SPARK 2024: Julius von Bismarck

  • As early as 1985, Donna Haraway described in her essay A Cyborg Manifesto how the fusion of machines and living organisms not only produces hybrids, but also the superimposition of social realities and fiction. Human cyborg existence begins with the first items of clothing. It is the moment of origin when humans began to detach themselves from their own environment. Von Bismarck transfers this moment to plants and stages cyborg landscapes that use the progressive technologisation of our environment as a moment of social reflection.

  • We Were All Naked (Red Elephant Ear), 2023 Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 147 x 220 cm...
    We Were All Naked (Red Elephant Ear), 2023
    Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta
    147 x 220 cm | Edition of 4 + 2 A.P.
    110 x 166 cm  | Edition of 6 + 2 A.P.
  • The machine-milled aluminium frames of the photo series We Were All Naked (2023) offer a view of alien worlds as...
    The machine-milled aluminium frames of the photo series We Were All Naked (2023) offer a view of alien worlds as if from a spaceship window. Here, whole areas of land are covered with foil, deprived of the air they need to breathe by a hose. Like a spider’s web, plastic film stretches over stones and small trees, transforming them into an unfamiliar environment. The context of the depopulated scene can hardly be surmised.
  • We Were All Naked (Elephant Ear), 2023 Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 220 x 147 cm |...
    We Were All Naked (Elephant Ear), 2023
    Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta
    220 x 147 cm | Edition of 4 + 2 A.P.
    166 x 110 cm | Edition of 6 + 2 A.P.
     

     

    In this series, von Bismarck confronts us with the fact that it is often impossible for non-human beings to adapt quickly enough to the conditions of their environment, changing due to human technologisation. We humans are able to isolate ourselves from our environment, while most other living things perish when they are removed from their ecosystems. The photo series was created in Madagascar, one of earth’s biodiversity hotspots. Analogous to vacuum-packed produce, the artist here wraps living plants in plastic and vacuum-packs them. Indeed, this deprives them of the air they need to breathe. The plants are preserved in their present state and inevitably die. At the same time, the shiny plastic film mirrors our inability to preserve our own environment.

  • Julius von Bismarck was born in 1983 in Breisach am Rhein, Germany, and grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He...

    Julius von Bismarck was born in 1983 in Breisach am Rhein, Germany, and grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Switzerland. He completed his studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin, Hunter College in New York, USA, and the Institute for Spatial Experiments founded by Olafur Eliasson.

     

    By combining visual arts with other fields of research and experimentation, such as natural and social sciences, the results of Julius von Bismarck’s artistic practice can take various forms — from kinetic sculptures and photographs to video installations and landscapes. His works are characterized by the in-depth exploration of phenomena of perception and constructions of reality. The negotiation of nature as a socially constructed fiction is a core focus of his work.