BENJAMIN BERGMANN
1968 born in Würzburg, Germany
LITRO EN BOLSA
New Works by Benjamin Bergmann
The exhibition LITRO EN BOLSA presents new objects and installations by Benjamin Bergmann (*1968). Thematically, they all address the great, recurring questions of mankind – its hopes, rituals, and ways of dealing with human transience. Every single work by Bergmann tells its own small story – or so it seems, as the works initially show familiar objects and materials or conjure up everyday situations. Yet the stories appear open-ended, remain mysterious fragments, and raise new questions. The great fireworks display case (“Diamantsonne versus Blockbuster” – Diamond Sun versus Blockbuster) plays with the expectations of art as a spectacle. Traces of powder hint at a massive explosion; catastrophe and beauty are never far apart. The artwork resembles a teatrum sacrum, a sacred theater in which physics and mystery are equally valid.
“Hilfe von oben” (Help from Above) is promised by a bronze rope that hangs suspended from the ceiling. Is there a belfry in the upper floor? Who is requesting help from whom? And why is there a second opening? For a second rope or a second chance? The work “Litro en Bolsa 8” – which lends the exhibition its title – brings together various measurable dimensions: a
container (“bag”), a quantity (“liter”), and the digit “8.” However, the confusion created is greater than the insight gained, and it confronts the spectator with the futile attempts of measuring the infinitude of the world. “Der Traum von einer großen Sache” (The Dream of Something Big) consists of gold-reflecting window elements from the now demolished Palace of the Republic. Isolated from their original architectural context and simply leaning against the
wall, the gilt wall relief could be seen as a theatrical backdrop for hopes and desires unfulfilled, relicts of utopias consigned to the dustbin of history, or the construction material of an illusionary future. Exemplary for Benjamin Bergmann’s creative oeuvre, “Leitung auf Putz” (On-Wall Cable) may be read as an instrument of the artist’s subversive exploration of the world, in which the imperfect and provisional become aesthetic categories. The work reflects life as an energetically charged path with manifold branches and uncertain destinations.
