#Bernhard Schipper

[bernhard-schipper]

'Decolonize Sorbian Settlement Area' Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Lets talk about decolonization of the sorbian settlement area. My recent project of artistic research.

[scobytec]

On February 25, 2014 Karl-Ludwig Kunze, Bernhard Schipper, and Carolin Wendel (ScobyTec) were invited to talk about making bacterial cellulose from kombucha cultures at GROW Art/Science pilot workshop 'Future Materials' at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Weinberg Campus.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Decolonize - Die Ravensteiner Gurke' Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Die Ravensteiner Gurke

Hutzenstuben, Trutzburgen, oder Oh-Oh-Oh (doch kein) Osterreiter

Die hölzernen - manieristisch - druckgeschwärzten - expressiv - gotischen Schnitte des tausendjährigen Bautzens von Rudolf Warnecke erfreuen sich quer durch alle bildungsverbrämten Gruppen jeglicher politischer Couleur immer noch großer Beliebtheit und sind in vielen Haushalten, die ich in der Oberlausitz kenne, noch im Original zu finden. Die Buchhandlungen sind voll dieser Trutzburgen-Heimelei, welche den wohligen Schauer dunkler Zeiten der zweimal abgefeierten (1933 und 2002) tausendjährigen Geschichte als Souvenir mit den TouristInnen den Weg nach Hause finden - nachdem die Kurzweilenden der indizierten T-Shirt Freakshow auf dem Kornmarkt überdrüssig geworden sind.

Ich bin mit diesen altertümlichen Bildern meiner Geburtsstadt aufgewachsen und empfand immer ein gewisses Unbehagen beim Anblick dieser schon zu der Zeit ihrer Entstehung aus der Zeit gefallenen Darstellungen dieser Stadt. Gewiss sind einige dieser Holzschnitte ikonisch in der Darstellung der Stadt und ich möchte dem Schöpfer nicht das Handwerk als Holzschneider absprechen. Aber es fehlt mir an kritischer Einordnung und Reflektion aller AkteurInnen in der Oberlausitzer Kulturlandschaft zu einem Künstler und seinem Werk, der noch 1942 in der ‚Großen Deutschen Kunstausstellung‘ mit der Arbeit ‚Stillende Mutter‘ vertreten war. Dann 1943 ein Titelbild für die Zeitschrift ‚Deutsche Leibeszucht‘. Anzumerken ist, dass der Künstler wegen seiner Weigerung, in die NSDAP einzutreten, gegen Ende des Krieges seine Anstellung als Ausstellungsleiter am Stadtmuseum Bautzen verlor und zum Heeresdienst eingezogen wurde. Soweit so normal: Ein Karriereknick reichte bei vielen nach dem Krieg als Beleg für den Widerstand gegen das Naziregime.

Der zugegeben härteste Triggerpunkt für mich war, als Anfang diesen Jahres in Görlitz eine kleine Ausstellung gezeigt wurde, die den Künstler in eine Reihe mit Alwin Brandes, Hanka Krawcec, Johannes Wüsten, Paul Sinkwitz und Rosa Luxemburg stellte. Das expressiv erstarrte, alle Stadtbrände überdauernde Hexenhaus, als das Symbolbild eines tausendjährigen Bautzen neben einer Abbildung aus dem Herbarium von Rosa Luxemburg schmerzt dann doch sehr. Der Diskurs darüber blieb aus oder drang nicht durch ins oberste Stübchen meines gläsernen Elfenbeinturms im fernen Leipzig.

Vor einigen Wochen fand ich eine Ansichtskarte, welche für das ‚Fest der Lausitz‘ 1935 gestaltet wurde und 1941 immer noch im Umlauf war - wie die Stempel auf mehreren erhaltenen Exemplaren belegen. Der schwarze ‚Ritter‘ auf seinem schwarzen Hengst vor dem brennenden Bautzen. Ist es eine Szene aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg, als die kurfürstlichen Sachsen (das Wappen auf dem Schild lässt es vermuten) die Stadt belagerten? In der Folge dieser kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen wurde das böhmische Bautzen samt dem Markgraftum Oberlausitz 1635 den Sachsen zugeschlagen. Die Perspektive, dreihundert Jahre später, ist eine großdeutsche und Rudolf Warnecke weiß den gewünschten Ton des Regimes zu treffen, welches die geplante Kolonisierung der ‚Ostgebiete‘ mit Ereignissen wie dem ‘Fest der Lausitz’ historisch begründen will. Ab 1937 wurde sorbisches Leben systematisch unterdrückt.

