Press
2021
#dailynotes 2021
“2021”_02 / Print on fine art photo paper / 30 x 23 cm / 2021
“2021”_02 / Print on fine art photo paper / 30 x 23 cm / 2021
“2021”_03 / Print on fine art photo paper / 30 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_04 / Print on fine art photo paper / 30 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_05 / Print on fine art photo paper / 25 x 25 cm / 2021
“2021”_06 / Print on fine art photo paper / 30 x 20 cm / 2021
“2021”_07 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_08 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_09 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 33 cm / 2021
“2021”_10 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 33 cm / 2021
“2021”_11 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_12 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_13 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
“2021”_14 / Print on fine art photo paper / 25 x 25 cm / 2021
“2021”_15 / Print on fine art photo paper / 25 x 25 cm / 2021
“2021”_16 / Print on fine art photo paper / 20 x 30 cm / 2021
Wund[er}mal / 2020
In my photo series “ Wund[er]maI” I photographed an area of lignite extraction in east Germany called Braunkohle Revier Lausitz. It was the biggest lignite extraction place in whole Europe during the DDR times. Also today we are looking on hectares dry, moon – like landscapes. Since more than 100 years many villages disappeared, because of the exploration. Pitted, utilised landscape remind us about the domination of human being, the scale and kind of our activities on planet Earth.
Wund[er]mal 01 / Photocollage / 200 x 300 cm / 2020
Wund[er]mal 02 / Photocollage / 200 x 300 cm / 2020
Wund[er]mal 03 / Photocollage / 200 x 300 cm / 2020
Wund[er]mal 04 / Photocollage / 200 x 300 cm / 2020
Wund[er]mal 05 / Photocollage / 200 x 300 cm / 2020
Wund[er]mal 01 & Wund[er]mal 04 / Berlin U – Bahnhof Kurfürstendamm / 2021
Wund[er]mal 04 & Wund[er]mal 01 / Berlin U – Bahnhof Kurfürstendamm / 2021
Wund[er]mal – a photo exhibition by Marcelina Wellmer at the underground station Kurfürstendamm U9 during the Berlin Art Week 2021
A Project in collaboration with berlinerpool. Supported by Sonderförderprogramm 20/21 NEUSTART KULTUR and Stiftung Kunstfonds. With the kind support of Digitales Bildarchiv des Sorbischen Instituts and Wall GmbH.
PIB Berlin wrote:
“Marcelina Wellmer’s project Wund[er]mal is a photographic journey to open-pit coal mines in the Lausitz region. Due to decades of extraction, many villages, farmland and forests have disappeared; further settlements are to make way, despite the planned exit. To the present landscapes photographed by the artist, she added motifs from the Sorbian photo archive. They show people who belonged to the Sorbian minority; the area was their home. The project reflects history in a poetic way, at the same time it warns of our future actions: it shows the consequences of social and cultural contexts and the limits of the exploitation of nature.”
PRIVAT / 2021
The photo series “Private View” deals with the fixed idea of finding real, wild nature and experiencing it up close. This longing became even stronger in Corona times – we were on the run from civilisation, which was suddenly too confining. However, in the 2.0 world, the desire turns out to be a post-romantic fantasy. Instead of untouched wilderness, we encounter cultivated landscapes and a nature that has long since been taken over. It belongs to a company, a private person, or “the city”.
Can nature have an “owner” at all? Is this concept ethically and philosophically viable? I asked myself these questions on my Apennine tour, in the middle of the sold-out Carrara Mountains, whose marble powder is in our toothpaste.
