Swing, Amsterdam

Piezography
size: 100 x 145 x cm / 39 " x 57”
year: 2023

The works from the series Homo Ludens focuses on the importance of imagination and play in our culture, exploring the function of play as cultural connection. Korfmann states, “Play, like art, is a connection between people.” The work “Swing” 2023 depicts people dancing in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark. A form of entertainment, dance is also packed with cultural and social significance: expressing emotions, celebrating traditions and strengthening communities. Korfmann’s images are often situated in public spaces. She approaches these locations as biotopes, investigating how humans move within these settings. Seeking to chronicle the memory of a place, she captures a literal portrayal of time. Her images are powerful – in part due to their unusual perspectives – and engage the viewer in the events unfolding there.

Phoenix

Piezography
size: 145 x 100 x cm / 57 " x 39”
year: 2023

This artwork takes us to Amsterdam's Bijlmer district, where children engaged in play are depicted during a celebration at their sports club. The pieces within the "Homo Ludens" series focus on the significance of imagination and play in our culture, investigating the role of play as a cultural connection. Katrin Korfmann remarks, "Play, much like art, is a connection between people." Korfmann approaches the locations where she creates her photographic artworks as biotopes, exploring how humans interact within these environments. She endeavors to capture the essence of a place by designing a tangible image of time. The images are impactful (in part due to their unconventional perspectives), often situated in public spaces, engaging the viewer with the events depicted within.

Back Side, Amsterdam

Piezography
size: 100 x 145 x cm / 39 " x 57”
year: 2022

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

Schauspiel, Frankfurt

Piezography
size: 150 x 204 cm
year: 2024

In Homo Ludens: Schauspiel, Frankfurt, 2022, Katrin Korfmann presents a bird’s-eye view of a stage transformed into a dynamic playing field. Across a dark floor marked with lines and symbols, figures move in various poses: some lie still, others appear to fall, spin, or balance in motion. The vividly coloured garments sharply contrast with the graphic backdrop, making the figures resemble pawns in a carefully orchestrated game. The composition captures a moment that seems suspended outside of time. The bodies exist in varying states of movement and stillness, some sharply outlined, others blurred, as though they belong to a different temporal dimension. This work plays with both perspective and perception: is this a frozen moment or a meticulously constructed choreography? Korfmann’s signature visual language—merging time and space within a single image—is brought into sharp focus here. The work raises questions about collective movement, the roles of the individual and the group, and the theatrical codes that shape our behaviour. The stage serves not only as a platform, but as a controlled yet open space in which play and reality seamlessly merge.

Nelson Mandela Park, Amsterdam

Piezography
size: 100 x 145 x cm / 39 " x 57”
year: 2021

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

42, Seoul

Piezography
size: 120 x 173 x cm / 68 " x 47”
year: 2013

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

22, Amsterdam

Piezography
size: 120 x 173 cm / 68" x 47”
year: 2013

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

HL 11, Xiamen

Piezography
size: 100 x 80 x cm / 40 " x 32”
year: 2015

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

Kornati Splash

Piezography
size: 100 x 145 x cm / 39" x 57”
year: 2019

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

Gravitation

Installation view at Gallery Hilgemann
Berlin 2010

Homo Ludens 22

installation view Gallery Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm

Piezography
size: 120 x 173 cm
year: 2013

HL 8, Amsterdam

Piezography
size: 120 x 173 x cm / 68" x 47”
year: 2017

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

Gravitation

Piezography
size: 100 x 137 x cm / 40 " x 54”
year: 2010

…Usually Katrin Korfmann already makes it difficult for the viewer by adopting a birds-eye or aerial perspective, as we always want to see people frontally, in daily life and because we have been taught to see that way through art history. Korfmann makes that skewed perspective even more extreme by giving each jumping or running child an elongated shadow. And there we can see at once the humor in this work… In the pools of black which cling to the children we can unmistakably see projections of the childlike form, but those black projections lead a life of their own, dominate the flesh and blood which is being portrayed and transform them into a team of peculiar Barbapapas. As you start to follow that spooky dance, your eye skims the whole image, up to and beyond the edge of the frame, and then shoots back and forth between the shadow and the real human form… (from: "Homo Ludens" by Tineke Reijnders)

Piezography
size: 90 x 62 cm / 35" x 24”
year: 2024

In Bigger Splash, Katrin Korfmann presents an apparently playful scene of turquoise water and foaming waves. The perspective draws the viewer into a tableau of figures diving into the water, evoking a sense of freedom and joy. 

Yet beneath this light, playful atmosphere lies a subtle struggle with gravity and water. What at first appears to be a fleeting snapshot reveals itself as a carefully composed depiction of a dynamic and imaginary time-space landscape. Every detail contributes to an intense experience of movement and space.

In this frozen moment, everything hangs in balance, poised to shift from joy to challenge, from play to unpredictability.