3D-GOOGLE-EARTH-MODEL #18, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 2023

For the exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Achim Mohné produced a 3D-printed model of the Kunstmuseum as well as a video showing a virtual model of the museum. These full-scale models of the Kunstmuseum are based on a specially developed analogue-digital process in which Mohné creates images of the selected location from all sides using virtual “camera drones” in the Google Earth app rather than in real space. With the help of photogrammetry, a three-dimensional, virtual architectural model is calculated from these screenshots, which is then 3D-printed and exhibited. Both the 3D model and the virtual model of the museum shown from all sides in the video appear distorted, blurred, the colours are muted, the shapes simplified, the depths shallower, glitches and disturbances create alienation. This visual effect, due to the recording This visual effect, due to the recording and representation technique used by Google, leads to an ambivalent relationship between the recorded place and its image and thus to the question of which imaging tools we work with every day and how they influence and shape our image of our surroundings. Mohné’s work continues outside: on the Museum Square, close to the Kunstmuseum, stands a tree that Achim Mohné also photogrammed from Google Earth data. With the help of augmented reality, a QR code enables visitors to superimpose Mohné’s “Google Earth tree” on the real tree on their smartphones — thus blurring the boundaries between reality and virtual image and turning the two into one.

Dr. Barbara J. Scheuermann, curator

WDR TV-feature: "Expect the Unexpected": Ausstellung Digitale Kunst in Bonn

WDR Radio-feature: Neue Konzepte für Fotografie im Kunstmuseum Bonn

Autorin: Claudia Dichter

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Current Concepts of Photography

16.02.2023 – 30.04.2023

The exhibition Expect the Unexpected – Current Concepts of Photography discusses the new visual worlds which are product of the digital transformation and how current technological developments affect artistic photography. It does so by presenting exemplary artistic positions of the last ten years who have been significantly involved in the expansion and redefinition of artistic photography. In addition to the well-known photographic tools, these artists work with new, photography- based tools such as photogrammetry, 3D scanning, 3D printing, augmented reality, CGI and machine learning.*

Both the exploration of extended photography itself and its exponentially increased possibilities play a role for these artists as well as the question of how digital, networked photography is embedded in socio-political, global contexts and what impact it has on our everyday lives. The interaction between humans and machines becomes the focus: Who is in control, who is the author, the artist or the computer program? Who can claim power of interpretation over the new digital image worlds: The human eye or image recognition algorithms? What new ideas does the tension between reality and virtuality, materiality and immateriality produce? And how do previous image and exhibition concepts relate to the new technical possibilities? Do our expectations of photography still match the reality of a globally networked life dominated by photographs which deepfakes and facial recognition are an inherent part of?

All these questions will be discussed in the exhibition. Photography is understood as a matrix for contemporary ways of working with digital imaging processes and is challenged and examined in the works shown.

With works by Banz & Bowinkel, Tim Berresheim, darktaxa-project, Beate Gütschow, Philipp Goldbach, Spiros Hadjidjanos, Fabian Hesse & Mitra Wakil, Baron Lanteigne, Oliver Laric, Simon Lehner, Achim Mohné, Susan Morris, Victoria Pidust, Johannes Post, Jon Rafman, Michael Reisch, Anna Ridler, Adrian Sauer, Tamás Waliczky, and others.