terms of visual material, that was of course challenging for making a documentary. Through creative means and with a lot of found material, much like the readymade artworks, we managed to shape this. And we were able to bring the baroness a little more to life."

Do you see that the position of women has changed in art compared to then?

"It's tragic to see how difficult it was for women to establish themselves as artists. They could create works and occasionally even receive compliments for them during their lifetime, but selling or exhibiting them, forget about it. They really had to fight for a place in that world and were usually still forgotten. It was much easier for men than for women. We're talking about over 100 years ago, and compared to then, a lot has changed, but I think that change is slow."

The documentary Alreadymade will be shown at Forum Groningen from March 8th. On Sunday, April 7th, at 3:50 pm, there will be a Q&A with Barbara Visser following the film screening. More information is available at forum.nl.

This article is published in KUNST. magazine #2.

Also interesting.