Portfolio 2025

Benja Riegenroth Media Arts 2011-2025

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phone +4917678402715 fax +4932121418530 benja.riegenroth@gmx.de https://benjariegenroth.com

Artist statement

I

n my work I inquire into the relations of image, body, space, sound and time.

Any of these aspects may be the point of artistic departure, and will be associated with another aspect to gain contrast.

Thus, a static picture is being manipulated by a moving body, a medieval motif is combined with modern image projection technology, masculine poses meet a spoken text about a father conflict. Aesthetic tension arises that has to be worked out meticulously.

Coming from video installation and sculpture I began to explore the body as a subject-object. Singing and music has been at the heart of this bodily work, and I compose, record and perform music, thus performing ironic fragments of a romantic "Gesamtkunstwerk".

This Wagnerian term hints at aesthetics in general, a field that is fruitful and dear to me. I always liked to combine theory and practice.

I

am inspired by the approaches of media archaeology and deconstruction, and try to restage the old as new and vice versa. The sacral and the artistic are common themes in my work, leading to studies in iconography as the appearance of the body in the image in history. I am especially interested in how sex and gender are staged in historical imagery, and in the concept of trauma and its medial, pictorial and dicoursive aspects. Some of my works can be seen as pop-cultural mash-ups.

I

n live performances as well as in static installations, I want to create "unease".

If visitors feel discomforted, more in a somewhat subtle sense than "in-yerface", I may have achieved something.

The arts to me are a field of live, performative knowledge production.

While this complexity of information may be useless in the scientific laboratory, it incites aesthetic reflection that has proven to be productive for discourse.

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Benja Riegenroth born 1982 in Heidelberg, Germany 2018-2021 master class student with Prof.

Dieter Kiessling at Kunsthochschule Mainz 2008-2017 studies of fine arts, philosophy and pedagogics at Kunsthochschule Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz and Technical University Brno, Czech Republic

group exhibitions (selection) 2025 "Åpen scene", Kulturhus Perleporten, Honningsvåg, Norway 2024 "coexist", Mittelrheinmuseum, Koblenz 2022 "Alles Mögliche", Kunstverein Ludwigshafen "Mensch und Zeit", Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz

2021 "Schaufenstervideokunstschaufenster", Galerie für Junge Kunst, Trier 2018 "Der Schein trügt" Festival, Oststern, Frankfurt 2017 "Neustart", Kunsthochschule Mainz

2011 "bring your own shadow", Caos Gallery, Venice 2010 "Frames from the Scharmann, Cologne

edge",

scholarships and grants

2014 vkunst VI "Mon ami, l'image", Frankfurt "Open Expo", Tuchfabrik, Trier "All Inclusive", Atelier Badstraße, Berlin

2023 Residency France

2012 "Vermessen", Galerie 52, Folkwang Universität der Künste, Essen "Balmorale", Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems

Marion

2009 "Full House", Galerie Anita Beckers, Frankfurt

2015 "Mainzer Ansichten", Kunsthalle Mainz

2013 "Sportsgeist", Malkasten Düsseldorf "Wagner in Wiesbaden", Projektraum PENG Mainz

Galerie

at

Saline

Royale,

Arc-et-Senans,

2021/22 Kickstarter grant, Stiftung Kunstfonds, Germany 2021 2 x project grant by Foundation for Culture, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany 2014 Residency at Künstlerstadt Kalbe, Kalbe an der Milde, Germany

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Luxury 2025 performance The performer sings a fragile soul song about freedom and loneliness. His voice moves from deeper pitch to falsetto towards the end. Bodily signifiers are ambiguous regarding gender. The performance oscillates between authenticity and glam.

Song and performance are part of the ongoing project "Benjasch" that mixes and stages aspects of pop culture and singer/songwriter.

Nobody needs me / I must be luxury Nobody heeds me / must be bad company Nobody holds me / I must be a butterfly Nobody told me / What it's like to be free video link

performance at Perleporten Kulturhus, Honningsvåg, Norway, 05/02/2025

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Load and Support Stütze und Last 2024 Installation A ramshackle peep-box reveals views of architecture and bodies in cross-hairs.

