6 ½ WEEKS – Thomas Albdorf

With MIRROR MIRROR the Museum Folkwang presents Thomas Albdorf’s first solo presentation in a major German institution. As part of the exhibition series 6 ½ Weeks, the Vienna-based artist will present a labyrinthine display of six paired images composed of photographs and video works.

 Working at the intersections of photography and sculpture, Thomas Albdorf (born in 1986 in Linz, Austria) is particularly interested in the analogue and post-photographic processes that lead to the production of a photographic image. Using somewhat rudimentary special effects, the artist develops pictures that at first glance seem familiar and credible. Only on closer inspection are we able to notice imperfections, inconsistencies and false assertions. For example, when backgrounds are not real but obtained from online databases or Google Street View. Or when Albdorf surrenders control over the image, allowing computer software to take over at a specific moment in the creation process so as to test out new possibilities. Rather than viewing the exhibition and publication of his works as a hermetic institutional process, Albdorf is interested in the second and third lives of his images on the web and in social networks, where they are reproduced beyond his control.   

Thomas Albdorf worked for several years as a designer and art director before completing a degree in transmedia art from the University of Applied Arts Vienna in 2013. His work has been showcased at various European exhibition venues, including Perfect Storm at NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, in 2017, and Recommended at Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg and Fotografie Forum Frankfurt in 2018. In 2016, he received the UNSEEN Amsterdam Talent Award, which led to a solo exhibition at Foam in Amsterdam. Some of his works are currently on display in On Earth – Imaging, Technology and the Natural World at Atelier des Forges in Arles, France.    

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