*1966
Youth and culture, music and society, identity and the search for individuality – these are the themes that define the works of photographer Oliver Sieber. Sieber seeks out clues in subcultural milieus, visiting clubs, concerts and illegal parties in Los Angeles, Toronto, Tokyo, Osaka, New York and small-town Germany. Here, he comes into contact with Punks, Visu’s, Psychobillies, Gothic Lolitas and Cosplayers – people who define their identity through codes, demonstrating membership of one group while distancing themselves from the mainstream.
With his Imaginary Club exhibition, Oliver Sieber has brought together the different protagonists from his series. In Imaginary Club, it is the heterogeneity and the nonconformist element shared by the personalities that captures the artist’s interest. “Imaginary Club represents a society in which I myself would love to live”, says Oliver Sieber. “A world where different forms of life co-exist effortlessly is something I find very appealing.”
Against a neutral background, the eyes of Sieber’s protagonists are trained on a point beyond the camera, conveying a defensive and melancholy mood. Although Sieber gets right up close to his models, they remain exactly as they are. As in many classical portraits, this distance is underlined by sculptural, static detail. In this way, Sieber’s protagonists become representatives of their respective peer groups, which in turn renders their style-code uniqueness interchangeable. The focus is then shifted onto the question as to whether or not an identity is possible.
The search for identity can therefore be seen as a journey – as an act of self-orientation that is continually determined by ourselves and those around us. On contemplating Oliver Sieber’s series of photographs, there is also a certain sense of longing that resonates at the same time – a sense of finding oneself, the past and the imaginary through the act of observing others.
Born in Duesseldorf in 1966. Studied photography in Bielefeld and Duesseldorf. 2005 Artist in Residence, Goethe Institut, Toronto. 2006 scholarship to Japan. Produced the “J_Subs” series and completed the “Character Thieves” series in Japan. 2009 German Photo Book Award (silver) for “Character Thieves”. Artist in Residence in Los Angeles as part of the “La Brea Matrix” project.
Published photo fanzine “Frau Boehm” from 1999 onwards together with artist Katja Stuke. In 2007, founded (with Stuke) the “Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing” label, under which many projects were produced.
Oliver Sieber’s works have been shown in numerous institutions, including: Photographers’ Gallery London; Photographische Sammlung SK/Stiftung Kultur Cologne; National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen; Photo España Festival, Madrid; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Fotohof Salzburg.
Selected Publications
Imaginary Club 2005-2012 Artist’s Book, 2012
Imaginary Club #2. Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2010
J_Subs. Text: Christoph Schaden, Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2009
Imaginary Club #1. Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2008
Character Thieves. Text: Mariko Takeuchi (jap./ger.), Schaden-com feat. Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2007
Die Blinden (The Blind). Text: Kerstin Stremmel, Schaden-com, Cologne, 2006
Deutsch/ Young Germany Photography
/ Oliver Sieber –
Uebungsräume – Skinsmodsteds. (ger./engl.)
Kruse Verlag, Hamburg, 2001
