16 March 2016

Artist Florian Meisenberg says radically goodbye to his private sphere for his digital artwork 'Out of Office' for Schirn Kunsthalle

Since last year, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt exhibits via its website digital art projects (www.schirn.de/translantics, www.schirn.de/the-possibility-of-an-army) which reflect new technologies and today's living in a digital society. On occasion of the exhibition 'ME' (until 29 May) about self-portraits by artists, Florian Meisenberg (German, lives in New York) has contributed the art project 'Out of Office' exclusively for Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. 'Out of Office' consists of an online work published at Schirn.de as well as an installation at the 'ME' exhibition space at the Kunsthalle.

fig.: Portrait of Florian Meisenberg. Photo: © Joachim Baldauf, Vorn 7, Berlin 2013.

At the online project, smartphone data of Meisenberg's online behaviour (Google search, email, WhatsApp usage, when he takes photos ...) visualized on a map (GPS-tracking data) are sketching the artist's digital self-portrait which can be viewed on Schirn's website, Addtionally to the work on the website, the installation 'Out of Office' at the space of the exhibition 'ME' shows visitors Florian Meisenberg's communication activities which are directly streamed from the artist's smartphone onto a large screen.

"Florian Meisenberg shows us his digital footprint. He reveals his life to us in the Internet, lets us participate in his habits, his way of communicating, and draws a picture of himself that is characterized by radicalness in terms of its form and determination in terms of its implementation. At the same time, his work reflects the ubiquity and overcoding of the human image in media society. However, it does not leave viewers behind on their own but challenges them to think about their own digital footprint and their personal handling of media," says Max Hollein, Director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.

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