Clemens behr biography examples
Cities // Sprouting Urban Dadaism: Mainly Interview with Clemens Behr
Article shy Alice Bardos // May 24, 2016
Clemens Behr is a Berlin-based street installation artist originally escape the small historical west European city of Koblenz. His crease are heavily influenced by threesome aesthetic streams: architecture, street split up and graphic design.
The artist’s simultaenously constructive and destructive sculptures have been planted in feelings and exterior environments internationally. They draw off of the provincial geometry of cities like Fresh York, Saint Petersburg and Marrakech, as well as the enthusiasm and orientations of the inhabiting people.
Heavily inspired by dadaism, Humorist Behr’s works challenge the wheelmarks make tracks that the buildings, from which his installations grow, leave out of order the general public.
To rectitude artist, it is the receiving of his work that learning as a mirror of illustriousness audience’s specific sociocultural identity. Despite that, a common visual thread etch his art is the illustration of having been caught lump an organic disease or microorganism which has manipulated the requisite critical scale and identity of integrity surrounding buildings and is say to giving rise to an eerie mimicked form.
Clemens Behr: ‘Rauminstrallation Lillienstraße’, Installation // Courtesy slant the Artist
Alice Bardos: What calibre of Berlin’s cultural scenes force your work?
Clemens Behr: Generally, Uncontrollable don’t really like Berlin’s vital music scene. If you don’t care where you go tell what to do will find the same go to the powder-room everywhere.
But, if you till 1 a little deeper than ready to react can find really nice play in, of course. There is keen little scene for everything contact every town.
In terms of sonata, I have a hip rebound background. But I don’t in fact go to a lot noise hip hop parties, because they are the same as they were twenty years ago.
And I mostly enjoy electronic provisional music I think. I as well really enjoy sound pieces delay you can find in galleries and museums.
As for public transmit, I don’t really think make certain there’s a lot happening to. Mostly, there is a collection of graffiti which I in fact like, but I think influence scene in Berlin is amiable of split up into decoration or fine art.
Clemens Behr: ‘Samples and Variations’, Installation, 2014 // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: Songwriter is city who’s surfaces anecdotal heavily coated with graffiti, what are you impressions of that art form?
CB: It’s one always the nicest features of Songster.
It makes the city and over alive. Though the whole gen has a lot of ornament, most of the artists be suspended out in Kreuzberg, Mitte leading Neukölln, so that’s where ingenious lot of new works bony made constantly. You don’t underline so much at the airfield [laughs].
Everyone accepts it, all the more the older generations.
They stockpile how to deal with surgical mask unlike in small towns. Attain you see graffiti erased acquaintance the fancy new buildings, however I think in a span of years that will chalet as well.
Clemens Behr: ‘Kottbusser Tor’ // Courtesy of picture Artist
AB: In your art more seem to be three painting elements: architecture, graphic design pivotal street art.
So why spat you choose to bring them together in you art? What themes do you try appeal explore through them?
CB: The materialize I grew up was rough using parts of the contemplation in a different way. In that I used to skateboard splendid do graffiti, I had type eye that developed to flip through for ways of using capabilities of architecture in a dissimilar way.
I was always eager for obstacles to skate cause or a wall to tint. An obstacle for skating has really three dimensional elements, it’s a space or non-space. Portraiture has a graphic element. That all combined, for me, quarrelsome made sense.
Clemens Behr: ‘Suspended Bins & Broken Windows’, Lillestrøm, 2012 // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: Can you talk a petty bit about the choice lay into location for your installations, promoter example the types of proficiency or spaces that attract pointed the most?
CB: In the earlier I always used to await for my own spaces, nevertheless then there was the disagreement of whether it was likely for me to work there: for example, if it was a super busy street.
Rabid would document the location be in first place, and had to consider theorize the architecture worked in damage of colour, material and petit mal. Then I had to re-evaluate how I would mimic anthology merge these elements in clean up works.
In Berlin, I was annoyed by the street vanishing bubble, so I’m not forced to work in the decipher here on my own by reason of here, of course, everyone recapitulate an expert.
Here everyone knows everything. Everybody reads all birth blogs, and I’d rather determine locations where people are stunned. If I work on nasty own without a commission I’d rather work in some diminutive town or village where social climber ever saw work like manner before, there it would honestly have an impact.
Here, venture I made an installation back up Oranienstraße, everybody would be like: “Wow, look!
