Biography 014

Christiane Fichtner - Biography

1974

Christiane Fichtner is born in Hamburg, West-Germany. Her father, Paul Fichtner, is a lawyer, the mother Ursula has stopped working as dental hygienist after the birth of the couple's first child, daughter Sabine (b.1971).

1980

A late and unexpected pregnancy of Ursula Fichtner with a son ends in a miscarriage. Ursula Fichtner enters into a long battle with depression. Sabine and Christiane develop a complex relationship marked by dependancy, solidarity and later competition. They have to grow up early. The father works long hours. Christiane discovers drawing. It keeps her company.

1993

Christiane graduates from the Gymnasium and decides to start a training as a bookseller (Buchhändlerlehre) rather than continuing her studies in college. The father is openly disappointed. Sabine has gone on to study law, while Christiane clearly rebels by chosing a "lower" profession.

1995

Christiane starts as an intern in a progressive bookshop in downtown Hamburg. Her artistic talent comes in handy when it comes to decorating the store windows. She enters and wins her first window dressing competition with a window decoration based on Latin American art and artists. She lives in a WG (Wohngemeinschaft - sharing an apartment with several roommates).

1996

Christiane works fulltime in the bookstore. She continues to enter competitions for window decorations. She wins a second competition - a 2 week trip to the United States, starting in New York.

- New York

At the Russian Bath in New York's East Village Christiane meets the slightly older performance artist Rachel Sussman. Rachel comes from a religious Jewish family but has left the Hasidic community. Her work deals with taboo, pain and pushing the physical limits of the body. She makes a living working as a dominatrix. There is an immediate fascination and connection. The two women talk about an artistic collaboration and start developing a project which is partially informed by German-Jewish relations. They keep in touch after Christiane has to return to Hamburg.

Six months later Christiane decides to return to New York. She quits her work and puts her belongings in storage. In New York she moves in with Rachel. They have fallen in love. They continue to work on their project, which is tentatively titled "Fuck you (aber gerne)".

1997

Christiane marries the gay AIDS activist Gary Wayout in a public performance at the performance center PS 122. Instead of exchanging rings, the bride and groom pierce each other. This draws attention especially due to Gary's positive HIV status and the risks associated with exposing HIV infected blood.

Six months later, Christiane's father falls ill. She has not received her Green Card and can therefore not leave the US to see him. To protest what she experiences as inhumane conditions she stages a performance with Rachel titled "chain of fools in love in chains" outside the immigration building in Lower Manhattan. As part of the performance she chains herself to the building while handcuffed to Rachel. She narrowly escapes being arrested,
which would have led to her deportation.

1998

Christiane receives her Green Card. She and Rachel fly to Hamburg to see Christiane's father who is battling lung cancer. While in Germany they also go to Berlin, which Rachel is particularly interested in. They establish contact with the programming director for the "Jüdische Kulturtage" (Days of Jewish Culture), who has expressed interest in "Fuck you (aber gerne)".

1999

Christiane and Rachel continue to live and work together. Christiane has found work in a big bookstore in Manhattan. They have moved to Williamsburg, where they can afford to rent a loft which doubles as performance space. They stage a weekly "salon" with surprise guest performers. The Williamsburg art scene is exploding and they are at its center. During this period they produce "Your number's up", a performance piece which requires a volunteer
audience member to agree to have an identification number tattooed onto his/her arm while wearing a lampshade on their head. Ther performance gets written up in the New York Times as an example for borderline bad taste in art, which establishes them as the "bad (art) girls".

2000

Christiane and Rachel get invited to perform their piece about German-Jewish relations at the Hebbel-Theater in Berlin as part of the "Jüdische Kulturtage". It receives very mixed reviews but gains them near cult-following. Their visit is cut short when they receive news that Christiane's father is dying.
Christiane spends three months in Hamburg following her father's death. During this time she develops "Death Portfolio", a multi-discipline performance piece for three dancers on stilts. She also reconnects with her sister Sabine. The sisters will stay in contact after this, especially in regards to their mother's fragile emotional condition.

2001

Gary Wayout, who has been an artistic collaborator and close friend, has developed full-blown AIDS and does not respond well to the new medications available to people living with HIV/AIDS. He loses his job and consequently his apartment and moves in with Christiane and Rachel. Gary dies after six months of illness. Christiane is thrown into a period of intense grieving. She quits her job at the bookstore and accepts an invitation by a friend to spend four weeks as the "artist in residence" at her friend's remote farm house in Vermont. During this period she finishes "Death Portfolio" and starts drawing again. Due to her emotional withdrawal the relationship with Rachel becomes difficult.

2002

Christiane receives a major grant which allows her to focus on her work without having to work a day job. "Death Portfolio" opens at PS 122 and is extended after a sold-out run. The relationship with Rachel is falling apart, partially due to Christiane's success and Rachel's increasing drinking habits. In September of 2002 Christiane moves out of the loft,
which Rachel loses soon thereafter when she falls behind on the rent.

2003

Christiane gets signed with Gallery Saturday and exhibits large scale drawings of wilting leaves at their new Chelsea location. The show gets reviewed favorably in "Artforum". She sells 90% of her pieces. Her mother and sister come to New York for the opening.

2004 - 2005

Christiane continues to draw and sell out her shows. When her drawings appear as backdrops for a photo shoot in "W", a high-end fashion magazine, she is openly being criticized for selling out as an artist and losing her edge. The loft becomes availabe for sale and Christiane purchases it.

2006

An effort to reunite with Rachel as a partner is unsuccessful, but the artistic chemistry between the two of them proves to be irreplacable. They conceptualize a movie which is currently being shot on location in Williamsburg and Hamburg.

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