IMAGINARY CLUB
Oliver Sieber
June 12th – August 28th, 2010
“I don’t dream about anyone – except myself.”
The Smiths
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.
One of the first answers is given by the pictures on the 45-piece photo wall, which can be seen for the first time at Galerie Priska Pasquer, with the portraits supplemented by black-and-white shots of various locations. These photographs suggest movement, reflecting a dynamic that would seem to be wholly at odds with the inert protagonists.
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.
New publication concurrent with the exhibition
Oliver Sieber: Imaginary Club #2
Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2010
Publications (selection)
• 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
“I don’t dream about anyone – except myself.”
The Smiths
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.
One of the first answers is given by the pictures on the 45-piece photo wall, which can be seen for the first time at Galerie Priska Pasquer, with the portraits supplemented by black-and-white shots of various locations. These photographs suggest movement, reflecting a dynamic that would seem to be wholly at odds with the inert protagonists.
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.
New publication concurrent with the exhibition
Oliver Sieber: Imaginary Club #2
Boehm/Kobayashi Publishing, 2010
Publications (selection)
• 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