“Privat” / Print on Photo Fine Art Paper / 92 x 63 cm / 2021
“Privat” / Print on Photo Fine Art Paper / 92 x 63 cm / 2021
“Privat” / Print on Photo Fine Art Paper / 92 x 63 cm / 2021
“Privat” / Print on Photo Fine Art Paper / 92 x 63 cm / 2021
“Privat” / Print on Photo Fine Art Paper / 92 x 63 cm / 2021
“Privat” / Print on lightbox foil / 100 x 65 cm / 2021
“Privat” exhibition view / Photos + Installation / Ortstermin Festival / Nord Gallery&Kunstverein Tiergarten / Berlin / 2021
“Privat” exhibition view / Photos + Installation /Ortstermin Festival / Nord Gallery&Kunstverein Tiergarten / Berlin / 2021
“Privat” exhibition view / Photos + Installation / Ortstermin Festival / Nord Gallery&Kunstverein Tiergarten / Berlin / 2021
“Privat” exhibition view / “Privat” – lightbox / Scotty Kunstraum / Berlin / 2021
P R I V A T –
oder vom Ruf der Berge.
Text: Harald F. Theiss | Kurator | Kunsthistoriker
Fragmentarische Gedanken zu den Fotocollagen von Marcelina Wellmer.
Den Berg zum Antworten zu bringen, ist nicht leicht. Welche Antwort bekommen wir auf den Ruf von abgetragenen Bergen? Möglicherweise bleibt nur noch ein schwacher Nachhall aus der italienischen Alpenlandschaft um Carrara übrig. Die brüchigen Wände, die den Schall zurückwerfen, verschwinden – es wird stiller und das Echo verstummt im leeren Klangraum der Berge. Über das Verschwinden von Landschaften und damit realer Wirklichkeit erzählen die bereits kulissenhaft wirkenden Landschaftsfotografien von Marcelina Wellmer und verstärken über künstlerische Mittel den Eingriff und Einfluss des Menschen in die Landschaft. Er hat sie seit Jahrhunderten geformt und verformt. Es hat im Laufe der Zeit so etwas wie eine Unordnung stattgefunden. Im Zuge der Industrialisierung sind neue Landschaften mit unbekannten Folgen entstanden und damit in der Gegenwart ein wachsendes Bewusstsein und der Wunsch nach Neugestaltung.
Wir kennen aus der Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte das edle weiße Gold, wie der Marmor genannt wird, aber denken dabei weniger an den brachialen Abbau der leuchtenden Berglandschaften in Italien, aus deren Wänden das Rohmaterial herausgetrennt wird.
Entstanden ist das Gestein vor 30 Millionen Jahren, als sich die Kontinentalplatten von Afrika und Europa aufeinander zubewegten und sich zu den Apuanischen Alpen im Nordwesten der Toskana auftürmten. Mit ihren wiederum künstlerischen und fast künstlich anmutenden Landschaftskonstruktionen geht die Künstlerin zurück an den Ursprung der Mythen und Schöpfung – in einem geschützten Raum werden Fragen nicht nur nach der Bilderwirklichkeit gestellt, sondern auch nach dem Verhältnis Mensch und Natur, deren Nutzung und den unvorhersehbaren Folgen dieser Einwirkung. Die skulpturalen Bergfragmente wirken in Wellmers Darstellungen wie geformte Reste. In der Betrachtung beginnen sie sich in der Vorstellung mit etwas danach zu verwischen. Die jahrtausendealten Gesteinsschichten, in denen die Zeit eingeschrieben ist, bröckeln. Was bleibt sind andere Skulpturen und Geschichte(n) der Erinnerung. Wellmers manipulierte Bilder „beschreiben“ und dokumentieren gleichzeitig den sich ständig verändernden Zustand der Berge. Wir sehen auf den großformatigen Fotografien temporäre Bergformen, die sich in naher Zukunft auflösen werden: Das Zeitliche und Vergängliche sind festgehalten. Über eine erweiterte subjektive Landschaftsfotografie werden so Varianten von Transformationsprozessen untersucht und sichtbar gemacht.
