MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

video stills

videostills of quod arcanum leticia, music video for Exos, Rejkjavik (Label: Figure Music, Scripting: Nicolai Schlapps alias Anicoworking)
2020

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

details

installation view

Intro

The first act of a homo sapiens lies far in the past. Impossible to identify the exact point in time by archaeologists or anthropologists through relicts or reconstruction.

However, as the acting and emotions became subject to materialistic and conceptualist forming, the latter scientist are able to describe possible paths homo sapiens took over time with regard to several dimensions of existence.

Bernhard Holaschke examines with his art the relationship of the findings of the former described scientists with the avantgarde and contemporary making of these psychological / physical ideas and relicts.

Evoking emotions depends on perceptional matters. As the emotional constitution of the homo sapiens did not quite change over time due to the slow process of physical evolution in the human case, the spiritual and mind creations changed immensely.

The artist discloses the relationship between relicts of the path of history to their modern counterparts. These relicts represent symbols or witnesses of perceptions of their respective times.

How much trust should we base on our perception? So the symbols changed but the emotions stayed the same? The artist does not answer these questions but unveils the relationship by confrontation and composition. His work evokes emotions with a particular weight on fear, laughter, irritation and surprise.

Work

i do many things

solo show in Heilbronn with paintings and objects

INSELSPITZE
FRIEDRICH EBERT BRÜCKE 1
HEILBRONN

06-07/2023

Photo Credits (c):
Johannes Bendzulla

“aphrodisiac telephone”, club phone, fake lobster, 53 x 24 x 14 cm
2023

installation view

“zugspitze”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 390 cm (6 parts)
2023

details

details

“ghosted: sepulchral relics”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 130 cm
2023

detail

“treibhaus (ibuprofen)”, various materials, 12 x 24 x 29,5 cm
2021

installation view

“höhle (I)”, acrylic on canvas, 125 x 220 cm
2023

“sils”, oil on canvas, 190 x 390 cm (6 parts)
2023

details

details

“this is all i could do”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 390 cm (6 parts)
2023

details

details

installation views

installation views

“who´s afraid of blue and red (black and white)”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 190 cm
2022

detail

“rheinland”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 390 cm (6 parts)
2023

details

details

installation views

installation views

“verloren ist nicht die welt, sondern der mensch, der in ihr lebt”, globes, 41 x ø 20,5 cm, multiples 1/10
2023

“world of gods”, acrylic on canvas, 165 x 135 cm
2023

installation view

“are you loyal or will you report (II)”, acrylic and oil on canvas, 190 x 140 cm
2023

detail

“you get what you see (VII)”, acrylic and oil on canvas, 190 x 140 cm
2022

detail

“are you loyal or will you report (III)”, acrylic and oil on canvas, 190 x 140 cm
2023

detail

installation view

“vielleicht ist der künstler der prototyp des verlorenen menschen”, acrylic on canvas, 190 x 140 cm
2023

detail

“i do many things”, acrylic on canvas, 165 x 135 cm
2023

“sympathic rainbowsoldier”, various materials, 48,5 x 11 x 13,5 cm
2010

“VM.”, various materials, ca. 20 x 20 x 29,5 cm
2023

installation views

installation views

installation views

“kreisverkehr (I)”, acrylic on canvas, 125 x 220 cm
2023

visual live shows 2022-23
as counterpart to the audio live set by BLAWAN (Jamie Roberts)

Photo Credits (c):

001-002 Lena Malich
003-013 the artist
014-015 Lena Malich
016-017 Alba Ruperez

MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

video stills

Strom Festival at Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin
2023

Strom Festival at Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin
2023

MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

MIRA Digital Arts Festival, FIRA Barcelona
2022

some works and shows from the last years

Photo Credits:

