Benjamin Zibner

Emerging Artist of the Week

German artist Benjamin Zibner is our Emerging Artist of the Week. Through photography the artist captures disregarded compositions of the everyday life providing a new perspective. We had the pleasure to talk about his current work entitled Bubblegum Alley, his path and his future plans.

Wertical: How do you describe your art to somebody who has never seen one of your works?
Benjamin Zibner: I work with photography questioning the documental ascription of photography. My series Rites de Passage shows this in the most obvious way. For it I took photos of the German youth, hanging out in the streets. They appear to be a real documentation on kids in the streets, which they are in a way. But they knew that they were photographed. In that specific moment they pose or behave in the way they would like to be seen on a picture. Here the word ritual becomes elementary.

WE: How does rituals impact on your works?
BZ: Rituals are another important aspect in my work. My work Bubblegum Alley is a prime example for this. It appears to be a brick wall full of bubble-gum sticking on it. Besides the upcoming questions of how and why, the act of sticking one’s bubble-gum on a wall where already millions of them are, is a form of ritual act. Which seems somehow meta–religious to me. So my interest lies within this form of human rituals and mostly in its visual blossoms.

WE: Where did you study?
BZ: I studied at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen.

WE: What did university and your professors give to you?
BZ: University gave me a better understanding of what works and why. The course situation was a good field to put my own work onto discussion. Here you have to give answers to your fellow students and professors and receive instant feedback. This was really helpful. The best part was the area of the printing laboratory, which is, when you study photography, somehow the uterus of the university. And here is where the informal talks happen. These conversations with the fellow students through all grades and the lab staff where sometimes more enlightening than professorial guidance. 

WE: What are you currently working on?
BZ: Right now I am working on two things. One is my portfolio to acquire paid photography jobs. The other is a work which I carry with me since several years. Last year, I finished the first piece of it. Which is the aforementioned Bubblegum Alley that I photographed in San Louis Obispo, California. The Bubblegum Alley is made of approximately 100 single shots of the Alleys Wall, stitched together into a single photo. It measures 2,70 meter by 1,25 meter. By now the whole edition is sold, which gives me the impression that either my art dealer did her job well or the piece was really good. Or both. I feel that it is a right track for me, so now I am planning to shoot the next subject on my list.

WE: What are your three artists to watch?
BZ: Daniel Arnold, Torbjorn Rodland, and Regine Petersen.

WE: What does your artist career look like in five years?
BZ: I am really impressed by Jürgen Teller, how he combines the spheres of art with commercial aspects. My goal is to achieve a point where I have enough time to work on my art and be inquired commercially for my body of work.

Benjamin Zibner, Bubblegum Alley, 125 x 268 cm, 2015.

Benjamin Zibner, Rites de Passage 01

Benjamin Zibner

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