The piece is a study on "trauma culture" in a western european context.

installation view from "coexist", Mittelrheinmuseum, Koblenz, 2024, (picture left: Markus Ackermann)

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Gestern Yesterday

2023 Mixed Media The cycle "Yesterday" combines paper, drawing and writing with traces of use like coffee marks and body fluids.

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Gestern (cont.)

Yesterday

2023 Mixed Media

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Trauma Town 2021 performance duration: 50 min approx.

The stage is a black box and a spotlight on the ground. The artist enters the scene. He is naked, but carries some sackcloth with him.

He strikes poses on the black pedestal.

He then takes a device to turn on audio playback: it is a mail conversation between "B" and "L". It is about a family conflict that has obviously ended in a bad way. There has been violence in the family. The performer continues with his poses seemingly familiar from art history, yoga and media.

Inbetween the performer sings four songs that oscillate between sadness, violence and consolation.

Together with "Emergence" and "Laokoon" (cf. p. 9 & 10) the trilogy runs under the title "Trauma Town". video link stills from video documentation at Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2021

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Emergence Emergenz

2021 single channel video duration: 3:37 min A body comes forth and disappears in a dark video image. The lighting is a torch that the performer is dancing with.

The autofocus of the camera adds another layer of movement to the picture. video link

video still

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Laocoon Laokoon

2021 Performance duration: 15 min. approx.

The piece is a study on The naked male body. The performance takes place in a projection of the antique sculpture "Laokoon". The performer's body interacts with the image in diverse ways, thus playing on the dialectics of foreground and background. He takes poses from yoga, gymnastics and art history.

At some point, he begins a monotonous chanting and auto-flagellation. still from video documentation at Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2021

video link

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Quarantine Quarantäne

2019 video projection, sound, loop duration: 5 min approx.

A naked male figure carries out awkward movements with stacked TV sets. The person wears a gas mask, the TV pictures show details of body parts. The light is arranged in the manner of a baroque chiaroscuro. A shrill and piercing sound track intensifies the hostile-to-life impression.

In the overall picture, the human body and its technical additions merge into sculptural forms. The devices act as a frame, as a occultation and disassociation of the body. video link

video still

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Resolution Auflösung

2018 video projection, sound, loop duration: 10 min approx.

A video projection shows the corner of a room in a crooked perspective. The picture elements seem contradictory: A body in a loincloth, his head “cut off” by the picture frame; a baroque monument; and a laptop computer.

The head in the computer sings a choral in German about aesthetic impression. More voices join. The text is about the resolution of disharmony into harmony.

The chorale is in German. Text and translation can be attached to a wall.

video link

video still; above: installation view from Kunsthochschule Mainz

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Grand Voyage Große Fahrt

2018 performance duration: 20 min approx.

A performer with long hair and a loincloth kneels down to a resounding chorale. By manipulating a video projector, he makes a picture “emerge”.

It shows a sacral interior with a baroque sepulchral monument. The performer takes position in the projection and strikes the pose of a baroque saint. He sings a hopeful song about departure.

Then the mood changes: An industrial boom-boom begins and the performer does a kind of shadow play with lots of noise. But at the end resolution is found and he sings a circular canon made up of all the songs sung before.

The piece is about the technical picture, body and ecstasy in sacral and pop culture. The songs are in German. video link still from video documentation at Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2018

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untitled 2018 digital print on paper, 40x31 cm

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untitled 2018 digital print on paper, 13x20 cm

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Permutation 1 2017 paper, charcoal, 300 x 150 cm

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2017

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Permutation 2 2017 paper, charcoal, 69,5 x 139 cm

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2017

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Permutation 3 2017 paper, charcoal, 69 x 139 cm

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2017

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Permutation 4 2017 paper, charcoal, 69 x 139 cm

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2017

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Permutations exhibition view, Kunsthochschule Mainz 2017

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Permutation 5 / The Conclusion

Permutation 5 / Der Abschluss 2017 sculpture floor screed, 200 x 100 x 10 cm

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2017

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Work Arbeit

2014 performance duration: 40 min approx.

