THE SOLO PROJECT – Kunstmesse in Basel

Hans-Christian Schink (* 1961 in Germany)
photographs "special landscapes, at the intersection
of human endeavor and natural conditions. It is this
human interest, which constitutes the idea of
'landscape' by separating it from the surrounding
territory", writes Kai Uwe Schierz.

"Can you speak less and yet tell everything at the
same time?" asks Mark Siemons of the „Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung“, while Boris Hohmeyer of
Germany’s leading „Art“ magazine reasons Schink’s
works to be "as severe and beautiful as painted by
Barnett Newman".

Schink gained renown with his "Traffic Projects".
The photographs of this fascinating series were
taken between 1995 and 2003. They document the
modernization of East Germany, where large new
infrastructures covered ancient cultural landscapes.
After a well-received presentation at the Martin-
Gropius-Bau in Berlin in 2004, the series was
presented by museums in Europe, the USA, Japan
and Latin America.

The spectacular images of Hans-Christian Schink’s
portfolio "1h" are devoted to the core questions of
photography – the imaging of light and time. Schink
took advantage of the "true solarization" effect,
described in 1857 by William Henry: If the sun is
photographed with long exposure, the
overexposure causes a reversal effect at the
photographical negative. On the prints the sun
leaves a black dot, with longer exposure times a
black line. Schink experimented two years with
different materials and photo technique, until he
succeeded in capturing the black sun effect as well
as the landscape scenery. He chose an exposure
time of one hour and called his series "1h". It’s
twenty-four motifs he found at all latitudes, from
Spitsbergen in the north to Zanzibar at the equator
to Tierra del Fuego in the deepest South of the
American continent.

In 2008, he was honoured for a photograph of the
series with the ING REAL Photography Award.
Schink was granted with numerous other awards
and scholarships, including the Villa Aurora Los
Angeles (2002) and the Villa Kamogawa Kyoto
(2012). By 2014, he was awarded the scholarship of
the Villa Massimo in Rome.

At „The Solo Project“ we will show works from his
„Traffic Projects“ series and out of the portfolio
"1h".

Axel Anklam’s sculptures fascinate with clarity and
power. Vibrant and calmly floating parts follow each
other and create shapes full of tension. Preferably,
the artist uses transparent or opaque materials:
stainless steel mesh, epoxy, latex. Shimmering
surfaces cover metallic carcasses. Even small
changes of light and atmosphere create new
expressions.

The majority of the artist's sculptures use harmonic
structures based on selected sound sequences. To
transfer them to the proportions of the supporting
elements, Anklam brings to action a monochord, an
ancient one-string instrument already applied by
Pythagoras. Other series of works are inspired by
landscape formations.

Axel Anklam was born in 1971. He apprenticed as a
blacksmith, became master craftsman, worked as a
restorer at the Sanssouci Palace and trained at the
Centro Europeo di Venezia. In 1998 he enrolled at
the HfKD Giebichenstein art school. He began
studying sculpture, and completed his studies at
the University of the Arts Berlin in 2004. In the
same year Anklam's first sculptures were installed
in public spaces - in Berlin and Bangkok. More
sculptures followed in Japan, France, Spain and in
several German cities. In 2006 the Berlin University
of the Arts awarded him a master student’s
fellowship.

In 2010 Anklam was honoured with the Ernst
Rietschel Art Prize and the Gerlinde Beck Award for
Sculpture; in the same year the State Academy of
Fine Arts in Stuttgart appointed him to teach as
visiting professor. 2013 he participated in the
Venice Biennale and won two art in architecture
competitions for the German Federal Ministry of
Education and Research.