In einer Region, die 79 Jahre nach Kriegsende regelmäßig in der Presse wegen rechter Verhaltensauffälligkeiten gewürdigt wird und sich darüber jedes Mal ungerecht behandelt fühlt, ist der Künstler immer noch im kulturellen Mainstream verankert. Ich empfinde diese Trutzburgen-Kreuzritter-Ästhetik als zutiefst Slawen-feindlich und nicht im geringsten die Ursprünge dieser zweisprachigen Region und Heimat einer autochthonen Bevölkerungsgruppe widerspiegelnd. Die - hoffentlich nicht - kommende blau-schwarze Regierung frohlockt ob dieser braunäugigen Sehschwäche. Regelmäßig erscheinen vor meinem inneren Auge rotierende Rundumleuchten, wenn dieser Tage der Künstler und sein Werk aufploppen. Das ist nicht zwingenderweise der Aufruf zum Bildersturm, sondern lediglich eine Aufmunterung, mal eine andere und ich betone, nicht-identitäre Perspektive einzunehmen.

[bernhard-schipper]

‘Aktivist’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

‘Activist’ is probably the most totalitarian-seeming image in the series so far. The composition consists only of visual set pieces of the socialist hero glorification in the mining industry and the German miners' song 'Vor dem Anfahren' from the Mansfelder Land from 1797. I tried to reduce the aggressive expression - not particularly successfully. Until I realized that the elements such as: danger of being buried, community, omnipresent death, uniforms, and (the built-up) ideal of serving the people are inherent in the theme and I have to accept this in order to complete the picture.

Mining is war against Earth - our home planet.

I have to admit that I have had little contact with the mining culture so far. But since the beginning of the 1990s at the latest, it has been clear that mining in Germany is a phased-out model - an industry with no future due to dwindling resources, high environmental pollution and the health consequences for employees. But politicians in eastern Germany in particular cling to the myth that fossil resources never run out - also because they have failed to develop sustainable alternatives and perspectives. Mining has caused irreparable damage to the landscape and has irrevocably destroyed autochthonous culture, especially in the opencast mining areas of East Germany. Mining companies criminally mislead the public when it comes to water extraction from ecosystems.

Ultimately, the glorification of fossil fuel industries can no longer be justified. This is not to deny the achievements, hardships and sacrifices made by miners and their families for centuries. The picture is dedicated to them.

[bernhard-schipper]

For your eyes only / 2016

My complete visual diary (on Tumblr) in which, in 2011, after curating the 'Exodus' exhibition, I began collecting visual material related to my visual canon. At the time of the exhibition, the content had grown to over 3,500 images and GIFs within five years, which I printed out for the exhibition.

It's not just a loose collection of images - I tried to collect the images in a similar way to an animated story in terms of form and content so that a story emerges. In a similar way to how I worked with the exhibitions I co-curated at the INTERDRUCK Gallery - which began with the exhibition 'CoverCheck' in the 'Laden für Nichts'.

This collection is continued to this day - but its content has been restricted by new Tumblr usage guidelines since 2018. Some images have also been removed by Tumblr since 2018 because they contradicted the terms of use. Unfortunately, my visual diary as a social and artistic animation on a social network is subject to progressive social media prudery.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Das sorbische Volk huldigt dem Prešeren Tag' Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Description is coming soon

[bernhard-schipper]

'Die Huldigung des Ante Trstenjak - Hołdowanje Ante Trstenjaka' Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 1994 Color-Laser Print Wooden frame

Description is coming soon

[bernhard-schipper]

Monumente Sollen stehen Oder Nichts / 1991/92

Video documentary in three parts

Video documentary in three parts (1991/92) by german artist group Riefenstahl. The video is explaining the role of monuments for east german society before and after the fall of the wall in Germany.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Crash' Mixed Media Object, 505 x 505 mm, 1992 (destroyed in 2010) B/W Laser print, Wood, Zinc Sheet, Steel Sheet, Plaster, Glas, Palm Leaf, Gold metallic powder

This very early mixed media object contains one of my first computer graphics that I created at the end of 1990 and/or beginning of 1991 with Xerox Ventura under GEMDOS before I was able to use Windows and MacOs systems. Shortly before, I had finished my job as a props technician at the theater. The mixed media object clearly shows access to the resources of everyday theater life, such as theater blood and plaster molds.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Monumente sollen stehen oder nichts - Hohnstein’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Based on the series 'Monumente sollen stehen oder nichts', which deals with Ernst Thälmann, his monuments in the GDR and the treatment of other socialist monuments after the political change in 1989, this picture cycle deals with places that bore the name Ernst Thälmann and have disappeared.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Die Huldigung des Peter H.’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

[bernhard-schipper]

'Monumente sollen stehen oder nichts - Oberhof’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2024 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Based on the series 'Monumente sollen stehen oder nichts', which deals with Ernst Thälmann, his monuments in the GDR and the treatment of other socialist monuments after the political change in 1989, this picture cycle deals with places that bore the name Ernst Thälmann and have disappeared.

The second part of the new 'Monuments' series addresses the historical stratifications that made the originally insignificant village of Oberhof in Thuringia into a social and sporting center of German history from the imperial era through the Third Reich to the showpiece location of the GDR . I consciously chose a motif from the Ernst Thälmann House, which also contains the monument to Duke Ernst II. A deer with her fawn looks at the building from this perspective. The monument was not removed during GDR times - only the reference to Duke Ernst II was replaced by the city coat of arms of Oberhof. The silhouette of the deer appears shadowy in the wood grain of the background, which appears to be looking at the viewer and looking down at the deer in the picture.

