MESSAGES FROM DARKROOM
By Aelxander Gehring
04/04/2019 - 10/05/2019
Towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the development of new technologies--the telephone, the gramophone, as well as photography--flourished. Parallel to the technical inventions, the world of spiritualism and paranormal phenomena experienced a boom. Gehring’s work invokes this history, and his starting point is the double meaning of the German word “medium.” Gehring’s work asks if there are hidden correlations between new technical media and the psychics, between the contact of the psychic to the afterlife and the modern connection between two living people through the means of new technical media. Through his images, photographic technique, generally understood as a means of objectively capturing reality, is shown in a different light: here the camera itself reveals its own magical aura.
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Bio
Berlin-based artist Alexander Gehring (*1981, Bielefeld) studied photography and new media at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and London College of Communication. In his projects he is focused on the connection between occultism, art and photography. He also raises questions about the relevance of analoge photography in the 21th century. His work has been exhibited at Aperture Gallery in New York, Museum Morsbroich, Warte für Kunst in Kassel, pavlov’s dog Gallery in Berlin and The Camera Club of New York amongs others. He was the recipient of the Merck Award of Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie in 2016.