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Prototypical landscapes and architectural constellations have long been the focus of Oliver Boberg’s work. Boberg produces elaborate models of sites and scenes that are markedly unspectacular, dragged into focus from the fringes of our perception as it were. He then stages these models in photographs, which at first glance seem like pictures of actually existing places, often even like places one is sure to have been at before. One needs to be told that the objects in the pictures were conceived and built by the artist; without this knowledge of Boberg’s working method, their authenticity would appear indisputable. Boberg’s
choice of places plays a crucial part in this ingenious
deception—he picks the kind of buildings, passage-ways, storage and dumping sites and the like which one passes almost every day without ever really taking notice of them.
As a result, their memorability is rather low, yet they carry with them a distinctive atmosphere that is perfectly rendered by Boberg’s suggestive pictures.
In his earlier works Boberg primarily constructed “timeless” sites whose functions and architectural environment were relatively obvious. Later he became more interested in narrative aspects, in the process of change that places tell of: Dilapidated or crude buildings as well as wastelands were now added (2003/04). In the films too, which he produced parallel to the photos, Boberg played with
the associations, expectations and emotions triggered by ever so small changes.
Seiten is the title of a series of pictures, each consisting of several parts, in development since 2004. In German, Seiten has several meanings; it not only denotes the pages of a book or magazine, but may also refer to the different aspects of an issue, or the different view-points from which one can approach a subject. The pictures completed in the series so far are called Seite I–IV. Thus unlike his earlier works, titled, for example, Garden Gate (2001) or Parking
Lot (1998), Oliver Boberg has now chosen titles which do not describe the subject of the pictures, but their form of representation. Against a white background, each Seite consists of one large and one or two smaller pictures, which one intuitively assumes to be commentaries on or further views of the main picture—a set-up familiar from narrative contexts like comic books or photo albums. On a closer look, however, questions arise concerning the relate
tionship between the pictures. Do they really refer to one place or one story? Searching for a coherent message it becomes apparent that the individual images are not connected at all, in fact, they do not share a single element.
Nevertheless, there are structural similarities in the
models photographed for Seiten. The main picture of
Seite I shows a light path in the foreground turning righthand into a wood of thin, leafless trees and bushes. Right of this, there are two smaller pictures on top of one another:
The upper one depicts a path along a high grey wall, broken by small steps, the lower one a sandy recreational field surrounded by railings, with an exit again leading into some kind of brushwood. The road into depths and towards something impenetrable is therefore common to all three pictures, although the three paths are obviously not the same. In the following three Seiten, too, the eye the main subject of the pictures—the structures of their paneling, the weathering of the concrete, the mounting of
ventilation flaps, the transitions between the different
parts of a building.
In Seiten II–IV, the painterly qualities become more
pronounced. Boberg, here and in the context of his other new works, has especially concerned himself with structures and with the effects of an increasingly free and informal style of painting. The search for a red thread among the various motifs repeatedly leads to irritations and ruptures; more and more the eye becomes absorbed by structures and details. There is a certain enlightening impetus behind Seiten, in terms of the realization of little details that in their entirety highlight the ugliness, lack of care, and helplessness pervading contemporary urban architecture
and design. As an artistic composition, however, Boberg’s Seiten are charged with a characteristic, abysmal tension between the abstraction of functional construction and the utter concreteness of its details.
Bettina Schmitt
translated by Simone Schede
You and your friends are cordially invited to the opening on Thursday, October 19, 2006.
The artist will be present. |