Auf der Suche nach zukunftsorientierten Entwürfen bedienen sich die Künstlerinnen und Künstler vielschichtiger Methoden und Medien. Walter Benjamin verwies bereits 1936 in seinem Aufsatz Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit auf den Wandel der Rezeption von Kunst, vor allem durch die Entwicklung der Fotografie und des Films und einer damit veränderten Abbildung von Wirklichkeit, die andere kollektive Wahrnehmungerlebnisse erlaubt. Waren es zunächst Bilder, die den Fortschritt dokumentierten, die Konstruktion von Landschaft und damit die Modernisierung der Gesellschaft, reagieren die nachfolgenden Generationen differenzierter auf ihre Umgebung. Wellmer „wandert“ mit ihrem kritischen Blick über die Ränder des Dokumentarischen hinaus und öffnet gleichzeitig die noch unsichtbaren Resonanzräume mit unvorhersehbaren Folgen. Ihre Fotografien stehen in der Tradition der skeptischen Landschaft, die sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten innerhalb der „New Topographics“ zu einem eigenen kritischen und spekulativen Genre entwickelt hat.
Über eine Ästhetisierung der Bilder rückt die Landschaft wieder verstärkt in unser Bewusstsein. Die Grenzen des Dokumentarischen sind aufgehoben. Auf diese Weise entstehen neue Zusammenhänge. Mit künstlerischen Eingriffen wird auf Veränderungsprozesse hingewiesen. Es entstehen fiktionale und surreale Welten, die zum Denken auffordern. Aber finden sich in den „manipulierten“ Geografien auch die Indizien für gesellschaftliche und ökonomische Transformationsprozesse?
In den Fotocollagen von Marcelina Wellmer schon. Sie sind kein Zustandsbericht, eher ein Kommentar, sie reflektieren, verweisen und befragen vielmehr das wankende Verhältnis von Mensch – Natur – Ökonomie. Sie können als potenzielles Merkmal für Veränderung und als Aufforderung, aus einem Konfliktterrain und von der Landschaft zu lernen, betrachtet werden. Auch weil die italienischen Alpenlandschaften inzwischen längst nicht mehr nur in privaten Händen einheimischer Unternehmen liegen.
Ausstellungen öffnen fiktionale Schutzräume, in denen in der Realität mittels ästhetischer Konzepte und mit (fotografischen) Bildern, andere Wahrnehmungsprozessen in Gang gesetzt werden, die gleichzeitig einen Appell zum Handeln „formulieren“. Die Veränderungen der Natur und Landschaft sind in der Öffentlichkeit präsenter den je. Aber reichen für deren Wandel nach ihrer selbstverständlichen Aneignung die vielschichtigen Beobachtungen und Protokolle, um zu mehr Bewusstsein über das Dasein anzuregen – um auch künftig die Stimme des Berges zu hören?
Homoplanta / 2020
In the project “Homoplanta”, a human-like creature merges with nature and technology in a surrealistic way. Individual body parts, covered with plant remains, mushrooms, wrapped in tree bark. Between the plants a computer board, a cable, a transformer? The remains of long forgotten electronics; what it was good for “back then”, no one knows anymore. Man” could be living in the year 2100, where mankind wanted to be one with nature and just as one with technology, which in the end has become part of the body. Or, it is just a genetic mistake that has brought the hybrid to life. And so we see the future portrait of our species – a strange branch of human evolution.
Object 01 / 33 x 20 x 8 cm / 2020
Object 02 / 28 x 20 x 5 cm / 2020
Object 03 / 30 x 15 x 4 cm / 2020
Object 04 / 37 x 25 x 9 cm / 2020
Object 05 / 33 x 12 x 7 cm / 2020
Fotografie / spekulative body cover 01 / 70 x 70 cm
Fotografie / spekulative body cover 02 / 70 x 70 cm
Fotografie / spekulative body cover 03 / 70 x 70 cm
Project +49 157 362 961 96 / 2018
2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages). 2017-2018
The Project +49 157 362 961 96 (2017) by Marcelina Wellmer is an interactive installation operating within the complex environment of telematic and mobile communication, on the verge of generative art and e-literature, with some features of a kinetic sound-sculpture. Sending a text message to the provided phone number initiates data processing, while the customised software and plotter hardware turn each SMS into a line of a manuscript. The outcome of the plotter’s movement imitates a human handwriting, although the written contents is neither imitated, nor artificial. It is an upshot of participants’ voluntary contribution. While the collaboratively created text as a whole, is an outcome of a random flow of messages, the process reveals the hidden curriculum of turning a raw thought into a coherent verbal statement. During the writing process, the plotter emits sound, reminding of the computer-mediated communication (CMC) taking place. Operating within the given affordances, it evokes not an artificial, but rather a collective intelligence contributed by both human and software-based actants. Although the idea may seem to reach back to the pioneering experiments in cyberarts, there is a contemporary approach of critical engineering and analysis of a creative process. While it examines the human-computer interactivity (HCI) paradigm, the project is focused on re-inventing rudiments of communication process through reinterpreting technology by questioning its primary characteristics.