001-005
Janosch Jauch

006-007
the artist

008-010
all rights reserved by the artist(s) and the label

011-012
Paul Schöpfer

013-014
the artist

015-017
Max Stolberg

018-20
all rights reserved by the artist(s) and the label

021-023
the artist

024-026
the artist

027-028
Maja Tybel

029-031
the artist

032-034
Ferdinand Neumüller

035-039
the artist

40-41
Janosch Jauch

042
new document

043
Gold und Beton

044-52
the artist

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

installation views of hypercamouflage, bistro21, Leipzig
2018 a solo show with paintings, sculptures and video

installation views of turn ice realities into fire dreams, Slyth House, Berlin
2019 a solo show with paintings and sculptures

installation views of turn ice realities into fire dreams, Slyth House, Berlin
2019 a solo show with paintings and sculptures

videostills of PLANAET EP, music video for Ufo95, Paris (Label: PlanetX)
2022

videostills of PLANAET EP, music video for Ufo95, Paris (Label: PlanetX)
2022

videostills of PLANAET EP, music video for Ufo95, Paris (Label: PlanetX)
2022

installation views and videostills of stealth and days at Totale #16, Kunstverein Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl e.V., Essen
2015-16

installation views and videostills of stealth and days at Totale #16, Kunstverein Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl e.V., Essen
2015-16

installation views and videostills of stealth and days at Totale #16, Kunstverein Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl e.V., Essen
2015-16

installation views and videostills of stealth and days at Totale #16, Kunstverein Maschinenhaus Zeche Carl e.V., Essen
2015-16

installation views of Mild Tale Hypersoft, GIallo Giallo Projects, Berlin
2020 a solo show with paintings and scuptures

installation views of Mild Tale Hypersoft, GIallo Giallo Projects, Berlin
2020 a solo show with paintings and scuptures

installation views of Mild Tale Hypersoft, GIallo Giallo Projects, Berlin
2020 a solo show with paintings and scuptures

videostills of quod arcanum leticia, music video for Exos, Rejkjavik (Label: Figure Music, Scripting: Nicolai Schlapps alias Anicoworking)
2020

videostills of quod arcanum leticia, music video for Exos, Rejkjavik (Label: Figure Music, Scripting: Nicolai Schlapps alias Anicoworking)
2020

videostills of quod arcanum leticia, music video for Exos, Rejkjavik (Label: Figure Music, Scripting: Nicolai Schlapps alias Anicoworking)
2020

“Piz Trovat I”, “Grindelwald Gangnam Style”, “Elfen”, various drawings
each 2023

“Piz Trovat I”, “Grindelwald Gangnam Style”, “Elfen”, various drawings
each 2023

“Piz Trovat I”, “Grindelwald Gangnam Style”, “Elfen”, various drawings
each 2023

videostills of the installation documents, on view at Kunstmuseum Solingen
2017

videostills of the installation documents, on view at Kunstmuseum Solingen
2017

videostills of the installation documents, on view at Kunstmuseum Solingen
2017

installation view and detail of lil lit (ibiza) at The Garden Cult Trienal, Sopot
2020 a sight specific group show

installation view and detail of lil lit (ibiza) at The Garden Cult Trienal, Sopot
2020 a sight specific group show

“Skidoo liten redingshund og Lena pa Nordseter”, “Diavolezza”, “Urkundsattel”, various drawings
each 2023

“Skidoo liten redingshund og Lena pa Nordseter”, “Diavolezza”, “Urkundsattel”, various drawings
each 2023

“Skidoo liten redingshund og Lena pa Nordseter”, “Diavolezza”, “Urkundsattel”, various drawings
each 2023

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views and pics of the performative lake circumnavigation to collect stones, Und in welkchem Namen tun Sie es, Kunstverein Kärnten, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee
2021

installation views of Ghosting at Storage Capacité, Wuppertal
2017

installation views of Ghosting at Storage Capacité, Wuppertal
2017

installation view of Bauhaus Goth at No Exit, Ashes/ Ashes Gallery, New York
2020 on view online during the pandemic

installation view of Lascaux Goth, Gold+Beton/ Cofa, Köln
2017

“Wilder Kaiser”
2023

“Ulsanbawi Trail”
2023

“Maihaugen”
2023

“always deliver (ceo)”, “ordnung ist das halbe leben (benchmark)”, “satan my master he calls for more blood”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

“always deliver (ceo)”, “ordnung ist das halbe leben (benchmark)”, “satan my master he calls for more blood”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

“always deliver (ceo)”, “ordnung ist das halbe leben (benchmark)”, “satan my master he calls for more blood”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

“everybody could read latin in those days”, “google juice (lilith all access)”, “shape shifting (witchery I)”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

“everybody could read latin in those days”, “google juice (lilith all access)”, “shape shifting (witchery I)”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

“everybody could read latin in those days”, “google juice (lilith all access)”, “shape shifting (witchery I)”, various collaged c prints on ink drawings
each 2021

