Christian Jankowski (born 1968 in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
,
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
) is a contemporary multimedia
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
who largely works with
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
,
installation
Installation may refer to:
* Installation (computer programs)
* Installation, work of installation art
* Installation, military base
* Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...
and
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
. He lives and works in Berlin and New York.
Work
Jankowski's work has been associated with
New Gothic Art
New Gothic or Neo-Gothic is a contemporary art movement that emphasizes darkness and horror.
Manifesto
"The Art Manifesto" was written by Gothic subculture artist Charles Moffat in 2001, who also coined the term in an effort to differentiate ...
and compared with artists like
Rirkrit Tiravanija
Rirkrit Tiravanija ( th, ฤกษ์ฤทธิ์ ตีระวนิช, pronunciation: [] or Tea-rah-vah-nitJerry Saltz (May 7, 2007)Conspicuous Consumption''New York Magazine''.) is a Thai contemporary artist residing in New York City, Be ...
, Gillian Wearing, and [
ierre Huyghe. Using various media formats, the collaborative nature of his practice is paramount as each participant unwittingly contributes his or her own texture to the work.
[Christian Jankowski: Casting Jesus 7 September – 1 October 2011](_blank)
Lisson Gallery, London
''The Hunt'' (1992), a performance video piece, is one of the artists earliest works. For one week the artist visited supermarkets and rather than select his goods as customary, he‘ hunted down’ his groceries, shooting each item with a children’s bow and arrow, accompanied by a friend with a video camera. For the 23-minute video ''Lycan Theorized'' (2006), Jankowski persuaded the cast and crew working in an actual straight-to-DVD werewolf movie (in which he had a bit part) to re-enact some of its most violent scenes while quoting the writings of various film theorists. The film ''Casting Jesus'' (2011) focuses on an audition to select an actor that best interprets the role of Jesus, judged by a jury of Vatican members.
Jankowski has also created a number of television interventions. His video installation ''Telemistica'' was included in the 1999
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, and shows five Italian television fortune-tellers responding to a phoned-in question about the artist's success or failure at the upcoming Biennale. ''The Holy Artwork'' (2001) is a collaboration with a
televangelist
Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...
pastor from Texas. In ''Discourse News'', Senior Business Anchor
Annika Pergament reports on Jankowski's definition of art from her newscaster’s desk at
NY1
NY1 (also officially known as Spectrum News NY1 and spoken as New York One) is an American cable news television channel founded by Time Warner Cable, which itself is owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition in May 2016. The channe ...
.
[Christian Jankowski: Discourse News, June 21 - July 28, 2012](_blank)
Petzel Gallery, New York.
In 2007, he presented The living sculptures, a project curated by
Ferran Barenblit
Ferran Barenblit (born 1968, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine museum director. He studied Art History at the Universitat de Barcelona (1991) and Museology at New York University (1995).
Ferran Barenblit was director of the Centre d'Art Santa Mònic ...
.
Barcelona’s popular boulevard
Las Ramblas
La Rambla () is a street in central Barcelona. A tree-lined pedestrian street, it stretches for connecting the in its center with the Columbus Monument, Barcelona, Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla forms the boundary betwe ...
is lined with street performers who mimic bronze sculptures by standing motionless, covered in metallic paint from head to toe, for the amusement – and spare change – of thousands of tourists. From the many, Jankowski selected three: personifications of
Che Guevara
Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
,
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, and the female figure in
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarr ...
’s Anthropomorphic Chest of Drawers. Then, with the help of a
foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
, the artist produced life-size bronze casts of the three figures – along with their soapbox plinths – and placed them at the same spots where he originally encountered them. The sculptures were installed later in London (
Regent's Park
Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...
), New York (
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
) and other locations around the World.
Jankowski's installation ''Strip the Auctioneer'' (2009) consists of sculpture, photographs and a video connected to a live auction that was orchestrated by the artist in May 2009. The action takes place at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction house in Amsterdam and incorporates the auctioneer, Amo Verkade, as the desired possession. Verkade bids his garment piece by piece down to his hammer. He strips himself of his suit, baring and transforming those parcels of clothing into objects of desire.
Exhibitions
Jankowski's videos, films, and installations have been exhibited internationally in places such as
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is an art museum for contemporary art, located in St. Louis, Missouri. Known informally as the CAM St. Louis, the museum is located at 3750 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The buildin ...
(2015); Sala de Arte Publico Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico (2012),
Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, it, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma, italic=no, usually known as MACRO, is a municipal contemporary art museum in Rome, Italy. The museum is housed in two separate places: a former brewery in Via Nizza, ...
(2012),
Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden (2009);
Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
The Kunstmuseum Stuttgart is a contemporary and modern art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, built and opened in 2005.
Description
The cubic museum building with 5000 m2 of display space was designed by Berlin architects Hascher and Jehle. During ...
(2008);
Miami Art Museum
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...
, Miami (2007);
List Visual Arts Center
Established in 1950, the List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is the contemporary art museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for temporary exhibitions in its galleries located in the MIT Media Lab building, as well as its admini ...
, Massachusetts (2005);
Artpace
Artpace is a non-profit contemporary art gallery located in San Antonio, Texas, United States, founded by Linda Pace. Artpace opened its doors in 1995, and focuses on the artistic process. Occupying the space of a former Hudson automobile dealers ...
, San Antonio (2001); and
Wadsworth Atheneum
The Wadsworth Atheneum is an art museum in Hartford, Connecticut. The Wadsworth is noted for its collections of European Baroque art, ancient Egyptian and Classical bronzes, French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School lands ...
, Hartford (2000).
The artist participated in the 2002
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition in ...
and in the 48th
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
.
Notable works
* ''The Hunt'' (1992)
* ''My Life as a Dove'' (1996)
* ''Let's get physical/digital'' (1997–1998)
* ''Telemistica'' (1999)
* ''The Holy Artwork'' (2001), held in the collection of the
Tate Gallery, London
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
.
* ''Point of Sale'' (2002), held in the collection of the
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...
.
icaboston.org
* ''Tableaux Vivant TV'' (2010), produced for the Biennale of Sydney
The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...
* ''The Finest Art on Water'' (2011), first on show at Frieze Art Fair
Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...
[My other Caravaggio’s a yacht]
" ''Phaidon.com'', October 2011.
* ''Casting Jesus'' (2011)
Quotes
In an interview with Phaidon Press
Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional off ...
ahead of Frieze Art Fair
Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...
in October 2011 Jankowski said of his new work, 'The Finest Art on Water' "I’m not saying it’s the best investment ever. History will show! If you can afford it and you’ve already spent 65 million then if you spend 75, there’s a chance that this vessel will have a higher value in the future. My artistic career, the next works that I will do, will inform the price of this thing.”[
]
References
External links
Official website of artist
a description of the artist and his work
Lisson Gallery
BBC interview
''ArtForum'' review
* Fo
«What I still have to take care of» a neon installation by C. Jankowski, 2007
Text by Agustín Pérez Rubio about the work "Flock" by Jankowski
Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jankowski, Christian
German video artists
German installation artists
Living people
1968 births
German contemporary artists