Fainting by Cordula Ditz
July, 2026
Penélope Archive presents Fainting, an installation by Cordula Ditz centred on their new edition.
The edition is based on Ditz's earlier video piece of the same name, originally composed of archival footage of women swooning. Like much of her practice, it turns to archival imagery to examine the visual conventions through which femininity has been represented.
Part of Penélope Archive's ongoing curatorial programme for the paloma wool window, now on view at our space on Av. Diagonal 358, 08013, Barcelona.
A limited edition of Fainting, accompanied by Beautiful Collapse, an essay by Mariona Valdés Torrella, is available at penelopearchive.com
Cordula Ditz's (b. 1972, Germany) multidisciplinary practice spans painting, video, installation, sound, and performance. Through archival research, found footage, and self-produced imagery, she investigates how images shape constructions of gender, visibility, and collective memory.
Ditz studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and graduated from the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HFBK) in 2008. She also holds an M.A. in Systematic Musicology from the University of Hamburg (1998). In 2019–20, she was a guest professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich. Her work has been exhibited and screened nationally and internationally, including at Hypha Gallery, London (2025); Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2025); DRAIFLESSEN Collection, Mettingen (*Magical Women*, 2025); IKOB – Museum of Contemporary Art, Eupen (2025); Kunsthaus Hamburg (2024); Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, Hamburg (2023); Kunsthalle Hamburg (2022); Weserburg | Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen (2021); Kunstverein in Hamburg (2020); Falckenberg Collection, Hamburg (2019); Cave, Detroit (2017); Ars Electronica, Linz (2013); and Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art, Oldenburg (2012). She has received numerous grants and awards, including Kunstfonds (2021), the Scholarship of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius (2020), and a residency at the German Study Centre in Venice (2017). As a musician, she has released several records.
Penélope Archive is a publishing project that reimagines iconography through artistic editions. Co-founded by artist Carlota Guerrero and researcher Mariona Valdés Torrella, it represents an act of symbolic reparation, born from a desire to expand visual narratives and challenge hegemonic representations.
The collection currently includes works by artists such as Carlijn Jacobs, Cristina BanBan, Rosalía, Suwon Lee, and Carlota Guerrero, alongside emerging artists including Athen&Nina, Julia de Ruvo, or Isabella Benshimol, and will continue to grow over time.