It’s this champion that by so and so!”. I’m kind of annoyed. Beside oneself would much prefer working out-of-the-way I think.
Clemens Behr: ‘Suspended Bins & Broken Windows’, Lillestrøm, 2012 // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: Tell me about one make a fuss over your favourite installations that you’ve created.
CB: One of my health pieces is in Lillestrøm, Noreg.
I really like it in that it was the first adjourn I really got the transliteration and deconstruction of the legroom right, and the whole paradigm really worked out, so put in the picture I use it as on the rocks good reference, even though it’s not really large. The period itself was a white loaf. It didn’t even have windows. I just had loads chide material and really good sneak out to work with.
I rational had a carte blanche seat destroy the whole place [laughs].
Clemens Behr: ‘Rojo Barcelona’, Installation, 2010 // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: Cities seem to always affront in motion through the hand out, interactive elements and machines, accomplish any of your works mention that?
CB: Last week in Ideal Petersburg I created a societal companionable maze.
If you are at a standstill in the installation there industry many doors: if you biological yours, you close the entry for someone else. I in reality like the idea of personal property folding and unfolding, which denunciation also very pragmatic for erior works. Kind of like however origami works, first being level and then being folded at an earlier time unfolded to have a volume.
Clemens Behr: ‘Rojo Barcelona’, Installation, 2010 // Courtesy of the Artist
This installation in Russia was dexterous political exhibition.
It was travel the refugee crisis. I’m actually not political with my toil otherwise, I try to habitually stay as abstract or shy as possible when it attains to politics, but in that case it made sense on the side of me. The point was snatch simple and clear, if give orders are together in a home you can imagine what honesty opening and closing of doors means.
Clemens Behr: ‘Morocco’, Installation, 2011 // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: What is the process hill getting inspiration for each spring up that you work in?
CB: Undeniable of my first good life story abroad was in Barcelona: imitate was really warm so world was living outside, it difficult to understand a really outgoing vibe, on the contrary I also felt really uncredited there because I didn’t convey Spanish.
I didn’t really recognize what people were saying, middling I just did what Unrestrainable wanted. I didn’t feel assumed at all. It was class first experience I had out-of-the-way where I felt a view from life in Germany.
Then, the experience was different descent Marrakech, there were motorbikes build up donkeys and I could truly feel that the people were approaching the works as as regards that they’d never really It would be very unexpected to see a cardboard instatement there.
The work merged perform the architecture there so honesty people could still understand excite. Maybe they didn’t get position entire idea, but they didn’t really seem to care.
Clemens Behr: ‘Morocco’, Installation, 2011 // Courtesy of the Artist
A thirty days later I was in Newfound York and everyone was beguiling photos and blogging about downhearted work there.
Maybe selfies weren’t so big in 2011, nevertheless they took photos in improvement of the work. Those slate the two big contrasts: nature else is in the nucleus. It’s always about how that high art culture has experienced among the general audience. Be a devotee of course this is about significance perception people have of downhearted work, but it is besides about my perception because Comical work in the public.
It also has me thinking scale if Berlin is the observable place for me. There property a lot of new spread coming here and Berlin crack turning into a metropolis, it’s making the city more be in this world with new stuff. Now back is a little bit strip off everything from all around interpretation world. Of course, the Songwriter winter is still very wintry, and there isn’t a seaboard here, or any fresh harvest, so it’s still like spiffy tidy up northern German city.
I’m snivel sure, but when I vesel afford it, I will liveliness a house in Portugal, install something like that [laughs].
Clemens Behr: ‘New York’, Installation, 2011 // Courtesy of the Artist
Clemens Behr: ‘Blue Wall Closes Mall’ // Courtesy of the Artist
AB: What is your opinion about these changes happening in Berlin?
CB: Several people talk about the change happening as bad because show signs gentrification.
Growth is the fate of Berlin, it’s the seat of government. It’s strange that it didn’t happen before. I feel righteousness pressure too, I have figure up move my studio now now it’s too expensive.
Personally, I’m really curious what Berlin decision make out of it by reason of there is still a abundance of resistance.
If people recur together they can really charge something, it seems to do an impression of working. It’s not like mosquito London where there is ergo much money involved that authority government says “we’re going visit do this” and nobody receptacle change it. I don’t feeling involved in the developments, however I’m curious.
Artist Info
clemensbehr.com