Moray Mair, Arts Blog Mutantspace, March 14th, 2014:
“Torsten Schumann‘s photographs highlight the absurdity of life, that brief second in the day when chance creates a surreal juxtaposition, a moment of silliness, profundity, irony, a tell that exposes the world for what it is, a pointless journey towards inevitable death that’s intermittently interrupted by a comical situation that distracts us from our existential angst. The nightmare of ordinariness that we, as people, manage to turn into a drama of Greek proportions, full of tragedy and farce.
It’s on the streets of Germany that we find Schumann walking, his camera pointing at the most extraordinary collisions, his clever compositions catching us off guard, his formal aesthetic skewed by a mania, a euphoria that runs counter to the yawning boredom of suburban life. His pictures are full of delight, stupidity and irritation, of people trying to outwit their boredom yet blind to the magic that surrounds them. Perhaps this is the ultimate irony. In highlighting the utter pointlessness of life Schumann manages, through a visual act of dexterity, to reveal the magic and sublime comedy that makes it all worthwhile. …”
Celina Lunsford, Artistic Director & Chief Curator at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, 2011:
“Torsten Schumann is obsessed with what people do in their freetime, especially outdoors, in nature, in the garden or on the street. He collects the split seconds of everyday situations that are irritating and odd. The perfect world of suburban Germany and post wall industrial breakdown floats on an innertube of surrealist air.
Born in Dresden in 1975 Schumann began photographing in the early 90´s at a time when self-reflection of German identity allowed him to bare the touch of self-irony.
Torsten Schumann lives and works in Berlin.”
BIOGRAPHY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS [selection]
2016 Guest Room, Der Greif, online show (curated by Krzysztof Candrowicz / Fotofestiwal Lodz)
2016 shortlist presentation of the photo book dummy award, UNSEEN Amsterdam
2016 European Month of Photography Berlin, Die Erfindung des Realen,
……….Rechenzentrum Potsdam (curated by Wolfgang Zurborn)
2016 Kaunas Photo Festival, Lithuania
2016 How to structure things in Space, with Andrea Gruetzner, exp12 Berlin
2016 FAUX, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2016 #Memory-Archive, Photobook Melbourne
2015 5 Jahre, exp12, Berlin
2015 OPUS-Photo Award Exhibition, HBKsaar, Saarbrücken/ Thionville / CCRN Luxembourg
2015 Guest Room, Der Greif, online show (curated by Johanna Neurath / Thames & Hudson)
2015 CONTEXT 2015 of the Filter Foto Festival, Chicago
2015 Circulation(s) exhibition for children, Beaux arts Museum, Locle, Switzerland
2015 Circulation(s) Festival for young European photography, Paris
……….Projections of the selection 2015 at Fotografia Europea – Reggio Emilia (Italy), Lódz Fotofestiwal (Poland),
……….Format Festival (GB), Encontros da Imagem de Braga (Portugal), Belfast Foto Festival (Irlande)
,
……….BIP Biennale internationale de la Photographie et des Arts visuels de Liège (Belgium)
2014 Smích a zapomnění… Laughter and Forgetting, ArtinBox Gallery, Prague
2014 New Cats in Art Photography, Humble Arts Foundation New York (online)
2014/15 International Print Competition 157 of the Royal Photographic Society, London
……….Berkeley Gallery, Royal Albert Hall/ London; Waterfront Hall/ Belfast; Banbury Museum/ Oxford;
……….Shire Hall Gallery/ Stafford; Aberystwyth Arts Centre/ Wales
2014 FEX – Experimental Photography and Pictures from the Underground, Kuenstlerhaus Dortmund
2014 UrbanSpree, Berlin: The Photocopy Club
2014 Atelier für Fotografie, Berlin: Hinter den Bildern
2013 Hotel Bogota, Berlin: Kleister / Kaetha-Project
2013 Local Colors May Vary #Berlin, curated collective slideshow from ACMV
2013 Encontros da Imagem, Presentation of Photographers, Braga, Portugal
2013 Slideluck Potshow Dublin in conjunction with PhotoIreland Festival
2013/14/15 Kolga Tbilisi Photo Festival, Collective Show of Finalists, Tbilisi, Georgia
2013 „The Visual Archive“ of ANT!FOTO at Photo Weekend Duesseldorf
2012 Kaunas Photo Festival, Presentation of Finalists, Kaunas, Lithuania
2012 Arsenale di Venezia/ Venice, Italy: Arte Laguna Prize exhibition
2011 Le Dictateur Gallery, Milan, launch exhibition of Unpublished magazine, issue #3
2008/09 Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst Trier e.V.
2008 Galerie ART-HAUS, Bad Bertrich
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 More Cars, Clothes and Cabbages, 25books, Berlin
2015 „Nichts für ungut“, Galerie Alles Moegliche, Berlin
2014 Fenster61, Berlin
2014 „Collocations“, Kapelle am Urban, Berlin
2013 „Wild & Sauerkraut“, Foxhole Gallery, Berlin
2012 „Being Prepared“, Fotopension Köln, Cologne
2012 „Schmuck“, Fenster61, Berlin
2009 Kunst-Kombinat Trier
AWARDS / HONORS
2016 „inclined“ shortlisted at photo book dummy award UNSEEN Amsterdam
2016 Scholarship Open Spine by Michela Palermo, Nico Baumgarten, FUAM Istanbul
2015 Street Photography 2015 Contest by PDN and Acuity Press
2015 OPUS Kulturmagazin Photo Award, winner
2015 Finalist Licher Fotopreis
2015 Nominated for the Blooom Award
2015 Shortlisted in Felix Schoeller Photo Award
2014 Award of Berliner Liste – Fair for Contamporary Art
2013/14/15 Shortlisted in Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award / Georgia
2013 Honorable Mention in International Kontinent Photography Awards
2012 Shortlisted in Kaunas Photo Festival/ Lithuania
2012 First Prize in Photography, ARTE LAGUNA – Prize, Venice / Italy
PUBLICATIONS
2016 More Cars, Clothes and Cabbages, Peperoni Books, ISBN 978-3-941825-97-0
2016 Living Inventory, group exhibition catalog, Kettler, ISBN 978-3-86206-617-9
2015 Street Photography 2015 by PDN and Acuity Press, ISBN 978-0-9909268-1-8
2015 OPUS Kulturmagazin Photo Award 2015 – catalog
2015 DFA Magazin #31 of Deutsche Fotografische Akademie
2015 Circulation(s) 2015 catalog
01,03/2015 fisheye magazine #10/#12, Paris
2014 FEX – Pictures from the Underground, catalog from Kettler publisher
03/2014 Brennpunkt Magazin for Photography
2013/14/15 Kolga Tbilisi Photo catalogs
12/2011 Der Greif, Jubilee Issue #5
12/2011 Unpublished Magazine, Issue #3, Milan
07/2011 CarneMag, Issue #11, Buenos Aires
06/2011 NEON
COLLECTION
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York
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