Wolfgang Tillmans
Wolfgang Tillmans (born in 1968 in Remscheid) has been exploring the possibilities of image-making for over 30 years. His photographic practice combines intimacy with social criticism and questioning of existing values and hierarchies. Since the 2000s, Tillmans has continually developed new visual worlds of abstract photography. He lives and works in Berlin and London. Tillmans was the first photographer, and first non-British person, to be awarded the Turner Prize. He has been the subject of large-scale retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern and Moderna Museet. In 2023, Tillmans was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time. He lives in Berlin and London.
Poster project for Kyiv Perennial
2024,
Offset prints
The poster project draws attention to Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and contextualizes it as a war within and against Europe. The invited artists create one poster each with the leading question: What will happen to Europe if the war against Ukraine continues for ten more years? Half of the print-run of posters will be flyposted in Berlin and the other half will be available for free at the different locations of Kyiv Perennial.
neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK), station urbaner kulturen/nGbK Hellersdorf, Between Bridges, Prater Galerie
February 23–June 9
Kyiv Perennial
Weak Signal IV
2014,
Unframed inkjet print on paper, clips
Wolfgang Tillmans’ Weak Signal IV was created in the year of Euromaidan and the Russian annexation of Crimea. The screen of a television receiver is visible, trying to decode a weak signal and produce an image. Although it is impossible to make out any specific content, it is clear that something has been sent or is being received. The question of whether this is a deliberate or random act of image interference remains unresolved. From a distance, the image appears to be black and white, but up close its intense color is revealed. The overlapping color shifts on the surface of the image disrupt certainty about what is actually being seen here. «I photographed these images in 2014 in my hotel room in Saint Petersburg, in a special technical constellation of a first-generation analog flat screen with analog broadcast signal and my high-resolution digital camera. This resulted in an unexpected intersection of formerly modern, now totally obsolete equipment, analog technology about to be shut down, and state-of-the-art technology.» (Wolfgang Tillmans)
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer