Thomas Taube is a video artist. In his work however, he releases the medium from its linear and rigid narrative structure. Taube instead works with conventional cinematographic codes by using multiple approaches such as associative, reflective and surreal sequences. He abolishes the immediacy of the medium by means of its various elements and discontinuous montage. Well-known subjects (the night), like abstract structures (the narrative) are illustrated on the one hand, yet on the other, they differentiate the ways of seeing, observing, experiencing and reflecting.
In »Dark Matters« (2015), Taube approaches the remote state of a distant night, by investigating and collecting various evening experiences and their atmospheric perspectives. He conducted a series of interviews with night watchmen from around the world who shared their observations and personal experiences. It resulted in a series of stories about the night as a state, a shelter, a danger zone and a place of darkness. Taube succeeds in distilling the individual responses and feelings and translates them into simple and strange pictures played by a single protagonist. The character developed from this hybrid personality is one that cannot be fully grasped. The sense of darkness and loneliness places everything under the spell of self-observation and elevation.
The film plays the aftermath that lies beyond the conventional or mystical encounters that one may experience in the shadow world. The night becomes the state of the figure; the darkness has penetrated their existence and now both have formed the nature of the isolated protagonist.
In »Narration« (2016), Taube devotes himself to the various aspects and qualities of narration. It is an intimate linguistic form of communication that carries cultural traditions, histories, developments and changes. Six interrelated elements are combined to create »Narration«, those being: Setting, Situation, Narrator, Approach, Past and Construct. Taube presents narrative structures literally, figuratively and atmospherically. They are situated in remotes places and discuss social, political, every day and emotional topics. In order to execute these themes visually, the emotions and sensations are revisited and reflected upon by the characters.
In order to be able to experience simultaneity and entanglement, Taube presents his work through six parallel channels. He illustrates the notions of narration through image montage and through a series of continual images that project sensory experiences accompanied by auditory and visual codes. That said, the one-lane variant in a linear conception has the ability to intensify the integration of the many individual aspects and at the same time can show us that narrative, as the basic notion of our time will never cease to exist.
CV
1984
born in Munich
2008-2014
Diploma Studies of Media Art at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig (HGB Leipzig) under the supervision of Prof. Günther Selichar and Prof. Clemens von Wedemeyer.
2010-2014
Guest Student of Prof. Candice Breitz, HBK Braunschweig
since 2014
Master-Student of Prof. Clemens von Wedemeyer
Thomas Taube lives and works in Leipzig.
publications / filmography
PUBLICATIONS
2016
»Marion Ermer Preis« art fund of the Free State of Saxony
2015
»Das Surren der Bildmaschine« Spector Books. Leipzig
FILMOGRAPHIE
2021
»Selbstvergessen« Deutsches Theater. Berlin
2020
»Siebenundzwanzigjahre - Ein Stück über die Klimakrise« Nationaltheater Mannheim. Mannheim
2019
»Operating Track« 8-Channel-installation, 4K, 120 min (Loop)
2018
»UNTITLED / RAW« 2-Channel-installation, HD, 4:3, 9:50 min
2017
»RSVP (Situations)« 2-Channel-installation, 4K, 12:50 min (Loop)
2016
»Frames Per Second« 4K, 5:14 min (Loop)
»Narration« 6-Channel-installation, 4K, 16:9, 45 min
2014
»Dark Matters« 4K, 16:9, 19:15 min
2013
»Hans und das Glück« with Christoph Bartsch. 3-Channel-installation, HD, 16:9, 10:00 min
»Sorry that I asked« commissioned by ORF III, 4K, 16:9, 30:00 min
2012
»Keyif (Die Nacht)« 3-Channel-installation, 4K, 16:9, 37:15 min
»7 Variations« 7-Channel-installation, HD, 16:9, 16:52 min
2011
»Amerika I-III« HD, 16:9, 8:00 min
2010
»Die Nebensonnen« 3-Channel-installation, HD, 16:9, 9:52 min
exhibitions (selection)
EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2020
»The Inner Land « R E I T E R | Leipzig
»Something Between Us« KAI10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION
»PHOTO 2020 - International Festival of Photography« CCP . Melbourne (AUS)
2019
»A very small tiny little thing« R E I T E R | Leipzig
»Operating Track« Pylon Lab. Dresden
2018
»The Trope’s Trap« R E I T E R | Berlin prospect
2016
»Marion Ermer Preis 2016« award exhibition, Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
»Narration« G2 Kunsthalle. award exhibition by the Leipziger Jahresausstellung. Leipzig
»Dark Matters« maerzgalerie (plus). Leipzig
2015
»Win/Win« purchased artworks by the art fund of the Free State of Saxony, Halle 14, Baumwollspinnerei. Leipzig
»Pro M« 22th Leipziger Jahresausstellung. Leipzig
2014
Les Rencontres Internationales, Paris. France
»Video Folkwang - Die nächste Generation VI« Folkwang Museum. Essen
Graduate exhibition, Galerie, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
»Dark Matters« Loriza Galerie. Berlin
2013
»The Supershow« Galerie, Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig; Halle 14. Spinnerei Leipzig
Installation BraWo Park. Braunschweig
»Warten auf Gott« Kunstverein Gera
2012
»SonderfART« Filser & Gräf, whiteBOX. Munich
2011
»editing spaces. reconsidering the public« exhibition in the public space of Vilnius. Lithuania
2010
»Künstlerförderung des Cusanuswerks« Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof. Hamburg
SCREENINGS/FILM FESTIVALS (selection)
2017
»International Short Film Festival Oberhausen« Festival cinema Lichtburg Filmpalast. Oberhausen
»Sehsüchte« - 46. International Student Film Festival. Potsdam-Babelsberg
»Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin« - New Cinema and Contemporary Art, Gaîté Lyrique. Paris. France
»RSVP (Situations)« film premiere . Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig
2016
»Narration« film premiere, UT Connewitz. Leipzig
2015
»Backup. art. screen« 17. Kurzfilmfestival, Gaswerk. Weimar
Awards/Scholarships
2016
Marion Ermer Prize
residence scholarship, Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen at the ISCP New York City, USA
2015
Scholarship by Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen
Award Winner Leipziger Jahresausstellung
Production grant for a publication, Kulturstifung des Freistaates Sachsen
2013
Artist in Residence, production grant, ORF III, Vienna. Austria
Production grant, Volksbank-Raiffeisenbank Braunschweig-Wolfsburg, Braunschweig