PHILIPP GOLDBACH
Philipp Goldbach Ars Lingua Universalis 27 January - 24 March 2016
Annely Juda Fine Art
23 Dering Street (off New Bond Street) London W1S 1AW ajfa@annelyjudafineart.co.uk www.annelyjudafineart.co.uk Tel 020 7629 7578 Fax 020 7491 2139 Monday - Friday 10 - 6 Saturday 11 - 5 Cover: KVz 82 A (Cyan) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
Philipp Goldbach working on a luminogram work
Telephone Utility Boxes (in German Kabelverzweiger, short KVz) are elements of the infrastructure of communication. They are the connection between the main telephone network and users’ houses and businesses providing their telephone and internet communication. Within the grey control cabinets at the side of the road the copper or fibreglass wires of the main network cable are connected with the distribution cables. Usually sprayed with graffiti, the boxes serve as points of subcultural communication. When enlarging the large format negative in the dark room, the projected image appears on the photographic paper for a few seconds. Goldbach shines a light with a torch onto this image, essentially drawing with light and adding another scriptural layer, which only exists on the photographic carrier. This ‘light drawing’ also short-circuits the invisible electric impulses of the wires with the graffiti by association.
KVz 82 z (Var 1) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 z (Var 2) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 z (Var 3) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 A (Blue) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 A (Cyan) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 A (Green) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 A (Red) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
KVz 82 A (Yellow) 2016 colour luminogram on C-Print 110.5 x 87 cm
150,000 slides of reproductions of art works are stacked up to create a sort of mural. They make up the former slide collection of Cologne University’s Institute of Art History, which was phased out after the introduction of digital images. In 2013/14 Goldbach showed the collection of these educational images spilled out onto the floor of the Museum Wiesbaden creating an ‘image storm’ and by doing so destroyed their systematic order. In the present exhibition, the slides are reorganised in a more compact form. Only the black, grey or faded yellow colour of the slides’ edges are visible, some discoloured after decades of use. Stacked on top of each other over a surface of 2.5 by 8 meters, they create a buzzing random pattern, almost like white noise on a TV screen, each slide adding a mark and collectively holding the imagery of art history in chaotic order.
Via Lucis 2016 c. 150,000 small-image formal slides, former slide archive of Cologne University’s Institute of Art History 275 x 800 cm
The works that give the exhibition its title are 12 elementary Read Only Memory (ROM) boards, which are completely hand made by the artist. Their conductors are etched out of copper plated boards, which are drilled through and studded with 8,000 to 9,000 diodes, each individually soldered on by the artist. Bit by bit, using the binary code of 0 and 1, they are encoded with passages of canonical texts, which have as their common theme different ideas and viewpoints on a universal language. “Lingua Universalis”, which was widely discussed in the 17th century as an ideal language to clear up the Babylonian language confusion, becomes a conceptual predecessor of the digital machine language in Leibniz’s and Dalgarno’s mathematical formulations. Since its invention, the medium of photography has also been seen as a “Lingua Universalis”, in which objects are transformed through the camera into ‘words of light’ or ‘real characters’.
