Jan Bernstein

 

 

In mechanical perfection, Jan Bernstein’s kinetic artworks silently perform their day’s work: taking aim at themselves, blurring their own message consistently, travelling to another place within the duration of a minute or scratching a fine line in themselves. In a meditative fashion, they pursue their task and, in their cold, sensitive perfection, appear to be remote from the fallibility of human manners of functioning. This emerging distance is bypassed by Bernstein with an access to the technical assignment of each object, as the beholder is able to comprehend the idea a piece follows.  Its movement and the subsequent alteration implies a contentual dynamic, which tells about a fragile balance between destruction and creation.

 

 

digitalism is dead intern 42 x 84, 2017, Flip dot panel, engine, magnets, aluminium, PU belt, 56 x 28 x 7 cm

 

 

Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik no.1 and no. 2, 2016, engines, sensors, aluminium, steel, string, MDF, target (paper)

 

 

Es ist alles nur Wandel, 2016, sandstone, basalt, aluminium, steel, brass,engine, wire 115 x 38 x 15 cm

 

 

Destroy Line, 2016, hardened steel, aluminium, steel, toothed belt, engine, wire, ball bearing, 100 x 20 x 12 cm

 

Biography

1982: Born in Berlin/ De; lives and works in Berlin/ DE 2003 – 2010: Study at the Kunsthochschule in Halle/ DE 2007- 2008: Study at the Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de Valencia/ ESP 2010: Degree Kunsthochschule in Halle/ DE 2010 – 2013: Lectureship Kunsthochschule in Halle/ DE 2013: Kollektiv Quadrature with Sebastian Neitsch 2015: Guest professorship Kunsthochschule in Halle/ DE 2017: Occupation of his own studio in Berlin

 

Awards

2010: Hamburg: special recognition Lucky Strike Junior Designer Award 2010/ DE; residence scholarship, Salzburg/ AT 2015: winner Art&Science ESO Residence Award 2015 with Quadrature/ AT; Stiftung Francois Schneider, nominated for ‘Talents Contemporains‘ with Quadrature, Wattwiller/FR; Prix Ars Electronica 2015, prize with Quadrature, Linz/ AT 2016: New Technology Art Award, nominated with Quadrature, Ghent/ BE; CynetArt Award, nominated with Quadrature, Dresden/ DE; European Digital Art and Science Network, Art&Science Residence Award with ESO and Ars Electronica, together with Quadrature/ CHL/ EU 2017: Japan Media Arts Festival, jury selection with Quadrature, Tokyo/ JP 2018: Japan Media Arts Festival, jury selection with Quadrature, Tokyo/ JP

 

Exhibitions

2008: Schirn-Kunsthalle: group exhibition, Frankfurt: Frankfurter/ DE  2009: Vienna Paraflows 09: group exhibition/ AUT  The Modern Art Museum Santralistanbul: group exhibition/ TUR  2010: Salzburg: subnet: artist in residence/ AUS Schmiede10: performance, Hallein/ AUS Art of Engineering, Deutschen Technikmuseum: group exhibition/ DE Halle an der Saale: UFO Galerie: group exhibition/ DE  2011: Stuttgart: Akademie Schloss Solitude: group exhibition/ DE Hallein: at Schmiede11: work and playground/ DE Halle an der Saale: Die schöne Stadt gallery: group exhibition/ DE Mesum Teresa, Electrovisiones: group exhibition, Mexico City/ MEX Leipzig: Essential Existence Gallery: solo exhibition/ DE Milano: Salone de Mobile: design fair/ ITA Vienna: at sound:frame festival 2011: performance/ AUS  Stuttgart: blickfang: design fair/ DE   Köln: imm cologne: design fair/ DE  2012: Engen: Städtische Galerie Engen: solo exhibition/ DE  Berlin: Kunsthalle Platoon: group exhibition/ DE  2013: Troy, Upstate New York: EMPAC [Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center]: performance with Wojtek Ziemilski/ US  Warsaw: Palace of Culture and Science: theater performance with Wojtek Ziemilski/ POL  2014: ADAEX 04 – Tehran Annual Digital Art Exhibition: group exhibition/ IRN  Halle an der Saale: Kunststiftung Sachsen-Anhalt: group exhibition/ DE  2015: Bergen: PIKSEL 15: group exhibition/ NO  Vienna: Paraflows X – Festival für Digitale Kunst und Kulturen: group exhibition/ AUS  Linz: Ars Electronica Festival, CyberArts Exhibition 2015: group exhibition/ AUS  Tehran: TADAEX 05 – Tehran Annual Digital Art Exhibition: group exhibition/ IRN  Bogota: ARTTEC Festival: group exhibition/  COL  Pforzheim: Wahrnehmung, Laf e.V.: group exhibition/ DE  Frankfurt: The Informed Body at NODE 15: group exhibition/ DE   2016: group exhibition, eggsposition, 70% bar. Eindhoven/ NL; UAMO Festival. München/ DE; group exhibition, Galerie Villa Bosch. Radolfzell/ DE; Solo exhibition with Voré, Figuration – Konstruktion, galerie gerken. Berlin/ DE; group exhibition, The Alchemists of Art and Science, Ars Electronica Festival. Linz/ DE; Ars Electronica Museum. Linz/ A; group exhibition, Interference, Kikk Festival. Namur/ BE; group exhibition, update#6, New Technology Art Award. Gent/ BE; group exhibition, Cynetart, Festspielhaus Hellerau. Dresden/ DE   2017: (Im)matérialités, Mirage Festival. Lyon/ F; Center for the Promotion of Science. Belgrade/ SRB; Prima Materia, Fiber Festival. Amsterdam, NL; Solo exhibition with Quadrature, Ebenen der Expansion, Galerie Saalbau. Berlin/ DE; group exhibition, kinetical patterns, galerie gerken Berlin/ DE; Ars Electronica. Linz/ A; ‘Paysages à l’échelle’, Musée Hébert. Grenoble/ F; group exhibition, ‘Best of galerie gerken’, galerie gerken, Berlin/ DE; group exhibition ‘eGGspositie’, Wall Street. Eindhoven, NL   2018: group exhibition, ‘Taming Chaos’, Galerie Mazzoli, Berlin/DE; art fair, Art Brussels, Galerie Mazzoli, Brussel/ BE; groupexhibition ‘G18’, Kassel/ DE; exhibition, Warte für Kunst, Kassel/ DE; A Remix of Aesthetic Forms and their Opposites, group exhibition, galerie gerken. Berlin/ DE