CV

2016 Diploma / Akademiebrief / MFA Kunstakademie Dusseldorf
2012-16 Film- and Video Arts /w Prof. Marcel Odenbach Kunstakademie Dusseldorf
2009-12 Painting /w Prof. Andreas Schulze Kunstakademie Dusseldorf
2023 i do many things Inselspitze Stadt Heilbronn Heilbronn (DE)
2021 Flight to Nowhere Plague Space Krasnodar (RUS)
exil gut rummelsnuff hosted by solo show online Uckermark (DE)
2020 Mild Tales Hypersoft Giallo Giallo Project Berlin (DE)
2019 Turn Ice Realities Into Fire Dreams Slyth House Berlin (DE)
2018 Hypercamouflage Bistro21 Leipzig (DE)
Ghosting II Swab Art Fair /w Storage Capacité Barcelona (ES) duo show
2017 documents 71. Internationaler Bergischer Kunstpreis at Kunstmuseum Solingen Solingen (DE) solo room presentation
THE EYES THAT SAW THE LIGHT MELTED OUT OF SHEER ECSTASY. BUR Brock Lesnar Projects Copenhagen (DK)
LASCAUX.GOTH I-III COFA Cologne Fine Arts /w Gold+Beton Cologne (DE) solo wall presentation
2016 STEALTH & DAYS Kunstakademie Dusseldorf Dusseldorf (DE) degree show
2014 Life Imitates Art Gold+Beton Cologne (DE)
a hal Aug. Jung & Söhne Wuppertal (DE)
2011 IS´ HALT SO Atelier Jan Vedder Dusseldorf
2023 audiovisual performance with Jamie Roberts alias Blawan Strom Festival Berliner Philharmonie Berlin (DE)
2022 audiovisual performance with Jamie Roberts alias Blawan NO BOUNDS Festival Sheffield Cathedral Sheffield (UK)
audiovisual performance with Jamie Roberts alias Blawan MIRA Digital Arts Festival FIRA BARCELONA Barcelona (ES)
PLANAET MEGA MIX music video for the EP PLANAET by UFO95, released at Planet X, Paris/ Rejkjavik (music: UFO 95)
audiovisual performance with Jamie Roberts alias Blawan THE DOUR FESTIVAL Bruxelles Belgium (B)
audiovisual performance with Jamie Roberts alias Blawan 13th Edition of MUTEK Festival for Media and Design NITSA Apolo Club Barcelona (ES)
2020 Quod Arcanum Leticia music video for Arnvidur Snorrason alias DJ Exos, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ Rejkjavik (music: DJ Exos, scripting: Nicolai Schlapps)
2018 Black Weed music video for Martin Steer alias Bad Stream, released at Antime, Berlin (music: Bad Stream, scripting: Nicolai Schlapps)
2024 THXTHC Raum Für Drastische Maßnahmen Berlin (DE)
2023 nur festsache das arty Berlin (DE)
2022 bridging difference chernobyl papers (featured in a project by New Scenario) T3 Photo Festival Tokyo (JAP)
und in welchem Namen... Kunstverein Kärnten Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (AUT)
2nd Bangkok Biennale The Shophouse 1527 Bangkok (THA)
G.O.D.2 Garden of Dreams SMENA centre of modern culture Kazan (RUS)
2021 CORPORATE STONER Quartair Den Haag (NL)
a year of exhaustion Borkheide, Brandenburg (DE)
New Scenario: Chernobyl Papers Chernobyl Lock Zone (UA)
2020 NO EXIT Ashes / Ashes Gallery New York City (USA) virtual
The Garden Cult Triennale - Chapter II: Baden-Baden Baden-Baden (DE)
The Days Are Just Packed The Pool Istanbul (TU)
Behind The Times Solo Show Online, curated by Sassydude and Alyssa Davis Gallery New York City (USA) virtual
The Garden Cult Triennale Chapter I: Sopot Sopot (POL)
The Color of Pomegranates 2.27.7 Tbilisi (GEO)
NEU X KOELLN - REVERSE MODELING BERLIN CLB Aufbauhaus am Moritzplatz Berlin (DE)
Als mir der Rucola auf den Staubsauger fiel Strizzi Space Cologne (DE)
2019 umbrella.corp MAC Makaronka Art Center Rostov a Don (RUS)
Peach Score Plus DEDE Berlin (DE)
EXE Brick Lick Krasnodar (RUS)
HANDS OF DOOM VI Storage Capacité Berlin
2017 der unerklärliche Einfluss von BBK Köln Cologne (DE)
Ghosting Storage Capacité Berlin (DE)
2016 Unstable Monuments Truro Art Festival Cornwall (UK)
STEALTH & DAYS Kunstverein Zeche Carl Maschinenhaus Essen (DE)
2015 knapp aber möglich W 57 e.V. Dusseldorf (DE)
Licht Betlehem Kirche Meerbusch (DE)
