Keren Cytter Does Not Like to Share

The adventures of a French art student as she visits New York to work as an assistant for an established artist.

While studying at the Fine Arts School in Paris in 2013 and having to complete an internship abroad, Mathilde Supe, a 24-year-old student, contacted Keren Cytter to be her assistant. The latter, who had just left Berlin for New York, accepted the offer. Supe embarked on a journey to New York City, where she had never set foot, barely speaking English, without a work permit, and without contacts. From this incredible adventure, she transcribed every detail of hardship and learning in a book that took the form of a logbook and followed the evolution of one young artist’s view of another established artist.

Through experimental modes of storytelling and perception, Keren Cytter's work deals with social alienation, the representation of language, and the function of individuals in cultural systems. She is primarily a filmmaker, yet her work includes performances, plays, sculptures, drawings, novels, zines, children's books, and interdisciplinary festivals.

Keren Cytter Does Not Like To Share is published on the occasion of Cytter's solo presentation "Bad Words" at the Ludwig Forum Aachen (June 25–September 25, 2022).

Copublished with Ludwig Forum für International Kunst AachenMathilde Supe is a French artist who works with video and film to develop narratives that question codes of narration and interpretation.

Eva Birkenstock is the director of Ludwig Forum Aachen.