Faltenwurf (Stairwell)

2017 - Photography (Photography)

30.5 x 40.6 cm

Wolfgang Tillmans

location: London & Berlin
year born: 1968
gender: male
nationality: German
home town: Remscheid, Germany

Wolfgang Tillmans initiated the ongoing series Faltenwurf in 1989, representing compositions of unused clothing, with special attention paid to the ways in which they drape and fold. The title is taken from a Germanic term used in the context of art history, designating classical drapery. In this particular photograph, Faltenwurf (Stairwell) , an assortment of various colored clothes lay tangled on a set of stairs, as a sculpture of abstract forms. Through this work, the artist conveys the fundamentals of the photographic medium as it relates to dimensionality and sculpture, as well as the relationship between surface and materiality. At its core, this formal exploration of color, texture, and shape is concerned with translation—from sculpture to photography, from three-dimension to two-dimension. The garments in this photograph appear to have been cast off or discarded down the stairs, perhaps in a hurry, or a half attempt at putting them in the laundry. In television and film clothing on the floor is a visual euphemism employed to signify that a sexual act has taken place, which suggests a sensual quality to Tillmans’s photograph. In a utilitarian sense, clothing offers protection, while sartorially they aid in creating or performing identity. Often, they are what gets left behind in a moment of urgent displacement. The absence of a body in relation to the clothing in this context also casts a somewhat foreboding impression on the photograph. Symbolically, clothing can convey multiple meanings, all of which are up for discussion in Tillmans’s work.


Wolfgang Tillmans is an influential contemporary photographer, as well as a musician, writer, and political activist. He engages with contemporary culture in its plural forms challenging conventional aesthetics. Tillmans’s work considers issues of sexuality, spirituality, borders, and global events, as well as reflecting on the photographic medium itself. He is well known for his casual documentary photographs of youth, clubs, and LGBTQ culture for magazines in the 1990s. Experimentation and innovation are crucial elements of his methodology and approach to presentation. Social and political concerns have been a constant throughout Tillmans’s practice; he is preoccupied with the destabilization of the world, the refugee crisis, and how global events are communicated. Tillmans is directly involved in political activism as he was one of Europe’s most outspoken critics against Brexit and the rise of the right wing across the continent. In 2006 he founded a non-profit exhibition space, Between Bridges, devoted to the advancement of democracy and now used to address the ongoing European migrant crisis.


Colors:



Related works featuring themes of: » Abstract Photography, » Color Photography, » Diaristic, » Documentary Photography, » German  
» see more

Fedex® 10kg Box 2006 FedEx 149801 REV 9/06 MP, Standard Overnight, Los Angeles-San Francisco, trk#800983717740, December 18-19, 2012, International Priority, San Francisco-Beijing, trk# 775046700145, October 27-November 5, 2021
© » KADIST

Walead Beshty

2012

Constructed out of metal or glass to mirror the size of FedEx shipping boxes, and to fit securely inside, Walead Beshty’s FedEx works are then shipped, accruing cracks, chips, scrapes, and bruises along the way to their destination...

Untitled (Sten-Frenke House #04)
© » KADIST

Luisa Lambri

2007

Custom-built for a silent film star in 1934 in Santa Monica, the Sten-Frenke House is an idiosyncratic icon...

Untitled (Family Project)
© » KADIST

Motoyuki Daifu

2010

Seven family members and a cat all squeezed into the small five-room house, where Motoyuki Daifu grew up in Yokohama...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

Fedex® 10kg Box 2006 FedEx 149801 REV 9/06 MP, Standard Overnight, Los Angeles-San Francisco, trk#800983717740, December 18-19, 2012, International Priority, San Francisco-Beijing, trk# 775046700145, October 27-November 5, 2021
© » KADIST

Walead Beshty

2012

Constructed out of metal or glass to mirror the size of FedEx shipping boxes, and to fit securely inside, Walead Beshty’s FedEx works are then shipped, accruing cracks, chips, scrapes, and bruises along the way to their destination...

Iris Tingitana Oxalis
© » KADIST

Yto Barrada

2007

This photograph is part of the series titled “Iris Tingitana project” (2007) focusing on the disappearance of the iris...

Muster
© » KADIST

Clemens von Wedemeyer

2012

Clemens von Wedemeyer has imagined a trip back in time at Breitenau...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

Regard Eating Every Single Time as a Formal Declaration, My Stomach is Sexy out of Anger
© » KADIST

Xiaoyun Chen

2006

The image of rusted nails, nuts and bolts as shrapnel sandwiched between a fried Chicken burger highlights the contrast between decadence and destruction...

Free Things To Do In London At Christmas
© » LONDONIST

Free Things To Do In London For Christmas 2023 | Londonist Free Things To Do In London At Christmas By Laura Reynolds Laura Reynolds Free Things To Do In London At Christmas Winter By The River is free entry...

Related works from the » 2010's created around » London & Berlin  
» see more

Office Voodoo
© » KADIST

Haegue Yang

2010

In addition to Yang’s signature drying rack and light bulbs, Office Voodoo includes various office supplies like CDs, paper clips, headphones, a computer mouse, a stamp, a hole puncher, a mobile phone charger...

¿Quién medirá el espacio, quién me dirá el momento?, 1 (columna alfarero)
© » KADIST

Mariana Castillo Deball

2015

Taking archaeology as her departure point to examine the trajectories of replicated and displaced objects, “Who will measure the space, who will tell me the time?” was produced in Oaxaca for her exhibition of the same title at the Contemporary Museum of Oaxaca (MACO) in 2015...

Related artist(s) to: Wolfgang Tillmans » Antony Gormley, » Thomas Hirschhorn, » Albert Oehlen, » Barbara Kruger, » Bruce Nauman, » Bruce Sterling, » Dan Graham, » Daniel Birnbaum, » Doug Aitken, » Ettore Sottsass  
» see more

Frontier-Linear
© » KADIST

Doug Aitken

2009

The version of Frontier acquired by the Kadist Collection consists of a single-channel video, adapted from the monumental installation and performance that Aitken presented in Rome, by the Tiber River, in 2009...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

"Anonymous (Jradi and a friend)", Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon
© » KADIST

Akram Zaatari

1972

“The two men were relatives and both were in the Lebanese Army.” Hashem El Madani...

Two Palestinian Sisters
© » KADIST

Akram Zaatari

1950

Hashem El Madani, a studio photographer in Saida, began working in 1948...

"Najm", Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon
© » KADIST

Akram Zaatari

1956

“People often asked if they could pose with the Kodak advertisement where a full scale woman is featured with a camera offering Kodak rolls...

"Anonymous", Studio Shehrazade, Saida, Lebanon
© » KADIST

Akram Zaatari

1970

“People often asked if they could pose with the Kodak advertisement where a full scale woman is featured with a camera offering Kodak rolls...