A half naked, long haired man carries out diverse movements with technical tools in the light of a video projector. He amplifies the mechanical sounds produced by these tools. In the video background the same person is shown in a loincloth balancing a metal bar.

The performer finally sits down on his amplifier and pulls a shopping bag over his head. The bag is from a widespread german discounter brand. He sings a song about work to a pounding dance rhythm.

The show is a sarcastic study on male iconography of work and the coercion of activity and self-exploitation in the culture industry. video link

still from video documentation at Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2021

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Home Parlour Heimatstube

2014 installation, performance, site specific duration: 15 min approx.

This performance-in-installation was developed in a small town in SaxonyAnhalt. It is comprised of found and acquired objects that deal with socialist and nazi aspects of the local history.

Both ideologies have a certain after-life in the area of former socialist Germany.

The artist gave a talk about the objects and their connection that gets more and more absurd. At the end he takes a broom and sweeps the audience out of the room, and the past under the imaginary carpet.

video link

documentation pictures, Kalbe an der Milde, 2014

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Before You Accuse Me 2014 video projection, sound, loop duration 5 min approx.

A large scale projection of a church interior shows altar, organ and a culprit. The figure of a saint is located on the latter. Suddenly the holy figure has a guitar in his hands and plays the blues classic song "Before You Accuse Me".

Genuinely white European baroque aesthetics meet afro american musical tradition. The song is about jealousy and the search for unconditional love, here, seemingly, directed at God by a dissatisfied disciple. video link

video still

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Apotheosis Verklärung

2014 performance duration: 1 hour A person seems to be sitting in meditation on a table. But his head is hidden in a plastic bag that is fixed around his neck. A computer shows a head that recites a text by German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey. The words are about the classic poetic concept of “resolution” and that the splendour of man can only be visible in suffering.

The text may be attached somewhere or handed out.

documentation pictures, Kalbe an der Milde, 2014

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Flight Captain Fliegerkapitän

2013 performance duration: 7 min approx.

A long-haired man with sunglasses and naked torso steps to a covered object on the ground. He takes a pose of military salutation, then starts to sing a nostalgic song about flying and melancholy. Suddenly he pulls away the black cover from the object beside him and puts it over his head.

A TV set is revealed, showing a portrait of the performer. Together, the TV head and the covered person sing a nursery rhyme on the act of disappearing.

The song then moves on to the ascension of the flight captain into the sky. The performer lifts the TV sets up high. Then the procession ends with the exit of the performer.

Melancholy and martial aesthetics are fused together into an ironic short trip into recent German culture history. video link documentation picture, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2013

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Mainz, I Was Just Incidentally Here, Pt. 1

Mainz, ich war halt zufällig grad hier Teil 1 2013 performance duration: 5 min approx.

A song poet gets out of a limousine at a crowded square in the city of Mainz. He sings a defamation song about the town located in a german wine growing area.

The text takes advantage of the homophonic words „Mainz“ and „meins“ (eng. „mine“). „modern or mouldering / is just the same / wine springs from foul grapes, too / go home, you corpse / go watch TV / she is far / you are always close / mine is the best / Yours is just crap“

stills from video documentation, Mainz, 2013

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Death on Lanzarote Tod auf Lanzarote

2013 video, sound, loop duration: 2:32 min A TV picture shows a person with a notebook computer on his lap. His head is out of the picture. In the right part of the picture, colorful dots are dancing.

The laptop screen then shows a second person with a guitar. This one, too, has his head cut off by the picture frame. The „band“ plays a song with guitar accompaniment. The song has several verses about death and fast food.

The video refers to strict formal aesthetics of early video performances, but also to the look of music videos from the 1980s and 1990s. video still

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Mainz, I Was Just Incidentally Here, Pt. 2

Mainz, ich war halt zufällig grad hier Teil 2 2013 video installation, sound, loop duration: 3 min approx.

A window or a screen projection shows a fragmented picture of a man whistling, singing and clapping his hands. The voice is hardly recognizable due to digital compression. „Mainz, I was just her by accident / when psychosis broke out / Mainz, I will surely stay with you / standing here as a champignon“ In an outdoor installation, the projection spreads out to the opposing wall, which produces a flickering facade decoration. The place seems forlorn, an anti dance floor.

installation view, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2013

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Fly Agaric Fliegenpilz

2012 performance duration: 3:30 min approx.

