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Renate Aller spent her teenage years in Germany writing experimental music and developing movement/ performance pieces. Her interest in and investigation of “the human body and the space we occupy” is reflected in all her work, including furniture design (Sculpture/ Photography/Furniture, Hamiltons Gallery London, 1986).
After studies at Chelsea School of Art in London, she enrolled at Byam Shaw and, under the mentorship of Robin Klassnik, developed media-based, multi-screen sound pieces. This led to an invitation to Museu da Republica in Rio de Janeiro, where she filled the museum with her photo installations (Wer schlaeft suendigt nicht, 1994). The exhibition traveled throughout Brazil and was acquired by the National Library in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1996 she cofounded FOREIGN INVESTMENT, a collaborative artist group working in performance, intervention, installation, writing, and photography, with varying membership on each project. Many performances/interventions followed, including an invitation by the British Council as a fringe event at the Istanbul Biennale (Gold For every Body, Istanbul, 1997).
In 1997 she was invited to create site-specific installations in eight different venues, including the Fringe Festival in Hong Kong , Agfa gallery HK (Choreography of Emotions). A British Council award made it possible for her to develop an 8x2 meter photo on canvas and an invitation to show in Shoreditch, London and the Attaturk Cultural Centre in Istanbul (London Brick, 1998) and other photo festivals in Europe.
During two artist residencies at the County Museum Monaghan, Ireland (2000, 2002), she photographed families and households of people living in this Irish border County—
“private spaces in the mirror of the public.”
The events of September the 11th shattered her TriBeCa neighborhood. She started a photographic project with friends and neighbors to try to bring out of isolation the traumatized community. The project, called Afterward, was invited into the gallery space of the Goethe Institut in New York. It traveled to various locations, including Here is New York, MOMA, NY, Berlin, Germany and the Tuscan photo festival in Florence, where Aller was invited to a residency at the Villa Romana in November/December ‘ 03 in connection with a performance/projection/sound/photography/ installation. The event (You’ve red between the lines), curated by Vittoria Ciolini, took place in a deserted slaughterhouse, Officina Giovani, now an art centre. During the second part of her artist residence at the Villa Romana (sponsored by the German Government and Deutsche Bank) Renate Aller worked on a portrait series which will be shown in December 2006 in Prato / Italy. In September 2003 ‘Whose place is this anyway’, a multimedia installation by Renate Aller and Beverly Peterson was shown in the Museum for Labor and in the Emigration Halls in Hamburg, Germany. Both installations have been invited to the September 2004 Eberswalde / Berlin Film festival. 2006 Renate Aller’ work was invited to show in 5 venues world wide.
Renate Aller’s Seascapes “ Fixed Corodinate” ( Adamson Gallery, Washington D.C., 2006 ) and other site-specific art works are in the collections of corporate institutions, museums and private collectors.