*Ewa Wojtowicz, media art researcher and professor at University of Arts in Poznan/Poland
2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages). 2017-2018
2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages). 2017-2018
Sent and automatically printed messages
Sent and automatically printed messages
2D plotter, contract microphones, speakers, pen, paper, sms, DIY control box (arduino, mix of program languages). 2017-2018
RGB / 2011
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RGB 01 / video projection & painting on canvas / Processing / 250 x 180 cm / 2011
RGB 02 / video projection & painting on canvas / Processing / 250 x 180 cm / 2011
RGB 03 / video projection & painting on canvas / Processing / 250 x 180 cm / 2011
RGB 04 / video projection & painting on canvas / Processing / 250 x 180 cm / 2011
RGB 05 / video projection & painting on canvas / Processing / 250 x 180 cm / 2011
In the series “RGB” Wellmer projects rays of color onto black and white oil paintings. The additive color mixing of red, green and blue happens in realtime, based on generative code. Over time they change their color from red to green to blue in random speed. This happens so slowly that the eye can’t recognise it when observing the canvas constantly. Only when you look away for a minute and then look back, you will notice the difference. The shifted perspective of the oil painting gets expanded with drifting patterns of color.
The starting point for each of the paintings is a photo made by the artist. Marcelina Wellmer photographs the architecture of Berlin city, often office buildings or train stations. In reality gray and static, Marcelina Wellmer starts to fold them as soon as they are caught on her computer and starts to put them into color. Wellmer says:“To me it is a lively intervention from a human perspective.”
E.Wojtowicz, PhD Academy of Fine Arts Poznan / Poland
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E / 2018 – 2016
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E /10 lasered gps traces on black mdf /30 x 30 cm /
10 vibration speakers with GPS sound recordings /10 ultrasound sensors / Augsburg LAB 30 / 2018
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E / Glucksmann Gallery / Cork 2019
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E / Glucksmann Gallery / Cork 2019
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E / Glucksmann Gallery / Cork 2019
Description:
In the interactive visual/sound installation 52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E the body in the urban space processes and analyses the shape and sound sphere of two capitals – Berlin and Warsaw. For several days the GPS application was recording every road traveled by the author of the project, first in Berlin, then in Warsaw, including the car parks and shopping malls as well as other points not always included in regular maps. 14 black MDF boards covered with these roads etched witch laser, illustrates the everyday, individual tracks. Thanks to the tracks, you can see how intricate or simple geometric or chaotic are the routes. You might ask: if the GPS signal weaved in search of a signal? What is the ultimate form of a “personal city” in Berlin and Warsaw – is it similar, or perhaps completely different? The whole route in two cities was copied to the wall of the XS gallery, and fragments of the resulting maps of Warsaw and Berlin can be seen only with a UV flashlight – so in order to see different parts of them, the visitors have to navigate through the gallery space (such as the area of the city). And as it happens with the city – at the end you can only see the path that is right in front of you or behind you – the rest is invisible. The second element of the installation is the sound. 10 vibration speakers attached behind the lasered boards plays the typical GPS commands like : “turn left”, “turn right”, “your destination is on the right”, etc. Every board has a one attributed command. If the visitor comes closer to the board to consider the lasered drawing, the ultrasound sensor react and give a signal to start the record. Because of the number of people and the time of contemplation every time we can hear another sound composition in the space.