A person sings a duet with a laptop computer. The melody is a hypnotic singsong with echo effects and monotonous instrumentation.

The picture frame of the device shows a partial head that obviously sings the recorded voice.

The subject matter of the song is a nature scene, in the center of which is a red fly agaric. The verses are a lyrical étude on the word pair certainty (ger. „Gewissheit“) and conscience (ger. „Gewissen“) which have a common word root in german.

The process is similar to an incantation ritual and takes place sitting, standing or walking, depending on the spatial situation of the performance. It can be complemented by further gestures, such as the handing out of the lyrics of the documentation pictures, Kunsthochschule Mainz, 2012

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Adam 2012 video, sound, loop duration: 1:02 min In the projection, a naked long haired man moves in another projection of a forest view. He is being covered or denuded by the picture. He seems to stretch for a flying leaf and makes dance like movements.

A dreamy guitar score and an increased speed of movement give the video a nostalgic feel, alluding to movies and art of Germany's early 20th century youth movement.

The video should ideally be shown in the exterior as a back projection. video link

video still; above: installation view v-kunst Frankfurt, 2014

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Day Work tagwerk

2012 video, sound duration: 5:26 min A montage of picture motifs, spoken text and sounds. A narrator revolves around himself lyrically. Pictorial cutaways and occultations correspond to textual "asceses" or "ellipses" that enable definitions of motifs and thoughts in the first place. Thus, the artist I is represented as a tragic genius of renouncement and amputation.

The texts are in German. video link

video stills

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The Blind Leading the Blind Blindensturz

2012 video installation, loop duration: 1 min approx.

above: installation view "Balmorale", Bad Ems, 2012; right: video stills

A monitor at chest height shows animated pages from the book "The Blind Leading the Blind" by Gert Hofmann. The pages change faster and faster. Through massive digital video compression the picture dissolves into block-like structures, also referred to as digital „artifacts“. This renders the text completely unreadable.

The algorithm behind this effect looks for similar color areas in the single frames. So every frame contains information from previous or later frames. The cinematic turning of the pages leads to a new relation between semantics and time.

video link

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Zarathustra 2011 video installation, sound duration: 22:52 min A large scale video picture shows the close up of two hands turning the pages of „Thus spoke Zarathustra“ by german philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

The monotonous process inhibits any immersion, while the speed prevents the viewer from reading more than some fragments of the text. The traditional book is, as a medium, confronted with high definition video, resulting in a clash of two contrary modes of perception.

video still; above: installation view from Technical University Brno, Czech Republic, 2011

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"Gemeinde Brünn"– Merchandise 2011 installation cardboard beer coasters, metal badges, poster site specific This installation relates to the Czech city of Brno. It is to be shown in a display window or showcase, or any other museum like manner. The main elements are cardboard beer coasters, metal badges and a poster. They all show circle motifs with the inscription „Gemeinde Brünn“. These are photographs of sewer covers of the former German population of Brno (German: „Brünn“) that were expelled after World War II. The complicated and tragic history of the two once coexisting nationalities is a problematic issue until today. The „merchandise“ articles combine the sadness of history with pop culture, mold together ambiguous commemoration and consumption.

installation views from Technical University Brno, Czech Republic, 2011

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Pamatník/Memorial 2011 installation digital photo slideshow, paper site specific This is a research-based work on commemorative culture. All information and pictures are specific to the Czech city of Brno. A worn out city map shows all official commemorative sites in the city centre of Brno, accompanied by a photo slideshow of selected sites from this „course“.

A takeaway sheet of paper has all these sites of public memory marked on it and suggests the user to visit them, furthermore to write down his/her thoughts that occur during the process, and to leave the paper behind somewhere in public space. Thus the individual feelings and thoughts render an individual path of commemoration.

The sheet may serve as an ephemeral commemorative artifact. The installation reflects the research or laboratory situation. installation views from Technical University Brno, Czech Republic, 2011

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