Rémy Markowitsch
Ohne Titel
Ohne Titel, 2004
Aus On Travel: "Tristes Tropiques"
C-print, 60 x 40 cm
Collection Fotomuseum Winterthur
2004-025-005
b. 1957 (Zurich, CH), lives and works in Berlin, DE
Rémy Markowitsch has made appropriation a key component in his artistic approach. He raids illustrated books, historical picture archives, 1950s botanical reference books, 1930s physical fitness manuals, exploring not only the way images are used, arranged and ordered, but also the printing processes involved. His major project Nach der Natur / After Nature – a title that can be interpreted either as indicating a time after nature or a detachment from nature – is broken down into sub-chapters: landscape, plants, animals and people. Like many of his works, Nach der Natur operates according to the following principle: Markowitsch superimposes the found photographs allowing the light to shine through them so that their images overlap. As a result, he creates a mechanical copy of a mechanically printed copy of a mechanically photographed copy of reality: this becomes a unique visual reality, a creation in its own right. Thus Markowitsch plays a triple role of archivist, chronicler and diabolical creator.