Ars Generalis Ultima (R. Lullus), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
De Umbris Idearum (G. Bruno), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm left: back, right: front
The Advancement of Learning (F. Bacon), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
La Logique de Port-Royal (A. Arnauld / P. Nicole), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Ars Signorum (G. Dalgarno), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Lettre à Marin Mersenne (R. Descartes), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Via Lucis (J. A. Comenius), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Polygraphia nova et universalis ex combinatoria arte detecta (A. Kircher), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
A Philosophical Language (J. Wilkins), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Pro Notitia Linguarum Universali (J. Becher), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
Disseratio de Arte combinatoria (G. W. Leibniz), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
A Common Writing (F. Lodwick), Read Only Memory 2016 double-sided, copper-coated, epoxy resin glass fabric laminate, electrical components, lead solder 106.5 x 106.5 cm
BIOGRAPHY 1978
born in Cologne, Germany
1998-2006 Studies in Art History, Sociology and Philosophy at Cologne University (MA) 2000-2005 Studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Diploma) 2008-2009 Assistant Professor for Photography at Academy of Media Arts Cologne Lives and works in Cologne, Germany. Scholarships and Awards 2002-05
Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes Scholarship
2004
Spiridon Neven-DuMont Award
2008
Vordemberge-Gildewart Scholarship
2011
Ars Viva Art Prize, Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V,, Berlin Stiftung Kunstfonds Scholarship
2015
Stiftung Kunstfonds Publication Grant
Selected Solo Exhibitions 2007
Foto/Grafie, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich
2008
Message to public, M29 Richter Brückner, Cologne
2010
Blackboards and Micrographs, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
2011
Tafelbilder, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Marburg Fotografie und Zeichnung, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich
2012
New Positions, Annely Juda Fine Art, Art Cologne Fotografien, Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel
2013
Read Only Memory, Museum Wiesbaden
2014
Eremitage, Site specific project, Lindlar
2015
Via Lucis, Kunstverein Ruhr, Essen c.t., M29 Richter Brückner, Cologne
2016
Ars Lingua Universalis, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
Selected Group Exhibitions 2004
I suit my case, Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, New York Ar(T)chitecture, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich 2°+, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Cologne (with Tilman Peschel) Madame Réalité, E-Werk, Freiburg A suivre…, Galerie Schleicher+Lange, Paris (with Franziska Furter) Open Video Lounge, Rheinschau, Cologne Große Kunstausstellung NRW, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf
2005
High Noon, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich Madame Réalité, Municipal Gallery Waldkraiburg Aller-retour, Galerie Schleicher+Lange, Paris Medienmestizen, Special Exhibition of the Academy of Media Arts at Art Cologne L. Fritz Gruber Art Prize 2004/2005, University Gallery, Cologne
2005/2006 Gute Aussichten - Young German Photography 2005/2006, Museum für Fotografie, Berlin; Haus der Photographie-Deichtorhallen Hamburg; Künstlerhaus Dortmund; Mousonturm, Frankfurt a.M.; Kultfabrik, Munich On the Road, Galerie Herrmann & Wagner, Berlin ECHO – Alte Meister, Neue Medien, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne 2007
Full House, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich Brave New World, Galerie Binz & Krämer, Cologne Performing Media, Special Exhibition of the Academy of Media Arts at Art Cologne
2008
Afterthought, Irma Vep Lab, Reims
2009
en miniature, Simultanhalle, Cologne (with Vesko Gösel) Junger Westen 2009 Art Prize, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen Was ihr wollt (frei nach W. Shakespeare), Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich
2010
Die Sammlung. Freunde der Bildenden Kunst Freiburg, BBK Kulturwerk, Freiburg
2011
Grand Tour, Boutique by Drei, Cologne
2011/2012 ars viva 11/12 - Sprache/ language, Museum Folkwang, Essen; Riga Art Space, Riga; Weserburg Modern Art Museum, Bremen 2012
sidebysidebysidebysidebyside, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich Artistas, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon Kölner Grün - Philipp Goldbach, Maik und Dirk Löbbert, Stephan Reusse, FOTO|RAUM, Vienna Unbestimmtheitsstellen - Zur Genese des fotografischen Bildes, Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg Gebr. Goldbach, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven (with Clemens Botho Goldbach) gute aussichten_mustererkennung, MAKK Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne
2014
BLEK #3 - A book about Drawing, Photography and Reproduction, SSZ Süd, Cologne Line Up, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich
2015
And all together now, M29 Richter Brückner, Cologne Einblick - Neues aus der Sammlung, Kunsthalle Bremerhaven CATWALK - Goldbach, Marjanow, Reusse, Wolf, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich
Public Collections Kunsthalle Bremerhaven DZ Bank, Frankfurt Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg Mudam Luxembourg SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne Spall-Art, Salzburg Teutloff Photo + Video Collection, Bielefeld Museum Wiesbaden
Photography: Paul Schöpfer, Wolfgang Günzel, Philipp Goldbach Works © Philipp Goldbach catalogue © Annely Juda Fine Art / Philipp Goldbach