THANK YOU Neuwestberlin Berlin (DE)
2014 Ballungsraum ELBA Hallen Wuppertal (DE)
Kurzfilm und Videokunst Black Box Cinema / Film Museum Dusseldorf Dusseldorf (DE)
Eins auf die Freske GG Gereonswall Cologne (DE)
SPAGAT A3 Gallery Moscow (RUS)
2013 Planet Cargo Sphinx Tank Maastricht (NL)
Group Show Beethovenstraße Cologne (DE)
NUOVO BILANCIO Aug. Jung & Söhne Wuppertal (DE)
Das ist alles deine Schulze Sammlung Philara Dusseldorf (DE)
Zeichnungen Stipendiatenhaus Barendorf Iserlohn (DE)
40qm Ali Altin Dusseldorf (DE)
G.A.D. Galerie Superbeau Darmstadt (DE)
2012 NKOTB Neuwestberlin Berlin (DE)
Geranien Turm / Lehmbruckmuseum Duisburg (DE)
4L7E5 63HT Aug. Jung & Söhne Wuppertal (DE)
2010 Klasse Schulze VS Andreas Schulze Gesellschaft für streitorientierte Kunst / Oktober Bar Dusseldorf (DE)
und immer fehlt mir was, und das quaelt mich... Salon Schmitz Cologne (DE)
ICH HABE GARKEIN AUTO Golden Pudel Club Hamburg (DE)
2024 BERNHARD HOLASCHKE - THIS IS ALL I COULD DO Artist Talk with Tobias Kämpf and Christ Ostmann on the occassion of the book release of Bernhard Holaschke - This Is All I Could Do Nachtfoyer @ Kunsthalle Dusseldorf
2022 STH BETWEEN EMOTIONAL / AESTHETIC MOOD AND TRANCE OF HYPERAWARENESS - Cityrama - Die Straße als Atelier Guest Lecture Seminar by Dr. Autsch & Prof. Schulze Faculty of Cultural Studies University of Paderborn (SS2022)
2017 NEU X KOELLN - Reverse Modeling Berlin Seminar by Nicolai Schlapps Institute for Media and Design TU Brunswick (WS2019/20)
2021 Branches EP Vinyl Cover for Kangding Ray, released at Figure Records, Berlin
New Dawn EP Vinyl Cover for Wata Igarashi, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ Tokyo
2020 Protocol Omega EP Vinyl Cover for Jeroen Search, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ Amsterdam
Algorithm EP Vinyl Cover for Benjamin Damage, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ London
Indigo Album Vinyl Cover for Arnvidur Snorrason alias DJ Exos, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ Rejkjavik
Overton EP EP Vinyl Cover for Benjamin Damgae, released at Figure Records, Berlin/ London
2019 Regress From The Future Album Vinyl Cover for Antep Haze, released at Gelly Records“, Berlin/ Freiburg/ Hamburg
Robot Evolution EP EP Vinyl Cover for Len Faki, released at Figure Records, Berlin
2016 WRECK AND REFERENCE Poster Design for Event at Kantine am Berghain, Berlin
2024 This Is All I Could Do, BERNHARD HOLASCHKE Distanz Verlag Berlin ISBN-10 3954766248 ISBN-13 978-3954766246
2021 Do You Believe in Gods, BERNHARD HOLASCHKE Distanz Verlag Berlin ISBN 978-3-95476-414-3
Ciao Strizzi! 2013-2021 Strizzi Space Buero fuer Brauchbarkeit Cologne
2017 71. Internationale Bergische Kunstausstellung, Kunstmuseum Solingen Kunstmuseum Solingen Solingen ISBN 9783936295146
2014 217 Peppi Bottrop, Bernhard Holaschke, Lukas Müller, Jan Ole Schiemann Dusseldorf
2021 Initial Recherchestipendium / Research Grant, Akademie der Kuenste
Kunstpreis „Junge Szene“, Kunststiftung NRW / State of Northrhine Westphalia
2017 Nominee Shortlist 71. Internationaler Bergischer Kunstpreis
2014 Nominee Shortlist Best Gruppe Art Price Kunstakademie Dusseldorf

Text

What comes to mind today when we think of the quintessential image, beyond individual pictures? For countless centuries, even millennia, the first thing we would have thought of was the medium of painting, from the stony surface of cave paintings to the canvases displayed in museums, as well as other equally venerable art forms. We also had it in our consciousness, as a mental image that unfolded in our imaginations. It was always something directly accessible: it could be effortlessly grasped and seamlessly integrated into the mind’s eye, no extra tools necessary.

