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5/25/2018 JULIUS VON BISMARCK | Berlin Art Link.pdf
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(https://w
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/
5/25/2018 JULIUS VON BISMARCK | Berlin Art Link.pdf
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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).
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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
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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
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FEDERICO
MADDALOZZO
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(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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