Björn Siebert
Björn Siebert (*1978, Hamburg) studied communication design and media art at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (2001-2005) and photography at Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig in the class of Timm Rautert (2005-2007). He post graduated in the class of Timm Rautert and Christopher Muller in 2010 as a Meisterschüler. He has won several prizes and grants, amongst others the highly regarded Zeitgenössische deutsche Fotografie offered by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung in 2012, The Otto-Steinert-Prize initiated by the German Photography Society (DGPh) in 2013, a half-year grant by Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, KdfS in 2015, a one-year grant by Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn in 2018 and the award offered by the Leipziger Jahresausstellung (LIA) in 2019.
His work has been exhibited at, amongst others, Städtische Galerie Karlsruhe, Städtische Galerie & Kunstverein Speyer, Kunstmuseum Ahrenshoop, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig, Museum der Bildenden Künste in Leipzig, Museum Folkwang in Essen and Centre de la Photographie Genf. His works are part of several collections and museums like Museum der Bildenden Künste Leipzig and Museum Folkwang in Essen. Björn Siebert lives and works in Leipzig, Germany.
Link: www.björn-siebert.de
In my long-term photo series “REMAKES” I reconstruct digital amateur pictures from the depths of the Internet with analog, photographic media. As in a film remake, I try to recreate a photograph that was previously taken by chance, with the methods of reconstruction and re-staging and record it again as detailed as possible. Instead of a digital camera or a cell phone i work with an analog large format camera. Actors, requisites, locations, rooms are casted, procured, searched for or elaborately built according to the conditions of the original recording.
Text: Björn Siebert
Björn Siebert: TWO EGGS [REMAKE], C-Print, 75 x 85 cm, 2006
In his working group "Remakes" 2006-2019+ Björn Siebert re-stages found amateur photos, circulating on the Internet, which he finds on various platforms. The scenes depicted in the found JPGs and PNGs are re-enacted as faithfully as possible with the help of set designers, make-up artists, cast models, etc. in an elaborate process; and then photographed with a view camera on large-format negatives. The camera settings, lighting, focus, etc. of the internet templates are also reproduced as precisely as possible. The large-format originals are framed C-prints. Although Siebert's motifs can be found in the digital world, the entire photographic creation process is completely analog. Against the backdrop of the digital, Siebert takes the idea of copying as primal scene of photography to a new level; he does not reproduce original facts, but creates images of images, copies of copies. Siebert's approach is strictly conceptual, his pictures pose questions of singular and collective authorship, and can be read as concentrated extractions from the flood of digital images.
Text: Michael Reisch
Björn Siebert: THE DOLOMITES [REMAKE] C-Print 118x142 cm 2011
Björn Siebert: GIZMO [Remake], C-Print, 110 x 137,5 cm, 2018
Björn Siebert: THE MUD FIGHT [REMAKE] C-Print 140x171 cm 2008
Björn Siebert: THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE [REMAKE], C-Print, 110 x 135 cm, 2008
Björn Siebert: UNTITLED TREE PICTURE [REMAKE], C-Print, 200x156 cm, 2013