Timo Herbst

My artworks and projects are focused on the choreography of artistic, physical and political related movements as well as their meanings and consequences in the private and public sphere. Therefore I use mainly drawings and videos as two different media tools to research time, space and motion.

My methods include the reconstruction of processes: I draw the movement of a definite object or body part – a hand, a conductor´s baton – as if it was moving in a stream of motion across the paper sheet.  The drawings look like storyboards, but due to the complexity of the movements, the process depicted is not completely ascertainable. I am interested in the indeterminacy and illegibility adhering to all types of images, or better said, in the indistinctness of our perceptions. Therefore I also work with videography and performance to relate the gesture back and play with the given contexts. The boundaries that distinguish two spaces and the intersections where those spaces overlap are especially important to me because the ambiguity of signs and gestures reveals itself most acutely at these points. The resulting ambivalences and contradictions that are characteristic of gestures have become an important theme to me, because in my opinion the most significant questions of human society possess a core complexity and ambiguity. I believe dealing with such questions is a productive activity, although the uncertainties and contradictions they pose cannot and should not ever be resolved completely. One fundamental question might be: How do I create a way of living that feels secure and at the same time permits constant change, that is capable of transforming itself, a life that can be fragile, impermanent and therefore alterable. Having self-discipline, maintaining strong convictions, and yet encouraging one’s own ability to grow and change are often at odds with one another. I consider my artwork as sensual forms of these processes.

My inspirations are the various forms of social and political practice, which I draw, perform and work on with others.