22. - 28.8. 2020
Location: SOMECOLLECTIVE 서울 중구 필동로 8길 25
By appointment only.
Dirk Fleischmann has over the past decade been developing Phantom Practice. Until now Phantom Practice has never been shown publicly and this Open Studio presentation is a discreet moment to introduce this practice to a limited audience. Phantom Practice negotiates Fleischmann’s interest in paintings as crafted images versus digital photography, as algorithmic images. In the early stages of Phantom Practice Fleischmann created static, two - dimensional images in his mind which he did not produce physically. These thought experiments were mainly a process of imagining what meanings the choice of material or scale might bring into effect should those images be actualised. Based on those early exercises, in recent years Fleischmann has started to use ink to produce such pictorial pieces on Korean Paper (Hanji). These pictures refer to digital culture, neurosciences, number theories and mapping. He produces after-images of modernist aesthetics that act as sublime phantoms of the twentieth century.
Fleischmann creates an amalgam of his personal visual memories of video games as well as art works that influenced his aesthetic preferences. These works are giving shape to the feelings that formed his artistic practice from the 1990s until 2012.
Fleischmann divides his pictures into three categories:
Eyewire Derivative Series: Eyewire is an internet game to advance neuroscience with the reconstruction of morphological neuron data. In Eyewire, players reconstruct 3D models of neurons from electron microscope images by solving puzzles. The "Eyewire Derivative" series is inspired by this game and combines it with the aesthetics of the Ulam Spiral (arithmetics) and Pattern Recognition. It is an attempt to explore aesthetic choices in relation to geometric calculations of the human brain.
Atari Eternity Series: Archiving digital data involves data migration and technological transitions. For example from Magnetic Tape to Laser Discs. The Atari Series are screenshots of Atari gameplay (e.g. Pong, Tron) that are painted with organic materials that may be conserved for 1000 to 2000 years. For this Fleischmann produces his own ink and uses Korean Paper from high quality fiber.
Mapping Series: The Mapping Series is about the perception of space and flatness. It deals with the challenge of locating digital as well as geographic information. The imagery of the Mapping Series distorts the Western dichotomy of figuration and abstraction and defies linear perspective.
Dirk Fleischmann (*1974) is based in Seoul and Berlin. He completed his studies at the Städelschule art academy (Frankfurt a.M.) in 2002. His work has been recently shown in Mexico, Instituto Municipal de Arte y Cultura, Tijuana (2019), Media City Seoul Biennale (2018), Goethe Institut Belgrade (2018), Cheongju Craft Biennale (2017), Moderna Museet, Stockholm and Centre Pompidou - Metz (both 2016). Previously his work has been exhibited at Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE) Steirischer Herbst (Graz), Gwangju Design Biennale, Kunstverein Hannover, Leeum Museum (Seoul), Bielefelder Kunstverein, Art Space Pool (Seoul), Hebbel am Ufer, HAU 1 (Berlin), Museum of Modern Art Busan, Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Museum Folkwang (Essen), Manifesta 4 (Frankfurt a.M.)