Wolfgang Tillmans

tillmanns

Wolfgang Tillmans: Sommer, 2004

Maren Lübbke-Tidow

Wolfgang Tillmans – sic transit gloria mundis

In 2004 Wolfgang Tillmans observed through his telescope the planet Venus passing between the earth and the sun, and captured this event in various photographs. The transit of Venus is an extremely rare planetary constellation. Historically, it was important because only the measurement of such transits, in which a moving celestial body places itself in front of a fixed point in the solar system, enabled man to determine the exact distance between the earth and the sun. Today, thanks to new research, other methods for measuring the solar system have long been in use. As a geometric figure however the transit of Venus still exhibits a section of celestial mechanics whose observation Tillmans describes as a “moving experience” that gave him “a visual impression of my position in the universe”. [1] In the transit of Venus, Tillmans found a subject with which he could illustrate in a very impressive manner not only the uniqueness of a moment and its passing, but also a modern version of the vanitas motif: man is not in control of his own destiny, and constantly finds himself between the knowledge of his nothingness and the desire to embrace the world, between humility and fantasies of power.

The transit of Venus is a concrete event that has been measured thousands of times and been thoroughly understood by science; and it was no accident that prompted Tillman to chose a picture of precisely this event for the cover of his artist book truth study center. He is interested in systems of knowledge or the apparatus of science and in the contingency, the status of uncertainty and openness with respect to possible future developments, to which they are subject because of the continual differentiation of knowledge. Tillmans’s coming to grips with AIDS is an example of this: medical history in particular is a history of errors and corrections, and his conference transcript, which was created for the conference on Why We Must Provide HIV Treatment Information and which combines the presentation of current medical goals with photographic portraits of AIDS activists, shows this in a graphic manner. Not least against this background, many of the photographs originating in his immediate surroundings, in which homosexuality appears as a theme, can be read differently. They then distance themselves from the view of his photography as a witness to the pure celebration of life. They become political, borne by existential questions, and turn into images of the transience of all life. His still lifes and his Schneebilder [Snow Pictures] can also be seen in the same context.

With the combination of image and text, from which the cover design of truth study center bearing a version of venus transit (2004) lives, Tillmans points up one of his programmatic approaches: his work is beyond big theories and guided by a reserve about finished statements. Seeing that Tillmans has worked almost exclusively in the medium of photography, it is downright challenging to give oneself up to this approach, for there is no other medium of our visual culture more closely connected with the dictum of representation – a central point of controversy in the history of the discourse on photography. [...]

[1] Wolfgang Tillmans in: idem. (ed.), Wolfgang Tillmans. truth study center, Taschen, Cologne, 2005, (without page number).

Catalog excerpt "Extended. Sammlung Landesbank Baden-Württemberg"
Editors: Lutz Casper, Gregor Jansen, published by Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg, 2009

^

Works in the Exhibition

Wolfgang Tillmans
Würstchen, 1988
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Verrutschte Socke, 1989
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Spülblitz, 1990
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Adam redeye, 1991
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Adam's crotch, 1991
C-print
50 x 60 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Smoker (Chemistry), 1992
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
red coat, 1992
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Gillian & Christopher on floor, 1993
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Hong Kong airport, 1993
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Piloten, 1993
C-print
143 x 200 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Knotenmutter, 1994
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Paula, typewriter, looking, 1994
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
rat on trash bags, 1995
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Isa vor Sound Factory, 1995
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
still life, yellow tomatoes, 1995
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Smokin' Jo, window, 1995
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Vickie & Scott, 1995
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
After Warriors, 1996
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
kate mc queen, 1996
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Bahndamm, 1996
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Habakkuk & Cherubim, 1996
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Für Immer Burgen, 1997
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Minato-Mirai-21, 1997
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
window / Caravaggio, 1997
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
untitled (La Gomera), 1997
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Flashed Pool, 1998
Ink jet print
210 x 135 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Eclipse I-34, 1998
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Eclipse 2-3, 1998
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Diamantring, 1998
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Eclipse I-1, 1998
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Eclipse II-23 A, 1998
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
suburban urban, 1999
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Ambach, 1999
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Snow/Ice Grid, 1999
C-print
je 60 x 50 cm, gesamt 146 x 210 cm (gerahmt: 177 x 250 cm)

Wolfgang Tillmans
Aufsicht, green, 1999
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
shooting cloud (fucked-up chemicals), 1999
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Capodimonte, 1999
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Victoria Line, glass partition, 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Bakerloo Line, 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Circle Line, 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Jubilee Line, 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Central Line, suit, 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Aufsicht (winter), 2000
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Windowbox, 2000
C-print
50 x 60 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
anti-homeless device, 2000
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
New Family, 2001
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
blautopf, landscape, 2001
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Fische, 2001
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Sheet One, 2001
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Icestorm, 2001
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
outside Snax Club, 2001
C-print
30 x 40 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
after storm, 2002
C-print
50 x 60 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Trinitatis, 2002
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
The Cock (kiss), 2002
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
The Bell, 2002
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Genom, 2002
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Morrissey, 2003
C-print
210 x 135 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Stripped, 2003
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer 35, 2003
C-print
180 x 240 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Anders pulling splinter from his foot, 2004
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Sommer, 2004
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
paper drop (white) b, 2004
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
paper drop (white) c, 2004
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
paper drop (white) d, 2004
C-print
60 x 50 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Venus transit, edge, 2004
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Venus transit, clouds, 2004
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Venus, passage, 2004
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Fuji, 2004
C-print
145 x 211 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Himmelblau, 2005
C-print
40 x 30 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Empire (men), 2005
C-print
234 x 174 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Garden, 2007
C-print
258 x 172 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Lighter, black IV, 2008
C-print, unicum
64,5 x 54 x 12 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans
Silver 68, 2008
C-print
237 x 181 cm

^