Sven Johne: Reports from the Crack of Dawn
13 May - 25 Jul 2010
For the first major solo exhibition by the artist Sven Johne, the Frankfurter Kunstverein has brought several of his most significant series of works together into one survey. As well as experiencing new pieces that were created especially for the exhibition in Frankfurt, one also has the opportunity to explore the conceptual exactitude of his artistic approach. Moreover, it will be possible to thoroughly compare the ways in which he examines the content of documentation and the news.
Sven Johne pursues a conceptual methodology in his documentary photography: like an investigative reporter he approaches social phenomena, he is doing research about the background of media reports and found footage, visits the places mentioned therein and embarks on a documentation thereof. In so doing, photos, texts, videos and archives are generated that are theoretically linked and engage in a process of questioning concerning their authenticity.
Often it involves small announcements and peripheral notes from the local press, for example, suicides, ships lost at sea or killing sprees. Here, Johne sets out in search of clues. Seen as though under a magnifying glass, he allows individual destinies to become exemplary portraits of the social status quo. His cyclically created works therefore merge fiction with reality: it is not whether the announcements are true or not, but rather it is the explanations and their relationships to the world that counts. The elements of his works function either as apparent or real evidence of personal fates that are in turn expressions or manifestations of the current conditions of social, economic and political constellations.
Sven Johne (born 1976, on Ruegen) lives and works in Berlin. His works are represented in numerous national and international collections. Among others, his oeuvre was shown at the Center for Photography in Barcelona, at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kalmar Konstmuseum and at the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.
On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue with texts by Werner D'Inka, Jens Kastner, Catrin Lorch and a foreword by Lilian Engelmann, Renate Goldmann and Holger Kube Ventura will be published by Frankfurter Kunstverein and distributed by Revolver Publishing by VVV, Berlin.
Sven Johne pursues a conceptual methodology in his documentary photography: like an investigative reporter he approaches social phenomena, he is doing research about the background of media reports and found footage, visits the places mentioned therein and embarks on a documentation thereof. In so doing, photos, texts, videos and archives are generated that are theoretically linked and engage in a process of questioning concerning their authenticity.
Often it involves small announcements and peripheral notes from the local press, for example, suicides, ships lost at sea or killing sprees. Here, Johne sets out in search of clues. Seen as though under a magnifying glass, he allows individual destinies to become exemplary portraits of the social status quo. His cyclically created works therefore merge fiction with reality: it is not whether the announcements are true or not, but rather it is the explanations and their relationships to the world that counts. The elements of his works function either as apparent or real evidence of personal fates that are in turn expressions or manifestations of the current conditions of social, economic and political constellations.
Sven Johne (born 1976, on Ruegen) lives and works in Berlin. His works are represented in numerous national and international collections. Among others, his oeuvre was shown at the Center for Photography in Barcelona, at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kalmar Konstmuseum and at the ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe.
On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue with texts by Werner D'Inka, Jens Kastner, Catrin Lorch and a foreword by Lilian Engelmann, Renate Goldmann and Holger Kube Ventura will be published by Frankfurter Kunstverein and distributed by Revolver Publishing by VVV, Berlin.