Example of sound compositions:
52.2297° N, 21.0122° E // 52.5200° N, 13.4050° E / La Chapelle Sainte-Marthe in Montbron / France /2018
DUST (A year of Dust) / 2016
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DUST / interactive video projection 2015
DUST / interactive video projection / 2015
“Dust” and “Error 404 502 410” / B-Side Festival Mannheim 2017
“Dust” / screen capture / 2015
The work “Dust” combines generative HD video with the movement of the audience through camera tracking. Since some months I am collecting dust particles on a piece of black plexiglass. Monthly, I photograph the collected set, clean the surface and start from the beginning. The composition and the quantity of dust depend on the movement around the place and other random occurrences. One of the photographed sets I traced in a graphic program, the resulting graphical particles now get animated within the generative video software VVVV. A Kinetic 3D camera tracks the movement in front of the video projection – if somebody gets closer to the projection the dust speeds up and flies into all directions, triggered by the observers motion.
The movement of the pixel dust, although looking random, is based on close observations of real dust flying. A complex power field emulates the forces that also appear in real life.
The composition is never the same; it happens in real time and by chance – it is a generative chaos. The observers movement is interpreted as an artificial wind source.
We humans disturb the dust and let it fly faster. We are a source of wind and motion. Our bodies are now a part of a random, digital artefact, but with roots in real occurrences.
The second part of the project are paintings: the photographed dust is painted on canvas and becomes the name of the month – every month one painting. It will be a one year of dust.
DUST December/ acrylic on canvas, 150 x 180 cm / 2x / 2015
DUST February / acrylic on canvas, 20 x 30 cm / 2015
DUST January / acrylic on canvas, 150 x 150 cm / 2015
DUST October/ acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50 cm / 2015
Scanned_Image / 2014
Scanned_Image01 / oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
Scanned_Image02/ oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
Scanned_Image03 / oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
Scanned_Image04/ oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
Scanned_Image05 / oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
Scanned_Image06 / oil on canvas / 150 x 110 cm / 2013 – 2014
The visual message (painting) have in backround electronic devices: a scanner, scanning the light of a desk lamp or them self – with a help of a mirror. The images emerged in a process of trial scanning with open scanner and moving the light or mirror during the process of scanning. The accidental incurred glitch was the base of the finish result – oil paintings. The process of painting computer generated pictures reverse the image back to a real object and it needs a physical effort. The human factor is back and responsible for variability and subjectivity.
The processing of “re-using” is a strategy of cultural garbology, based on the content of the digital rubbish. As a result of using the redundant data, both – digital images and regular paintings are remediated and shifted into a new aesthetical dimension.
“The randomness of the picture as a key quality, results from a kind of “reverse engineering” tactics that Marcelina Wellmer applies in her works. Using everyday devices, the artist reaches for the ready-made aesthetical formula but also engages them in a form of a transmedial dialogue. “E. Wojtowich/ PhD, Fine Arts Academy Poznan / Poland
Keywords: remediation, feedback, transmedia, scanning, systems aesthetics, randomness, reverse engineering.
Scanned_Image / 2015
Scanned_Image / 2x scanner, 2x webcam, computer, printer, shredder, 2x amp, 11x speaker, Arduino, sound card / 2015
Scanned_Image / 2x scanner, 2x webcam / 2015
Scanned_Image / LAB 30exhibition / Augsburg 2015 / Germany
Scanned_Image / 77 random prints / 2015
Hardware circuit project / Marcelina Wellmer
Scanned_Image / Pure Data / programming: Gösta Wellmer/ 2015
Description
The work “Scanned_Image” is a circuit of random, technical occurrences. Two scanners are scanning each other – every time in a different, random resolution and at a different point in time. Two webcams relay the scanning process to the monitor and the printer reproduces the image of the scanners’ encounter. An office lamp, flickering along with the process of printing, amplifies the visual noise. The last device in the chain is a shredder – you can take the produced image with you or instantly destroy it.
