Homecoming, Sun & Ruin (Remakes)

Björn Siebert

27 Oktober – 15 Dezember 2012

Hengesbach Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition by photographer Björn Siebert as part of the 5th European Month of Photography in Berlin. This is not only the first solo presentation in Berlin of the Leipzig-based artist, but also the premiere of his latest works. His Remakes are large-format reenactments of amateur photos found online. They explore the mysteries of the moment of creation and, through the act of faithful reproduction, overwrite the randomness inherent in snapshots.
You are warmly invited to the opening on October 26, 2012, at 6 PM.
Artist talk: Björn Siebert and Prof. Dr. Steffen Siegel (Aesthetics of Knowledge, University of Jena) on November 15, 2012, from 7 to 9 PM in the gallery.
A papier-mâché house on a writing pad, a bitten bagel on crumpled pastry paper: Björn Siebert’s Remakes tell of moments from our everyday cultural life. His photographs usually depict objects, less often fragments of people. What all the Remakes share is their randomness. Their moments of origin seem to stem from fleeting instants. However, Siebert’s photographs, despite this assumption, always appear composed. A peculiar emphasis resonates in the casualness of the motifs. The papier-mâché house and the bagel, in their pictorial construction, leave no doubt about a situational perfection.
This effect is rooted in the deliberate staging of what was originally incidental. Siebert’s Remakes are not firsthand experiences but reconstructions of amateur photos the artist found online. In the seemingly endless cosmos of uploaded images, he selects snapshots to serve as the basis for his interpretations.
Like an archaeologist, Siebert searches through the digital flood of images for unusual linkages of object and space. Once he has made his selection, he spends months painstakingly researching every detail for his re-creation. In this way, what began as oddly careless documentary pieces become carefully arranged reports on our daily life culture—assembled into representations. Siebert’s goal is not mere repetition. Rather, he seeks to decode the ambiguity between triviality and meaning, as well as the encyclopedic content of his photographic finds.
That a Remake, not least due to its technical reproduction using a large-format plate camera, garners exponentially more attention than the original snapshot is yet another paradoxical reversal of perspectives and intentions.

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