At Art Cologne 2015, Bitforms Gallery (New York) featured works by the artists Björn Schülke and Addie Wagenknecht. This is an excerpt of the interview we did with media artist and sculptor Björn Schülke, in which he talks about two of the kinetic artworks he showed at the booth of the gallery, Observer #2 and Vision Machine. The interview is in German language, subtitles in English language are available. The complete interview is available further down on this page.
Interview with Björn Schülke at the stand of Bitforms Gallery at Art Cologne 2015. Cologne (Germany), April 16, 2015.
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Complete video (11:46 min.):
Info text from Bjorn Schuelke’s website:
Bjoern Schuelke pursues a creative style that is equally influenced by modern abstraction and instruments of scientific measurement. The slow deliberate movements in his sculptures spatially consider mass and weight of form. Also influenced by the Dadaist tradition and Jean Tinguely, the theme of an absurd machine is key in Schuelke’s work. Playfully transforming live spatial energy into active responses, his objects experiment with solar panels, infrared surveillance, and propelled wind power. Many of his larger kinetic sculptures combine elements of surveillance technologies, robotics, interactive video and sound. Schuelke’s active sculptures question the way in which we interact with modern technology: on entering the installation site, the audience becomes part of the ‘system’ as the works (some freestanding, others suspended) monitor or react to the human element. (bitforms)
Bjoern Schuelke was born 1967 in Cologne, Germany. From 1988 to 1993 he studies photo and film design in Bielefeld, follwed by postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Art (KHM) in Cologne, class Valie Export (1996-1999). From 1997 to 2000 he was Research artist at the GMD – German National Research Center for Information Technology, Sankt Augustin. In 2000 he won the Amica Special Award for Modulator #1 at the Biennale Arte Emergente Torino, Italy. In 2002 he received the German Video-Installation-Award for Drone #2, Marl.