Artist profile
Philipp Goldbach
Untitled (Kriwet) 1 (2019)
colour Photogram in two parts on Fuji Crystal Archive
214 x 214 cm (ref:PG0103)
Untitled (Kriwet) 2 (2019)
colour Photogram in two parts on Fuji Crystal Archive
214 x 214 cm (ref:PG0104)
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 (ref:Pg0093)
Institute of Social Research Frankfurt/Main, Adorno Library (2009)
C-Print mounted between Diasec and aluminium, edition 1 of 5
156 x 125 cm (ref:Pg0006)
University of Hamburg, Department of University History (2010)
C-Print mounted between Diasec and aluminium, edition number 1 of 5
156 x 125 cm (ref:Pg0033)
Cologne University's Department of Philosophy (Diptych I) (2003)
C-Print mounted between Diasec and aluminium, edition 2 of 3
180 x 245 cm (ref:Pg0074)
Philipp Goldbach uses a wide range of media to explore the relationship between time and written language.
He became known for his series Blackboards and Micrographs (2010) for which he photographed chalkboards in rooms at various German universities where great thinkers such as Martin Heidegger and Theodor Adorno once taught. Often concerned with philosophical ideas, Goldbach transcribes seminal philosophical texts in impossibly small pencil handwriting or into the circuit of a Read Only Memory board, yielding large yet arduously intricate drawings and minimalist sculptures that hark back to outmoded forms of technology and highlight the “materiality of information”. More recent photographs experiment with the development process in analogue photography, using torches and light filters to ‘draw’ onto photographic paper and investigate the role of photography as a “Universal Language”, itself a philosophical and sociological concept.
In his most ambitious, large-scale installation to date, Via Lucis, 2015 is made from the entire slide collection of the archives of Cologne University’s Institute of Art History. 150,000 picture slides - photographic reproductions of art works representing over 2000 years of cultural history – are stacked against the wall covering an area of 2.5 x 8 meters to form a three-dimensional mural with a flickering, random pattern.
Biography
- 1978
- Born in Cologne, Germany
- 1998–2006
- Studies in Art History, Sociology and Philosophy at Cologne University (M.A.)
- 2000–05
- Studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Diploma)
- 2008–09
- Assistant Professor for Photography at Academy of Media Arts Cologne
Selected exhibitions
- 2020
- Musée Imaginaire, M29 Gallery, Cologne
- 2019
- Paare, Galerie Carol Johnssen, Munich, Germany
- 2017
- Paris, Athen, Galerie Carol Johnsson, Muenchen
- 2016
- bound to arrive as intruders, Museum of the Ruhr-University, Bochum
- 2016
- Ars Lingua Universalis, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2012
- Fotografien, Galerie Gisèle Linder, Basel
- 2011
- Tafelbilder, Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Marburg Fotografie und Zeichnung, Galerie Carol Johnssen, München
- 2010
- Blackboards and Micrographs, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2009
- en miniature, Simultanhalle Contemporary Art Space Cologne (with Vesko Gösel)
- 2008
- Message to public, M29 / R&B Publishing House, Cologne
- 2007
- Foto/Grafie, Carol Johnssen Gallery, Munich
