
Extract from the Bomann Museum website (translated):
AGAIN(ST) THE EVIL
Approaches to the Inexplicable
The arts have always been dedicated to the depiction of “evil” – and correspondingly also of “good”. But who or what is “evil”? The devil, in whom no one actually believes any more, can no longer stand alone. Goethe already puts it into the mouth of Mephistopheles: “Rid of the evil one, the evil ones remain”. (…)
Perhaps it is the paradox of “evil” that it is extremely real and at the same time intangible. Even if “evil” may be considered the epitome of the morally wrong – who defines the wrong and, consequently, the right?
Exhibition
Again(st) the Evil
Bomann Museum Celle
05.06. – 10.10.2021

Excerpt from the exhibition catalogue (translated):
KOSCHIES | SURFACES
Is there such a thing as good and bad photography? Good and evil photographic techniques? Is the supposed evil created in front of the camera or in the minds of the viewers?
In the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the cultural theorist Prof Dr Dirk Baecker explains, following Hegel, that evil is that which can only be seen from one perspective. Baecker contrasts evil in art with the complexity of the surface. The surface is the only true occurrence, even in all its abysmal opacity.
With their SURFACES series, KOSCHIES explore new paths in portrait photography. In contrast to other photographic positions, such as that of Diane Arbus, who focussed on photographing “evil” in the course of her work, the aim here is to open up another dimension visually in the true sense of the word. The artist duo pursues this goal with special time slit cameras that transform temporal succession into spatial juxtaposition.
The two-dimensional images created in this way retain the classic height dimension, but replace the expansion of width with the perspective of time. These photographs reject the unambiguousness of the familiar central perspective. Space is no longer a property of geometry, but is held together by the presence of the people photographed.
These portraits are not limited to faces, but show heads. Their chronological representation not only enables the simultaneous perception of all side views – it also allows the simultaneous perception of the emotions that have become visible during the shooting and the visual effects of states of being such as serenity, tension or inner restlessness. Thirty seconds in front of a running slit camera is too long a time to conceal all the individual’s peculiarities.
The special recording technique creates relief-like landscapes of faces and heads. These panoramic views of the human head, which some perceive as “evil”, are not based on digital manipulation. They are based solely on the influence of time itself, which was instrumentalised during the shooting, and document its progression.
Artists of the Exhibitions
Joss Bachhofer
Thomas Beurich
Lo Graf von Blickensdorf
Horst G. Brune
Gerd Dengler
Dagmar Detlefsen
Eugen Egner
Rainer Ehrt
Anke Feuchtenberger
Rebecca Fleiter
Robert Gernhardt †
Gerhard Glück
Katharina Greve
Swaantje Güntzel
Simone Haack
Klaus Halfar
Rainer Hofmann-Battiston
Frank Hoppmann
Rudi Hurzlmeier
JAMIRI (Jan-Michael Richter)
Horst Janssen †
Ernst Kahl
Marian Kamensky
Kola (Erika Anna Kolaczinski)
KOSCHIES (Axel und Birgit Koschies)
Frank Kunert
Dorthe Landschulz
Ulrike Martens
Susannah Martin
Hiltrud Esther Menz
Til Mette
Arndt Möller
Ulrike Möltgen
Jub Mönster
Annette Müllender
Martin Nill
Andreas Noßmann
Oliver Ottitsch
Justine Otto
Bernd Pfarr †
Gideon Pirx
Ari Plikat
Sabine Prilop
Ruthe Reiche
Haugrund (Jochen Schaudig)
Eberhard Schlotter †
Matthias Schwoerer
SOBE (Peter Zimmer)
Michael Sowa
Jantien Sturm
Peter Thulke
Karl Thun
Rolf Tiemann
Peter Tuma
Einar Turkowski
Andreas Uebele
Ernst Volland
Zoppe Voskuhl †