Artists Talk: Dirk Fleischmann
This event was a talk program with artist Dirk Fleischmann, focused on his works for the 10th Seoul Mediacity Biennale Eu Zên.
Dirk Fleischmann studied at Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt a.M. in Germany. He has participated in numerous international exhibitions notably Sublime. The Tremors of the World (Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2016), Life Itself (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2016), Design is Design is Not Design (Gwangju Design Biennale, 2011), Memories of The Future (Leeum Museum, Seoul, 2010), Exchange Value of Pleasure (Museum of Modern Art, Busan, 2005), Rendez-vous (Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, 2004), and MANIFESTA 4 (Frankfurt a.M., 2002) among others.
The artist presented three works in the Biennale; A Decade of Biomass Measured with Necklaces [1523 Trees / myforestfarm 2008 - 2018] _ Seoul Version (2018), Mango - 02 as at 19 May 2018 [How to Capture the Circumference of a Tree] (2018), The Rules of Absorption / AVOCADO, CACAO, CHICO, COCONUT, DALANDAN, DUHAT, GUAVA, GUYABANO, KALAMANSI, KAMAGONG, KASOY, LANGKA, LAUAN, MACOPA, MAHOGANY, MANGO, MOLAVE, NARRA, POMELO, SANTOL, TEAK (2018)
A Decade of Biomass Measured with Necklaces [1523 Trees / myforestfarm 2008 - 2018] _ Seoul Version is part of Fleischmann’s long-term research project myforestfarm (since 2008, www.myforestfarm.com), which operates within the field of ecology (climate change) and globalization (emissions trading schemes). The exhibited works suggest aesthetic approaches to scientific methods regarding the challenge to identify, validate, verify and quantify the growth of trees in a forest and the resulting carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere. The project demonstrates alternative micro-economic models as an expansion to the existing financial instruments (e.g. Carbon Credits) implemented by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The Rules of Absorption is a semiotic art work that suggests a delayed reading of the names of the tree species that have been growing in the Philippines since 2008 as part of Dirk Fleischmann’s myforestfarm project. The signifiers of the trees become a processual experience for the beholder. The appearance of the animated letters require a durational engagement of the viewer. The words may only be constructed in the mind of the viewer involving memory and imagination. It creates an alternate percept to the usual way how text and images are perceived on public billboards. The animated overlapping of the letters becomes a metaphor for the organic growth of a tree in a forest. The Rules of Absorption is exhibited at SEOULLO MEDIA CANVAS.
