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Wolfgang Bellwinkel

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About

I am interested in correlations of societies, politics and urban development. I studied communication design at the Folkwang University in Essen, worked a while for magazines and spend a lot of time in Asia. I am developing photographic exhibition- and book projects within an international context and on and off I am teaching at universities in Germany and Southeast Asia.

Statement

My roots lay in documentary photography, a genre that is closely connected to the theme of understanding and articulating phenomena in the modern world. I work on visual strategies that go beyond the traditional norms and conventions of the documentary genre. Following past projects, I continue to develop perspectives to deal with reality with the hope of cultivating in my audience's an awareness of current issues in the contemporary world and at the same time to question the medium photography regarding plausibility and its role in our modern digitized world.

Education

  • 1986 - 1994 | Communication Design, Folkwang Schule, Essen (DE)

Institution (Work Experience)

  • 2020 | Lecturer, UDK, Berlin (DE)
  • 2013 | Lecturer, HTW, Berlin (DE)
  • 2012 | Workshop, Langgen Art Foundation, Yogyakarta (ID)
  • 2011 | Workshop, Goethe Institut, Manila (PH)
  • 2007 | Lecturer, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (TH)
  • 2006 | Lecturer, Muthesius Hochschule, Kiel (DE)
  • 2004 | Workshop (Training of local photojournalists), Goethe Institut, Kabul (AF)
  • 2000 - 2001 | Lecturer, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore (SG)

Selected Awards

  • 2007 | Scholarship, VG Bild-Kunst (DE)
  • 2004 | Artist Residence, Alliance Francaise Bangkok (TH)
  • 1999 | Acquisition of the series ‚Nachkriegszeit‘, IFA (DE)
  • 1996 | Scholarship, DAAD (DE)
  • 1995 | BFF Award for best diploma (DE)

Selected Exhibitions/Publications

  • 2020 | Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, Berlin (DE)
  • 2019, 2016 | Goethe Institut Yangon, Yangon (MM)
  • 2018 | Bangkok Biennial, Bangkok (TH)
  • 2016 | Singapore International Photography Festival, Singapore (SG)
  • 2016 | Goethe Institut Yangon, Yangon (MM)
  • 2015 | Domforum Köln, Cologne (DE)
  • 2013 | Photo Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh (KH)
  • 2013, 2012, 2010 | Bangkok Art and Culture Center, Bangkok (TH)
  • 2012 | Dokumenta Halle, Kassel (DE)
  • 2011 | Langgeng Art Foundation, Yogyakarta (ID)
  • 2009 | Max Liebermann Haus, Berlin (DE)
  • 2007 | St.Mathäus Church, Berlin (DE)
  • 2004 | Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg (DE)
  • 2004. | Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (DE)
  • 2003 | Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (DE)
  • 2003 | Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul (KR)
  • 2002 | Gallery M, Bochum (DE)
  • 2002 | Goethe Institute Singapore, Singapore (SG)
  • 2000.... | Various locations in connection with the exhibition ‚Die Welt als Ganzes’ in Cologne, Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta, Seoul…
  • 1997 | Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerpen (BE)
  • 1997 | Stedelijk Museum, Sint-Niklaas (BE)
  • 1997 | Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (DE)

Personal Website

http://www.wolfgang-bellwinkel.de

Works

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Babel (2007 - 2011)

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Babel (2007 - 2011)

Babel is a multi-part project that deals with phenomena of today’s globalized cities. High-rise buildings in urban spaces usually symbolize power. Not accidentally, the biggest buildings are mostly owned by banks or big companies. But what we see in the series is rather the opposite: The buildings are huge and – at the first view – impressing, but all of them are incomplete. We have the impression to look at modern ruins, at unintentional sculptures of failure. And we are quite correct: The construction of all the buildings shown was prematurely terminated - in most cases during the Asian crisis in 1997. In traditional photography the relation between object and space is an important matter. In “Babel”, there is a way of reduction. The buildings are stripped off their descriptive space around them which leads to an irritation but at the same time towards an increased focus towards the sculptural elements of architecture. As a kind of ‘Towers of Babel’ the photographed buildings become an allegory of megalomania and a symbol of failure.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Title:
bellwinkel_babel_01
Author:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel
Work:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Babel (2007 - 2011)
Copyright:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Heimat (2003)

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Heimat (2003)

In 2003 the magazine 'BISS' collaborated with the 'Pinakothek der Moderne' in Munich for an exhibition called the Architecture of Homelessness. I was invited to participate and developed a work (Heimat, 2003) that used reproductions of mattresses, mats, blankets of homeless people I got in touch with as a symbol for something that hardly can be called architecture, but has a somehow similar effect by separating and protecting homeless people from the cold in hostile environments.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Title:
bellwinkel_Heimat_01
Author:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel
Work:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Heimat (2003)
Copyright:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Interventions (2017 - ongoing)

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Interventions (2017 - ongoing)

In the series 'Interventions' I am concerned with certain phenomena of the present. I am particularly interested in forms of political violence as well as transnational social and ecological crises and their mediation through the media. With the help of analog productions I create images that stand as examples for certain events of our time. These photographs are reminiscent of real events, their media images or those of our collective pictorial memory, so they usually have a strong reference to real events, but without trying to 're-enact' them. The knowledge of the construct of the image leads to an examination of questions concerning the reliability of our perception and the authenticity and subjectivity as well as the intention of photographic images.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Title:
bellwinkel_interventions01
Author:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel
Work:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel | Interventions (2017 - ongoing)
Copyright:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | No Land called Home (Book 2013)

Wolfgang Bellwinkel | No Land called Home (Book 2013)

'Wolfgang Bellwinkel investigates something that might be described as a state of mind: the longing for otherness, for strangeness, and the restlessness of someone who seeks exceptional experiences, and perhaps knowledge, in far-away climes. Bellwinkel builds a collage combining photographs from the last 18 years with his own short stories, which function as autonomous companions of the photographic material. Photographs taken in Asia come together with images of war and post-war scenes in Afghanistan, the Middle East and the Balkans to somehow form a coherent whole. Private shots are interwoven with documentary images, world events with biographical interludes. The book demonstrates a deep commitment to biographically oriented photography, which its author places in the context of events taking place in a constantly changing, globalized world.' (Blurb by Kehrer Verlag) 352 pages, Kehrer Verlag/Heidelberg, Images and texts by Wolfgang Bellwinkel Epilog - Wolfgang Büscher

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Title:
bellwinkel_buch_01
Author:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel
Work:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel | No Land called Home (Book 2013)
Copyright:
Wolfgang Bellwinkel