Closer to the eye
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| Porträt Stefan Heyne © tatorte.com |
Stefan
Heyne, stage set designer for theater and opera and photographer born in Brandenburg
an der Havel in 1965 and based in Berlin, presents the exhibition NAKED LIGHT. Die Belichtung des Unendlichen /
Exposing Infinity at the Städtische Galerie Dresden until September
14 showing 30 of his works including 15 new photographs. His use of extreme
focus makes us wonder about the role of psychology in our perception of
reality. His compositions playing with surfaces, textures, colours, lights and
spaces, have developed photography beyond the portrait of people and
landscapes, not leaving reality behind but creating new questions about the way
our mind creates our image of reality not only from our senses but also from
our imagination. The result of his works has a pictorial air directly connected
to abstract art of which Stefan Heyne is one of its most interesting current
exponents. Heyne transforms daily objects and spaces, like the angle between a
wall and the floor, into something completely different by showing them from
fuzziness and suddenly nothing is so obvious. The angle, the shapes and
everything else remains the same but not our perception of it. Reality, as we
conceive it, is just a convention, nothing else, and art is the best way to
never forget it. It’s all in our minds.
What
concept is behind the NAKED LIGHT. Die
Belichtung des Unendlichen?
For around 175 years people have been creating
photographic images. The practice of creating concrete images was rarely called
into question. It appears to be some kind of taboo: photographic depiction
without resemblance? Impossible.
“Naked Light” pursues photography that
overcomes self-imposed limitations and doesn’t stop at the surface of things.
Thus, it goes back to its core: the combination of light and shadow.
You are
also a stage set designer for theater and opera productions. What's the
influence of that staging experience in your photographic work?
There are definitely links between the two. The
works are kind of similar, but nonetheless differ fundamentally from each
other. Stage design is all about space, photography about surfaces. They both
are visual expressions, and have suggestive or connotative meaning.
In Dresden, a large-scale architectural work of
mine is going to be presented for the first time. This opened up a world of new
opportunities for me. This would not have been possible without all those
previous experiences.
It could
seem your works always give a complete freedom of interpretation to the viewer
but the title of the series can make us focus our imagination in a more
concrete direction. That's the case of one of your earlier series titled Tatorte (Crime Scenes). How do you
achieve the balance between freedom and determination?
Ideally the viewer’s relationship with the art
object is not arbitrary. I provide a basis for interpretation. The titles of my
works are very short and can only offer clues.
Our senses
give us a distorted perception of reality, also our brain so how could we
experience the essence of existence?
Life is all about experience. I believe the
foremost problem is how experience is spent. Can words reflect this reality and
is there a language that is able to express our experiences in the first place?
If there is a possibility to describe it, then it would be art. Art is the
result of fundamental human experiences. Distortions come into existence when
art is pursued as a means to something else, when it is presented for a specific
purpose.
Do you
think the current technology and the new scientific theories can give you the
way to get free of our sensorial boundaries in your artistic work?
The emancipation, or at least the deviation of
traditional standards, is essentially the basis of every art. Therefore art is
on the contrary always one step ahead of science and technology. Science and
technology serve specific purposes restricting the view from the beginning.
The lack of
definition in many of your works gives to the photography a role beyond
portraying reality in a world where data are the new gold. What do you think
about this excess of information?
Information is always good and on my opinion
there can never be enough information around. It is fascinating that very large
amounts of the data consist of images. The wealth of images is overwhelming.
For example: There is a certain building in Paris, the Eiffel Tower. In the
past, if you wanted to glance at it your only chance would have been to travel
there and get a first-hand look at the building.
Initially only a few people took photos of The
Eiffel Tower which were then spread out worldwide. By now millions of photos
are made of this building on a daily basis. These images themselves are shared
and copied over and over again. The number keeps on growing and most likely
will never stop. By now, the sum of these pictures has become its own reality
quasi a second shared collective Eiffel Tower. Images create realities.
What’s
abstraction for you?
Abstraction is the basis of art. If I press the
trigger, I aim to eliminate the mind and be closer to the eye. Then, everything
will be abstract.
And when
can we say something is a piece of art?
Art enables us to peek into infinity.
Do you
think the times are becoming lighter or darker? And why?
The times are becoming darker, but no one has
to be afraid of this. The idea of lighter times is a superseded image
propagated by the enlightenment. The light-giving goddess of knowledge,
Minerva, is indeed an outdated image. If you look into the universe, you’ll
notice that it’s dark, very dark.
About our
perception of reality, what’s the role of our dreams on it and on your work?
I believe in the separation between reality and
fiction, and this includes, as we understand it, the distinction between dream
and reality. But ultimately, that's an outdated view. Reality is nothing more
than a collectively shared fiction, a truth that we accept. Art destroys this
separation by bringing them together. By doing so, art is truth and fiction at
the same time and is never unambiguous.
We always
ask to the artists to explain us a dream. Could you explain us one of yours?
Certainly all of my images can do that much
better.
Stefan Heyne | NAKED LIGHT. Die Belichtung des Unendlichen / Exposing Infinity
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Stefan Heyne website www.stefan-heyne.de
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