The green signet with the Ernst Thälmann lettering, which was used in the first picture in the series, was originally designed for the Ernst Thälmann House restaurant in Oberhof. It is one of the original references for this dysfunctional place of remembrance, in which historical events from several eras overlap without being processed. The whole setup in this folksy kitschiness in the absence of any modernity illustrates the petty bourgeois nature of GDR socialism.

[bernhard-schipper]

‘50th Anniversary of NSK - January 1st, 1974’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Nothing is further from my mind than to promote the no longer existing East German state by showing GDR symbolism while drunk with nostalgia. For some time now, however, badges from the GDR era have been appearing increasingly, which suggest that New Sorbian Art existed long before the political change in 1989. The badges mentioned show a deer or the head with antlers and oak leaves with the GDR coat of arms in the lower part and are made of cast metal or plastic. The deer is one of the visual anchors in the NSK universe.

An embossed lignite briquette recently appeared in an online auction house, which shows the identical deer motif as on the badge as well as the year '1974' and the words 'Prosit Neujahr (Happy New Year)' in two lines. Should this commemorative briquette be proof of the founding date of the New Sorbian Art? Then the East German NSK would have been founded on January 1st, 1974. It has not yet been possible to reconstruct where exactly this founding meeting took place in Lusatia on the night of December 31st to January 1st, 1974.

Time doesn't just move forward linearly. Traveling back in time on a timeline changes reality there as well as here in the now. It is impossible to imagine what would happen to the 'NSK State In Time' if, at sufficient speed, the space-time curvature made travel in parallel universes of the 'NSK State In Time' possible.

But wait a minute - the tree for the national identity of the Sorbs is the linden tree. But don't the oak leaves show that we are on the wrong track.

[bernhard-schipper]

‘Black God - Eternal Denim’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Everything is folk art. For my current series I use almost exclusively graphic pieces from the Internet - more precisely screenshots from Ebay. It's a game of low pixel density, blurring, poor lighting and crooked angles.

Similar to folk art, where the content, the formal and the passing on of tradition are in the foreground and the perfect craftsmanship, achieved with excellent tools, seems less important - in my work the perfect templates are not necessary for the sake of the statement.

The age-related discolored book cover, which becomes denim due to insufficient image resolution, blurring and exaggerated color curves and the trick of adding copper coins to the indigo, takes on something eternal through its technical reproducibility. Or is it just a washed-out image of the depths of space?

Karl Marx's visionary analysis of the exploitation of the means of production and their omnipresence, which is committed to constant growth, rejects eternal capitalism, since the process logically ends in self-destruction.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Monumente sollen stehen oder nichts - Halle/Saale’ Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

Based on the series 'Monuments should stay or nothing', which deals with Ernst Thälmann, his monuments in the GDR and the treatment of other socialist monuments after the political change in 1989, this picture cycle deals with places that bore the name Ernst Thälmann and have disappeared.

The beginning of this new series is Ernst-Thälmann-Platz in Halle/Saale, which is probably the most radical urban redevelopment in the GDR. The square, which is now called Riebeck-Platz again, has undergone a complete renovation and dismantling over the last twenty years. Just as the GDR ensemble erased all traces of pre-war development, so that no element of the original development exists today.

In the graphic implementation I use the socialist folklore typical of the GDR, from the oak veneer to the green patch with anachronistic serif lettering.

[bernhard-schipper]

'Landnahme’ Mixed Media / Digital Collage, 375 x 375 mm, 1993/2023 Fine Art Pigment Print under Acrylic Glass, Black Aluminium Art Box

In the exhibition ‘XXX years of Zonic’ a small photograph of an early picture of Neue Sorbische Kunst from 1993 was on display. It is a mixed media image which shows in the center of the image an early computer graphic of a memorial plaque for the fallen high school graduates in World War I at the Bautzen high school. The crossed memorial plaque is flanked by heads from the sculpture 'Sitting Old Couple' by the Bautzen sculptor Horst Weiße. The original picture was framed in a wooden picture frame by the Upper Lusatian sculptor Jürgen Spottke.

The original background was an original neo-expressive painting of mine from 1989, which I painted on an old foam rubber-coated stage structure of the German-Sorbian Folk Theater. Later I treated the painting surface with plaster, salt and golden metal pigment, so that a living picture was created that reacted to the respective environmental conditions by sweating or oxidizing.

The picture was in my father's collection and was lost after his death. It was part of a series of mixed media images, all of which no longer exist. Now, with the help of artificial intelligence, I tried to increase the resolution of the image to bring out details. Ultimately, this attempt only shows the limitations of current artificial intelligence, which is not able to deal with abstract or unknown image content.

As part of the timeline images, the mixed media series has a certain relevance, so I show the current status of the reconstruction and, if necessary, publish a new version of the image from time to time.