Another element of the work is sound. Piezo and magnetic microphones attached to the technical devices collect their emitted sounds and electrical fields. The signals get amplified directly through twelve speakers in various frequencies and intensity. In parallel the sound gets processed by software on the computer, controlling the office light and creating a looping and feedbacking soundscape. The machines and devices are functioning in an independent, autonomous circuit, making the human factor obsolete. Humans can only take control by taking or destroying the resulting images of this automated process. But the next image is always already in production.
This materialization of images brings the process of remediation to another level. In the age of overabundance of artificial images it seems to be more interesting to focus on the underlying structure of their making, thanks on their actual content. Therefore, the devices, once called peripheral, are engaged in their reciprocal communication, independently and self-sufficiently.
Missing Files / 2012 – 2013
Missing File 01_02_03_04 / move (loop), MDF boxes / variables arrangement / 2012
Missing File 01_02_ / move (loop), MDF boxes / variables arrangement / 2012
Missing File 01_02_ / move (loop) /2012
Missing Files / computer, burnt paper /2012
Missing File 01_02_03_04 (..) / Oil on canvas, formed / plastic boxes – variables arrangement / 2013
Missing File 01_02_03_04 / Oil on canvas, formed in plastic boxes – variables arrangement / 2013
Missing File 06_07_ / oil on canvas / 150 x 150 cm & 160 x 210 cm / exhibition view Staycation Museum / 2013
In the series “Missing Files” the artist uses left overs of it’s own digital production. Old video project files that got corrupted by copying them too often become the foundation for new paintings, objects and video-installations. The videosoftware replaces missing files with “screen mates”, the former composed animations and cuts stay intact.
E.Wojtowicz, PhD, about “Missing Files” series.
“The noise in Marcelina Wellmer’s works is audiovisual, particularly in the series Missing Files (2011- 2013), that consists of screens with digital images and painted canvas.This work is inspired by the incompatibility of files, caused by the numerous copying operations within a computer. The illegible remains of audiovisual projects are revealed and processed, so the categories change completely: both paintings and digital images lose their functionality, receiving different features. The processing of rejected and damaged components is a strategy of cultural garbology, based on re-using the content of the digital rubbish. As a result of using the redundant data, both digital images and regular paintings are remediated and shifted into a new aesthetical dimension.”
Error 404 502 410 / 2018 – 2012
ERROR 404 502 410 / burned tree / 3 hard discs, acrylic glass, PC Housing, Arduino, Piezzos, Speakers / 2012 – 2019
ERROR 404 502 410
ERROR 404 502 410
What do computer errors sound like? In our everyday use of computers error messages are communicated without sound. Most likely you are presented with matter-of-fact information like, “Server Error. The server has encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request”, or “Oops…This link appears to be broken HTTP 404 File not found.” These silent messages are software interfaces designed to prevent you from having to worry about or engage with what is taking place at the deeper level of the computer‚s processor.
I created a group of hardware interfaces to three common errors that – beyond principles of usability – challenge the visitor to relate to the materiality of errors through the abstract qualities of sound.
Onto the disks of the drives I laser etched the 404 502 410 status codes in big Latin letters. Because of the lasered letters the disk routine stops and the write/read head goes back into its rest position, the disk powers down. A contact microphone is attached to the hard disk drive, recording the mechanical sounds of the moving disk and the write/read head. The sound gets amplified by an equalizer, pronouncing the rhythmical pattern of read action and the disk spinning. The boot routine creates a composition of random length and rhythm, that is always slightly different, depending on how and where on the spinning disk the read / write head gets distracted by the laser etched letters. While the disk is powered down and isn‚t spinning, the text becomes readable by the audience.
E.Wojtowicz, PhD, University of Arts, Poznan / Poland