Lothar

On December 26th, 1999, hurricane Lothar destroyed many forests in northern and central Europe. Some of the forests were artificially reforested by humans, others were “left to nature”. In one of these places, a path was created from the broken wood of the trees, which leads through the area. Its sole purpose is to enable visitors to understand how nature regenerates itself. Paul Valentin used this absurd situation of creating something just to show what happens when you do nothing at all to stage a fictional laboratory in which the difference between reality and fiction seems to be synthesized. The path is an intervention that shows precisely the absence of intervention. This paradox, which is created by the artificial separation of what is declared as human and what is declared as nature, what is phisical and what is digital, is found on all levels in the work of Lothar.

Paul Valentin
Paul Valentin (*1990) is an artist from Munich. He was a master student at the Academy of Fine Arts under Alexandra Birken. His works deal with overcoming dualistic philosophy and investigate the secrets in the abandoned foundations of metaphysics. While primarily working in CG-based video art, his practice includes, sculpture, and hybrids of photography and holography. His science fiction story Formula is their conceptual framing. As the son of a theater sculptor, his aesthetic is shaped by a recurring motif – the question of how the world is constructed. His works have received the Karl & Faber Prize and the Scholarship for Fine Arts of the City of Munich and have been exhibited at Ars Electronica in Linz, EMAF and Sluice Biennale, as well as at the Haus der Kunst, Frieder Burda and Gustav-Luebke Museum. His films are part of the ERES Foundation Collection. He is represented by Britta Rettberg Gallery.