The exhibition LIKE A WHIRLWIND – The Gender Plays by Marie Høeg & Bolette Berg presents unique cross-dressing photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Image gallery
Berg & Høeg, »Wasser-Szene«. Marie Høeg und Bolette Berg in einem Ruderboot im Atelier, 1895–1903 © Sammlung des Preus Museums
The photographers Bolette Berg and Marie Høeg founded the Berg & Høeg photo studio in the southern Norwegian town of Horten in 1894. The couple spent their entire adult lives working and living together. They published their fairly conventional portrait and landscape photographs as postcards.
The Norwegians achieved international fame posthumously through their early photographic experiments with gender roles, which are probably rightly regarded as the first such complex photographic examination of the subject of cross-dressing.
When their estate was auctioned off in the 1970s, the Norwegian collector Leif Preus acquired the glass negatives of the two photographers. In addition to photographs of landscapes and reproductions of artworks, there were two boxes labeled “private” showing Marie Høeg, Bolette Berg and their siblings and friends posing in front of the camera.
These shots had nothing in common with conventional portrait photography. Playful, humorous and full of joie de vivre, the photographs radically and cheekily question the ideals of femininity of the 19th and early 20th centuries as well as the gender roles of the time.
The topicality of the imagery and the visual exploration of the theme, which is comparable to contemporary artistic practice, is astonishing.
The two photographers take up stereotypes in a witty and fresh way and transform them into frivolous photographs with the help of props and costumes.
The modern approach of the photographers testifies to their self-confidence and a playful examination of social norms; at the same time, the estate makes it clear that the photographs were only intended for private use during their lifetime, not for the public.
The photographic studio was the safe space, where the protagonists of the pictures could present themselves in a self-determined manner.
The Preus Museum, the Norwegian National Museum of Photography, manages the estate of Marie Høeg and Bolette Berg and owns the original glass negatives in its collection.
The exhibition LIKE A WHIRLWIND at f³ – freiraum für fotografie shows digital reproductions of this unique material, which will be on display in Germany for the first time.
Additional information
Opening hours:
Wednesday-Sunday, 1pm-7pm (last admission: 6.30pm)
- Price: €6.00
- Reduced price: €4.00
Reduced price info:
Reduced tickets and free admission are available on presentation of the relevant ID:
Children up to 12 years free admission
Pupils, students
Participants in the federal voluntary service, voluntary social year
Unemployed persons, recipients of Hartz IV or basic income support, berlinpass holders
Severely handicapped persons (at least 50 per cent MdE)
Journalists are only admitted free of charge after prior accreditation.
Guided tours for groups are possible by prior arrangement with us. Please send an e-mail with your preferred date toinfo@fhochdrei.org.
