Timo Kahlen. Experimental Photography

Timo Kahlen. Experimental, processual
Phosphorus Photography
(Phosphor- Photographie),
1987 - 2011



    
    


Ephemeral, glowing images of light
on a phosphorescent screen.
Photography as a process of transformation:
fragile, phosphorescent images accumulate in the camera,
transform and vanish in time.


   

Scholarship of the Berlin Senate, 1997. Phosphorus Photographs were presented at the
Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin in 1987 and 1992, at Galerie Voges + Deisen, Frankfurt in 1993 and 1995 /
the Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft Berlin in 1995 / the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein in 1998.
Public collections: Fotografische Sammlung DZ Bank, Frankfurt / Sammlung Künstlerförderung Berlin

Timo Kahlen. Projektion (Projection), 1994
Jam jar enclosing miniaturized projection of a tree

Edition Galerie Voges + Deisen, Frankfurt am Main





  

Timo Kahlen. Lichtstaub (Light Dust), 1996 / 97
and Vibration, 1994 / 96
Series of black and white photographs, 40 x 50 cm

In conjunction with sound installation Schwirren,
Berlin 1994/2000









Timo Kahlen. Matschtreten (Mud), 2010

Self-portrait of the artist, walking in mud:
leaving and deleting traces

In conjunction with sound installation "Breaking Ground", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010








Timo Kahlen. Cutting Edge, 2006
Projections cut through clusters of dry bushes
suspended from the ceiling

"Earcatcher", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin, 2006

Timo Kahlen. Einbrennen (Burnt), 1986-2000

Image of window burnt into the curtains of the artist's darkroom
over the period of 15 years (sunlight on black cloth /
ca. 200 x 270 cm)

"Timo Kahlen : Liquid Light" exhibition, Galerie im Parkhaus, Berlin 2000










Timo Kahlen
Images of light from a stone camera, 1986 - 1989:
Himmel (Sky), October / November 1988
Light, fungi and bacteria on photographic paper, 118 x 110 cm
Nominated for "Prize for Young European Photographers" 1989

Series of images of the sky from a stone camera obscura,
exposed for varying lenghts of time (1 day, 1 week, 10 months).
"The camera would only allow the photographic paper
to 'see' the sky. All the information of the sky (stars,
sunlight, clouds, moonlight)  was distilled into these huge
negative-like black squares by day, and white squares by night.
Nothing could be seen in the final prints, but it is all there,
a dense centre of information... Moisture over time affected
the photographs due to the stone pyramid's hidden condensation
and bacteria ate away at both the paper and the image."

Joanna Littlejohns, Guernsey 2001



.   
  

Exhibited at the Ruine der Künste Berlin, 1989
and at Frankfurter Kunstverein 1989.
Public Collection: Deutsche Leasing AG

Timo Kahlen
Windphotographien, 1991 - 2010

Series of conceptual photographs: visual traces of wind
moving through the branches and foliage of trees.
Work in progress from 1991 to 2010

Exhibited in numerous contexts, including Dieci.Due! Gallery Milano 1992, Bonner Kunstverein 1992,
Museo Ken Damy Brescia 1992, Galerie Voges + Deisen, Frankfurt am Main 1993, Luftmuseum Amberg 2010.
Sammlung Kuenstlerfoerderung Berlin and Collection DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main etc.
Installation view at "Timo Kahlen: Windwechsel", Luftmuseum Amberg 2010

 



Timo Kahlen. Sprengen, 1989 / 1999

Tableau of photographs
based on an ephemeral sculpture of light
found beneath a tree

See related video work "Liquid Light", 1989 / 1999






 



Timo Kahlen. Blattlinien, 1999
Digital scans of leaves
C-prints, each 38 x 28,5 cm

The complex, abstract drawings on the surface of
the objects seem to be generic and artificial, but are
actually traces of an analog process, in which insects
scan and disect the surface of leaves.

In conjunction with the sound installation Luftraum, Berlin 2001

  


Timo Kahlen. Datenaustausch, 2010

Spoon, small loudspeakers and
audio components on a plate.
From a series of conceptual photographs
for synaesthetical sound works, 40 x 50 cm

"Noise & Beauty", Stiftung Starke, Berlin 2010.
Courtesy Stiftung Kunstfonds, Bonn 2010

Timo Kahlen. Zwiebelmuster (Still # 16) and # 17, 2001 / 2006

Sound sculpture. Images of a swarm of flies hovering
over a plate - oscillating and vibrating irrationally, agitated by
very low, barely audible sounds of interfering radio waves.
Photographic images, wire, plate, loudspeaker and sound:
a kinetic 'still life'.


"Sound Art 2006: Deutscher Klangkunst-Preis" exhibition / art cologne 2006
"Earcatcher", Ruine der Kuenste Berlin 2006
"Tonspur expanded: The Loudspeaker", Vienna 2010 - 2011

> See related sound sculptures

Timo Kahlen
Lichtmass, Berlin 1995

Sound and light installation: empty
slide projectors, wall projection of dust on lenses
and audio loop: dust on vinyl LP

"Scholars of the Karl-Hofer-Gesellschaft", Berlin 1995

Timo Kahlen
Blinder Raum (Blind space), 2000

Installation view at "Timo Kahlen: Liquid Light",
Galerie im Parkhaus, Berlin 2000

'Blind', opaque mirrors,
silent gallery space with opaque / 
translucent window panes



Out of Focus, 2000 - 2006

Series of three-dimensional photographic sculptures,
based on out-of-focus images, enlarged to
the objects' original 1:1 scale

Timo Kahlen has studied
experimental photography and media art
with film-maker and photographer Dieter Appelt
at the Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin from 1985 -1996.
Kahlen received his Meisterschüler (Master of Arts)
in 1993, and has held a Lectureship for Visual Media
& Video Art at the Hochschule der Kuenste Berlin
from 1993 to 1998.

Timo Kahlen            Works with Wind           Sound Sculptures

Video works             Experimental Photography            E-mail   

© Timo Kahlen / VG Bild-Kunst, 1999 - 2012