Ulrike Ottinger’s Shadows
screening + conversation
Thurs Oct. 2, 2025
7pm – 8:30pm (doors open 6:45), tickets here
Microscope Gallery | 525 W 29th St, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10001
Chamisso´s Shadow, photo Ulrike Ottinger, 2014 © Ulrike Ottinger
Ulrike Ottinger is described by Richard Brody of the New Yorker as “One of the crucial modern filmmakers… For Ottinger, the play of imagination is an essential realm of freedom, a way for women to defy and liberate themselves from the misogyny that’s embedded as deeply in consensus styles as in consensus politics.” As part of her New York tour, Ulrike Ottinger will screen an hour-long excerpt of her 12-hour long film, Chamissos Schatten (Chamisso’s Shadow, 2016) and then take part in a short conversation with scholar Dr. Nora Alter, who has written extensively about Ottinger’s work. More event info here.
Chamisso´s Shadow, photo Ulrike Ottinger, 2014 © Ulrike Ottinger
6:45 PM – Doors Open
7:00 PM – Film Screening: Excerpt of Chamisso’s Shadows
8:00 PM – Post-Film Conversation with Nora Alter
8:30 PM – Program Concludes
Chamisso´s Shadow, photo Ulrike Ottinger, 2014 © Ulrike Ottinger
About the film:
Chamisso’s Shadow (Germany 2016, 720 min [excerpt is 53 min])
Adelbert von Chamisso accompanied the Romanzow research expedition on the Rurik from 1815 to 1818 as a botanist. Inspired by his descriptions as well as those of the other great explorers such as Forster and Anderson with Captain Cook, Steller with Bering and Humboldt I came up with the idea to create a cinematic evocation of these travel experiences, both past and present. I believe the past and the present of these journeys belong together and can’t be separated just like poor Schlemihl and his shadow in Chamisso’s ‚Wondrous Story’, where Schlemihl seeks to recover and reinstate his lost shadow as he travels through the world.
“But there on the sunny sands, a human shadow, not unlike my own, slid past, wandering alone and seemingly strayed from his Master. This sight awakened in me a powerful drive: shadow, thought I, are you looking for thy Master? Your Master I will be.” – From Schlemihl by Adelbert von Chamisso
Readings from the many, very vivid, observations from those early explorers will be combined with my visual materials. Together they contrast and complement and enter into a dialogue that tells of the loss of knowledge of ancient cultural techniques and about learning a new. The desperation and the disintegration will be manifest but maybe, in some cases, this will provide a sense of relief, for it may show that it is only through comparison with the past that progress and change can be made visible.
Learn more about Ulrike Ottinger and Nora Alter:
This event is presented by Fordham University and Microscope Gallery as part of the Fordham course Intro to Art & Engagement: Protest, Participation, the Public, and Other Performance Practices, taught by Catalina Alvarez.
Admission is free for all Fordham students with ID.
The event is conceived and organized by Catalina Alvarez, with co-organization by Jennifer Moorman. Support comes from Fordham’s Center for Community Engaged Learning and the Departments of Theatre and Visual Arts, Communication and Media Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The film excerpt is courtesy of the Arsenal – Institute for Film & Video Art.