flo maak: shelter 06; 2009, digital c-print mounted on Alu-Dibond with UV protection, 600 x 773 mm

flo maak: shelter 07; 2009, digital c-print mounted on Alu-Dibond with UV protection, 624 x 773 mm

flo maak: untitled (Copenhagen); 2008, digital c-print mounted on Alu-Dibond in frame of bleached oak wood, ap. 1240 x 950 mm (frame)

flo maak: untitled (New York II); 2008, pigment ink on archival paper in frame of bleached oak wood, ap. 450 x 650 mm (frame)

flo maak: stairs (red); 2009, bleached oak wood, MDF, lacquer, variable size

flo maak: shelter; 2009, installation view

flo maak: elevated desire; 2010, hd video, video still

flo maak: elevated desire; 2010, hd video, video still

flo maak: elevated desire; 2010, hd video, video still

flo maak: elevated desire; 2010, hd video, video still

The zoo and the art museum share a mutual history, originating in the same historic period in the 19th century. Both institutions evoke and rely upon a pleasure of viewing; both are structured by models of staging. They provide a mirror situation for the spectators. Often, the situation is comforting, sometimes it becomes scary, and in rare cases, one’s own subjectivity is at stake. Looking at the museum from the zoo and vice versa can, in turns, loosen and cement our hold on their specific ideologies. To understand then is a practice in groaning on top of the stage.

Flo Maak studied art history, philosophy and sociology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, as well as fine arts with Wolfgang Tillmans and Willem de Rooij at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main and at Cooper Union, New York. Maak has exhibited most recently with the Bielefelder Kunstverein and JET Berlin, among other venues, and in the context of group exhibitions like »Lyst« in Overgaden, Copenhagen, the »Frankfurter Positionen« in the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main and with the group »Free Class Frankfurt/M.« at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.