Then came a break. All of a sudden, a screen stepped between us and all the images that currently form the bulk of our day-to-day engagement with the medium. It is a shift that has yet to be ratified or fully understood, prompting us to wonder what can now be considered an archetypal image in today’s context. Will our imaginations remain tied to tradition, just as our needs continue to follow the same patterns and priorities established in the primordial era of human history? Or will we adapt our experiences entirely to the confines of the screen? Or will we opt for even more diversification, sorting ourselves according to personal preference, external influence, or group affiliation?

Bernhard Holaschke’s work engages directly with these questions. His artworks come to life in both digital and analogue formats, manifesting not only within the confines of the screen, that membrane that separates us from virtual representations, but also physically on the surface of the canvas, where even the most finely glazed brushstroke juts out from the overall surface. Here, the virtual image finds a home beyond the screen, while its analogue counterpart intrudes on our tangible reality, like a sculptural relief that coexists with us in our physical space.

These two phenomena are intimately linked, not only because they originate in the creative mind of a single artist—and thus spring from the same visual imagination—but also because Holaschke weaves painterly elements from his own body of work into his virtual pieces. Equally intrinsic to his analogue artistic output are virtual entities, some of which quote from his own digital production process. Through these fragments, analogue and digital production are entwined, breathing life into a body of work whose vital tensions arise from the interplay of interconnected references. What we perceive within it is inherently medial in nature; there is a distinct quality of mediality that we can palpably feel—the filters, the distances, but also the intimacy.

The screen is not a painting ground; it is not the starting point from which a picture naturally accumulates through successive outward layers to create an illusion of space in the opposite direction. Instead, both its origins and functions are standardised, emitting light from within produced by its delicate electrical supply. In stark contrast to traditional works of art, which typically share the same physical spaces and external light sources with us, the screen is self-sufficient and requires no such external illumination.

If applying paint to canvas even partially means obscuring it, then any shaping of the world within the confines of the screen reinforces this distancing, pushing the images further away from us. Where we once felt the prospect of internalisation, we now perceive boundaries; in place of physical coexistence, a hollowing-out of the concrete.

Yet this is only one facet of all that could be said. The screen also doubles as an exhibition. After all, its original function is to arrange content for us with an efficiency that painting could never hope to achieve. It is our main instrument, ubiquitous to such an extent that we may choose to accept its distinct and standardised mediality, however conspicuous, and thus disregard its explicit paradigm. In contrast, the canvas, or any other painting ground, bears an abundance of traces, whose individuality demands special examination. In this sense, screen images are more like pictograms. Their communication is all the more reliable because their mediality is general rather than specific in nature. The absence of specific traces does nothing to diminish the directness of their message.

As we stand on the cusp of a paradigm shift in the realm of images, Holaschke highlights several key distinctions: the choice of the virtual medium promotes accessibility and standardisation, but it also implies a departure from that personally invested materiality whose decelerated construction offers insights into individual creative processes. The two alternatives are rarely presented with such immediacy; to encounter such a profound exploration of their potential is rarer still.

by Tobias Kämpf, published in “Bernhard Holaschke - This Is All I Could Do”, Distanz Verlag, 2024, ISBN978-3-95476-624-6

https://www.distanz.de/bernhard-holaschke/this-is-all-i-could-do

The first act of a homo sapiens lies far in the past. Impossible to identify the exact point in time by archaeologists or anthropologists through relicts or reconstruction.
However, as the acting and emotions became subject to materialistic and conceptualist forming, the latter scientist are able to describe possible paths homo sapiens took over time with regard to several dimensions of existence.

