CLARISSE HAHN


Née en 1973 à Paris où elle vit et travaille.

Exploring the documentary genre, Hahn creates feature length documentaries which are presented in cinemas and video installations. The often-extreme subject matter of Hahn’s videos is combined with her sustained involvement in the lives of the people she films. She follows her subjects for a minimum of one year ; filming, interviewing, and becoming part of their daily life. Hahn spent time in the geriatric ward of a Hospital, followed and shared her flat with a French porn star and her husband. She recently recorded the daily life of Karima, a young Algerian dominatrix and her most recent film, “The Protestants,” delves into the complex network of personal and communal values which binds a family together, her own in fact. Hahn’s creations come from her desire for intimate communication with her subjects. Her interests lie specifically in showing how individuals deal and react with their environment. The video works, combined or juxtaposed in installations, invite the viewer to make transversal readings of the works.

Hahn’s films lead the viewer toward a progressive understanding through her confidently balanced observation and rigorous analysis of the boundaries of representation. Her filmmaker’s aesthetic, compositions, subtle editing of sound and image and her intimate interviews and recording, reveals an acute sense of creation leading to a particular crossing point between observation and deep introspection.Clarisse Hahn was born in Paris where she lives and works.

- Anne-Sophie Dinant, press text for the exhibition Clarisse Hahn, Selected Works, at t1+2 artspace, London, January-February, 2005