julius von bismarck | berlin art link.pdf

5/25/2018 JULIUS VON BISMARCK | Berlin Art Link.pdf

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JULIUS VON BISMARCK

BERLIN ART LINK STUDIO VISIT: JULIUS VON BISMARCK

Article by Jessyca Hutchens; Studio Visit Photographs by Conor Clarke

(http://conorclarkephotographer.blogspot.de/


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(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bismarck/mao-zedong-shanghai/)

Fulguration of the Magritte Dove on the Mao Zedong Portrait at Tiananmen Square (2008), Beijing

Von Bismarck originally attracted widespread attention with his work using the Image Fulgurator

(2007-2008), a self-invented device which allows an image to be surreptitiously added to another

persons photograph. Onlookers taking photographs of the Mayor of Berlin, the Pope and Barack

Obama were astonished to find new symbols transposed into their snapshots, and the resulting

images predictably went viral. Works employing a similar knack for technological innovation have

included the Perpetual Storytelling Device (2008); a machine that draws an endless series of

pictures from the U.S Patents database and The Space Beyond Me(2010); a UV light projector thattracks the original camera movements of a film, leaving behind a glowing trace on the walls of a

circular room. The innovation evident in such works makes them immediately impressive, but what

takes them beyond mere novelty is in their dedication to strong visual output, the technological and

aesthetic elements form a cohesive whole. The most circulated image from the Fulgurtaorseries is

of a simple transparent white dove transposed onto the famous portrait of Mao Zedong at

Tiananmen Square. The image, strong and simple, provides an elegant access point into the

broader context of the work (and the ideal re-blogging fodder).

JULIUS VON BISMARCK | Berlin Art Link http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bis...

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(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bismarck/psta-schwarz-grade/) Perpetual

Storytelling Device (2008)

It is not surprising then, that in 2012, von Bismarck was chosen to be the first ever artist-in-residence at CERNthe worlds largest particle physics laboratory. As a place associated with

the most obtuse and philosophically abstract ideas that science can produce, von Bismarck, an

artist skilled at creating visual cohesion from technological complexity, seems a particularly

suitable choice. Indeed, the main work he produced for the residency seems almost a meditation

on this. The work, Versuch Unter Kreisen (2012), consists of four lights hanging from a ceiling,

swinging in apparent chaos before suddenly appearing perfectly in harmony. What seems at first

random reveals itself as carefully pre-meditated and technically precise. The work both exploits

technology and allegorizes the role it playsto reach beyond our perceptual and mental

capabilities and strive for greater perfection.

Versuch unter Kreisen - Entwurf IIII

from volker racho

In more recent work, von Bismarck has moved away from his reliance on technology, turning his

attention towards the natural world. In Punishment I, von Bismarck travelled the world, seeking

epic landscapes upon which to enact his whipping performance, repeatedly striking until physically

exhausted. Forsome pigeons are more equal than others(2012), von Bismarck and artist Julian

Charriere took ordinary grey pigeons and dyed their feathers, releasing the birds back into their

original urban environments in Berlin, Venice and Copenhagen. As with his former work, there is a

strong sense of intervention. The artist places unexpected new information into our field of vision.

When we spoke about this, Julius described how most of his works have two kinds of audiences:

one with prior knowledge and one without. A person walking down a Copenhagen street may have

been amazed to see an exotic bright blue bird amongst a group of plain pigeons, while another

may have roamed the city searching for such a sighting. The artworks address different spectators

at different times, and it is this enlarged scope and context that interests von Bismarck. In a recent

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work, von Bismarck planted a sculptural replica of a birch tree in a forest near Berlin. While I was

initially skeptical about the literalness of such an intervention, I was later convinced by its simplicity

those that stumble across it are likely be both confounded and intrigued by the false tree.

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bismarck/julius-von-bismarck/) some

pigeons are more equal than others (2012); in collaboration with Julian Charriere, Copenhagen,

Venice.

For the second-half of the studio-visit, Julius took us up onto the rooftop of one of the more

dilapidated buildings in the Malzfabrik. Through dark rooms of disintegrating factory equipment

and inside one particularly sketchy elevator, we made it onto the roof for panoramic views of Berlin

and a closer look at one of von Bismarcks most impressive public artworks: Public Face II (The

Fhlometer). The sculpture is an eight metre high smiley face constructed from steel and neon

tubing. Formerly installed on a lighthouse in Lindau (2010), the face does not wear a constant

saccharine smile, but continually changes its mood. Using software that analyses facial

expressions, the sculpture was designed to reflect the emotions of passing citizens, beaming the

results for all to see. When I first saw a video of the sculpture in action, I was amazed at the

emotional resonance that could be wrought from this giant smiley in the skyI really felt a little

deflated whenever the smile turned down. The effect is similar to that of von Bismarcks futile

whipping exercises in Punishment Iafter a time the absurd and humorous begins to feel almost

profoundbecause there is something truly epic about the gesture.


