Hybrid Visual Worlds and Aesthetics: Neue Alte Welt by Tim Berresheim

House Helmut Foitzik, 2023 C Print (chromogenic print), 160 cm x 300 cm, Courtesy the artist © Tim Berresheim

Short profile

Tim Berresheim, born 1975 in Heinsberg, studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Albert Oehlen and at the HBK Braunschweig under Johannes Brus. His works are exhibited worldwide and can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn) and the Kunstpalast (Düsseldorf). He lives and works as a visual artist and musician in Aachen.

5 QUESTIONS TO TIM BERRESHEIM

The artist Tim Berresheim in three words?

Complexity without coincidence. For me, this means taking great pleasure in the apparent control over every aesthetic phenomenon, no matter how small. The computer is the tool that, on one hand, empowers me to make exactly the picture I want to make, and at the same time, is also changeable for me. It is a tool without a predefined shape. I am the one who defines the shape.

Looking at your work, it's not immediately clear what it is - is it a painting, a print, a photograph of a sculpture in digital space? What is your intention here? What do you want to achieve with people who look at your works?

What I want to achieve is that this moment of not being able to grasp is joyful. The fact that it can be something joyful at all is also nourished by the fact that there is this complex cultural framework called art. In other words, art is the place where we can celebrate the incomprehensible.

Tim Berresheim exhibiton Neue alte Welt, © Anne Orthen.

In the exhibition Neue Alte Welt by Tim Berresheim, © Photo: Anne Orthen

Your retrospective “Neue Alte Welt” (English: New Old World) is currently on show at the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf. There you are staging the evolution of mankind and art. What role does technology play in this evolution? What decisive moment does it create in the evolution of mankind and art?

For the first time in human history, we are in a situation where we can imagine our tools without limitations - this is made possible by technology. Our minds can always produce new tools with the help of technology.

In addition, due to technologization, there are many people who currently know significantly more than others. This is probably the first time in human history that there has been such a large number of people with vast knowledge, and as a result we are dealing with a world of the hidden and the unseen.

In the exhibition Neue Alte Welt by Tim Berresheim, © Photo: Anne Orthen

In your opinion, what is the role of art at this point?

In my opinion, the task of art is to create a picture. Our world is becoming more and more complex - we see so many manifestations of communication, new ideas and tools, and art negotiates these with calm. Sometimes things are brought to our attention that were not obvious before.

What do you look out for when choosing your printing partner from the aspects highlighted?

Here, too, the aspect of vast knowledge comes into play. My pictures must also be produced by people with expertise. I design my works down to the smallest detail. I bring the analog world into the digital space and stage the image there. To return it to the analog world in exactly the same way, I need a printing partner like WhiteWall who can also guarantee this detailed control in production. How much extra knowledge is behind this type of production, how much manual work and precision, is also not obvious at first.