Bernhard Holaschke examines with his art the relationship of the findings of the former described scientists with the avantgarde and contemporary making of these psychological / physical ideas and relicts.
Evoking emotions depends on perceptional matters. As the emotional constitution of the homo sapiens did not quite change over time due to the slow process of physical evolution in the human case, the spiritual and mind creations changed immensely.
The artist discloses the relationship between relicts of the path of history to their modern counterparts. These relicts represent symbols or witnesses of perceptions of their respective times.

How much trust should we base on our perception? So the symbols changed but the emotions stayed the same? The artist does not answer these questions but unveils the relationship by confrontation and composition. His work evokes emotions with a particular weight on fear, laughter, irritation and surprise

by AP. for the website 2020

The Ace Signs, or how
to put a Christmas tree on the
spin cycle

In 1973 the Italian author Italo Calvino published a novella titled Il castello dei destini incrociati (The Castle of Crossed Destinies) in which a tarot card game from the mid-fifteenth century takes the leadi ng role. The guests of the titular castle have lost their language under mysterious circumstances. Nevertheless, they lay cards to find a way to tel l of their adventures. They spin tales out of the combinations, motifs, and symbols for which there are—as per the nature of the game—various possible arrangements and interpretations.

Bernhard Holaschke’s paper works can be treated similarly—partly because elements from tarot such as cups and swords can actually be found in them. Yet the artist mixes them up against the rules of color theory and leaves them entirely devoid of the usual, miniature drawings. They are hardly necessary, since the collages also work as a “machine for constructing stories” just as they are.1 Signs and objects clash on ink backgrounds, some of which are elaborated with virtuosity, while others display a calculated refusal. These are as incompatible as, say, Xtina and Britney, Pepsi and Coca-Cola—or else they rub against each other, such that their effects awkwardly linger, they stick. Eventually you cease to be sure whether there isn’t in fact something holding them together: Christmas tree and washing machine, for example, sword and broom, spade and chandelier. Such pairings might bring to mind Georges Bataille and the way he presented the “disproportion” in his magazine Documents, and—as Georges Didi-Huberman puts it—how he connects an astounding network of references, implicit or explosive contact, true or false similarities, true or false dissimilarities.

Holaschke prefers to juggle implicitly and explosively with baroque vanitas motifs and their contemporary counterparts, with apples and grapes, playing cards, dice, cigarettes, luxury goods. He will often have watches melt in a Dalíesque manner. Not just any watches, however, since it is never simply any old objects with him—each has at least one story, if not hundreds. Sometimes it is a Rolex, sometimes a Casio F-91W, the first and, today, still the cheapest digital watch, worn even by Bin Laden. Does he hear time ticking? Does he see it rushing by like all those jets and racing cars? “A clock has always struck me as something ridiculous, a thoroughly mendacious object”—the words W.G. Sebald put in Austerlitz’s mouth in the eponymous book.3 Holaschke seems to be of a similar opinion. His play with transience is one full of breaks and twists, though he does not seem to be intimidated by them. Sometimes it is the titles that relativize, ironize, raise everything to another level, or conversely take
things down a notch.

Sebald is also someone who could be brought in as a reference for his system of bricolage, his handling of found visual material of all kinds and
qualities. Even for his preference for certain subjects. Eyes, for example, the conspicuously large ones of wild animals, owls and monkeys4—to which Holaschke apparently responds with the rear lights of the Nissan GT-R Liberty Walk, the eyes of Nefertiti, Sailor Moon, or even just with watercolor smeared on paper.

Holaschke arranges the reference points in his collages like fruits in a seventeenth-century still life—or is it rather a meme of one? Not all of them can or need to be picked out. It could well be that one apple or another tastes sourer than it looks.

1 In his note on the
novel, Calvino writes “I
realized the tarots were a
machine for constructing
stories.” See Italo
Calvino, The Castle of
Crossed Destinies,
trans. William Weaver,
New York 1977 [1973],
p. 126.
2 Translation from
Georges Didi-Huberman.
Formlose Ähnlichkeit
oder die Fröhliche Wissenschaft
des Visuellen
nach Georges Bataille
(Munich: Fink Wilhelm,
2010), p. 26.
3 W. G. Sebald,
Austerlitz,
trans. Anthea Bell,
New York 2001, p. 107.
4 Ibid. p. 4.

by Beate Scheder, published in “Bernhard Holaschke - Do You Believe in Gods”, Distanz Verlag, 2021, ISBN978-3-95476-414-3

https://www.distanz.de/bernhard-holaschke/do-you-believe-in-gods