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(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bismarck/punishment1/) Punishment 1!

(2011/2012); Video, Germany, Swizerland, Brazil, USA.

Up on the roof we talk more about ideas and interests than individual works, which strikes me as

rather pertinent. People are now far less likely to discuss an artists style or technique than they are

to inquire as to what currently holds their interest, usually in some field outside of art; politics,

history, sociology, biology, particle physics. Von Bismarck may be particularly emblematic of this

trend, he studied under Olafur Eliasson at the Institut fr Raumexperimente, and his work is

reflective of current research-based approaches to art-making. His latest series, currently on

display atAlexander LevyBerlin, characteristically involves an intervention in the real world and

then employs a variety of visual strategies to document the event and elucidate its conceptual

basis. The work, Unfall am Mittelpunkt Deutschlands, tells the story of a car crashing into a tree in

the precise centre of Germany, documented through photographs of the event, local news stories

and a police report. The work thus involves an expanded field of inquiry; one where individual

artworks serve as project documentation. When I ask Julius about this, he says that such a mode

of working comes naturally to himexplaining that as he feels he is not particularly skilled with

language, his ideas are best articulated visually. The result is a kind of project-based

conceptualism, not an art ofideas, but an art that expands uponideas in a multi-dimensional way.

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/28/new-julius-von-bismarck/jvb/) Unfall Am Mittelpunkt

Deutschlands (2013)

Unfall am Mittelpunkt Deutschlands seems the perfect coalescence of many of von Bismarcks

ideas, depicting a literal collision between man, technology and nature that is loaded with political

symbolism (von Bismarck explained how he has lately become interested in issues around national

borders). The work actually made me recall the rather naf title of the CERN residency:

Collide@CERN: Creative collisions between the Arts and Science. Everything that is wrong about

this title is defied in von Bismarcks work, which is never a simplistic coming together of art and

science. Von Bismarcks collisions are far more complicated and infinitely more poignant. Instead

of didactically illustrating science, von Bismarck uses technologies that best compliment his

interests, whether exploiting complex software and engineering to build a city-wide emotional

barometer or using a simple black whip to defy nature.


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Share(htt

p://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&username=xa-4c94e6ba1549a372) | (#)(#) (#) (#)

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/02/08/new-age-of-the-computer-

age-icas-kitchen-interventions-research-projects-and-an-army-of-djs/)

New Age of the

Computer Age ICAS

Kitchen: Interventions,

Research Projects and

an army of DJs.

(htt

p://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/02/08/new-age-of-the-computer-

age-icas-kitchen-interventions-research-projects-and-an-army-of-djs/)

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/03/11/the-season-for-frida-kahlo/)

Spring / Summer 2011:

The Season for Frida

Kahlo

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/03/11/the-season-for-frida-kahlo/)

(htt

p://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/10/16/federico-maddalozzo/)

FEDERICO

MADDALOZZO

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2011/10/16/federico-maddalozzo/)

(htt

p://www.berlinartlink.com/2012/07/16/paul-thek-and-

luc-tuymans-why/)

Paul Thek and Luc

Tuymans: Why?!

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2012/07/16/paul-thek-and-

luc-tuymans-why/)

!(htt

p://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/06/11/james-clar/)

"(http://www.berlinartlink.com/2013/05/13/jen-gilpin/)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Additional Information:

See more of Julius von Bismarks work:

Artist Website:

www.juliusvonbismarck.com(http://www.juliusvonbismarck.com/)

Ongoing exhibitions:

ALEXANDER LEVY(http://www.alexanderlevy.net/)

Unfall am Mittelpunkt Deutschlands JULIUS VON BISMARCK

Exhibition: Apr. 27 Jun. 15, 2013

Rudi-Dutschke-Strae 26 (click here (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=alexander+levy+berlin&

hl=sv&ll=52.507837,13.39139&spn=0.014001,0.027595&sll=52.50675,13.391724&sspn=0.007,0.013797&

hq=alexander+levy+berlin&radius=15000&t=m&z=15&iwloc=A)for map)

___________________________________________________________________________________

Jessyca Hutchensis an art writer living in Berlin and an editor at Berlin Art Link.

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