“Frozen Images” – On the Works of Bernd Zöllner
Behind the banality of everyday actions there lies concealed a unique magic. The repetition of an activity appears like a ritual, which, in the course of time, evolves into a distinctively authentic action. For example, taking off a pullover is always an individual act, possessed of its own intrinsic aesthetic. And the more profane the activity, the deeper the insights it affords on the nature of the protagonist. From behind his camera, Bernd Zöllner observes mundane activities in the manner of a detective. His gaze captures the moment, particularly when apparently nothing spectacular is happening. At the same time, each photograph serves quasi as a forensic record of each individual clue, which, when collated, yields a tangible “chain of evidence”. From a sequence of "kitchen scenes” a story emerges, which, in contrast to a logically structured plot, retains a fragmentary character. Each “snap shot” stands alone - in and of itself, but when combined in sequence with further snap shots evolves its own narrative arc. Within the temporal and spatial coherence of his photographs, Zöllner evinces a fine sensibility for the message of the moment. The ostensibly banal suddenly assumes a salience and an elevated stature and within this network of moments, reality becomes distinctive and unique. “What is an aura?“ asked Walter Benjamin. “A unique phenomenon”, he explained subsequently, “of space and time: of a distance, however close it may be.“ (Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction) The photographs of Bernd Zöllner are infused with something of this aura, this unique phenomenon which, notwithstanding the reproduction of everyday activities and actions, can continually be experienced anew. His snapshots are as near as they are distant, they are familiar, yet mysterious and alien.
Bernd Zöllner challenges the viewer to peer between the individual scenes and actions. He alludes to the uniqueness of everyday processes and presents us with a series of perspectives and questions. His “frozen images” grant the viewers an insight into the unconscious and the normally invisible gestures of an ordinary action. For example, the reason why men undress in a fundamentally different way from women becomes abundantly apparent when we compare his “Pullover Portraits“. In his work cycles - often photographed in series - we see a complex composition. Despite their lucid structure and reduced coloration, his images convey a heightened sensibility for nuances. Fine graduations of grey are juxtaposed with stark contrasts of light and darkness. The spatiality of his photographs is permanently interrupted by the two-dimensionality, which lends his pictures a unique ambivalence. His photographs are “frozen images”, which at the very moment of viewing suddenly set themselves into motion. They appear as brief, orchestrated scenes which, in the course of time, reveal themselves to be a series of complex narratives. By Thomas Egelkamp
