ANDREAS HOPFGARTEN
BIO
Andreas Hopfgarten (b. 1987) is a German visual artist working with and reflecting on photography. His research-based practice connects the private with the collective history while using intuitive storytelling approaches, film, sculptural and installation techniques. Andreas' works have been shown at the Haus der Photographie, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, at the NRW Forum, Düsseldorf, at the Goethe-Institut Nicosia, Cyprus, at the Voies OFF Festival, Arles, at the [Off-]Triennale der Photographie, Hamburg and at the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin.
A place does not become a place until someone has been there.
Material: Fine art prints on Hahnemühle paper in various sizes
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“The advent of tourism started as the pursuit of the exotic “other”, the differentness and the authentic experience. “
“Colonialism Tourism and Place” – Denis Linehan, Ian D. Clark, Philip Xie
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A place does not become a place until someone has been there. shows photographic images taken on my travels in Iceland – an approximately 2000 km long bike ride through the remote Icelandic scenery.
Iceland has experienced its fair share of “Borealism”, a form of exoticism and romanticization of the northern regions of the world. Simultaneously its own tourism industry contributes to reinforcing this romanticized view on Iceland by mainly focusing on its unique nature.
A place does not become a place until someone has been there. juxtaposes self-portraits, reenacting images of a romantic, lonely traveler, with landscape photographs of Icelandic nature. Sometimes the latter are taken up by large icons, which were found on the German app Komoot, the biggest outdoor route planer and social network in the world. Komoot helps millions of users to discover the world today.
A constructed narrative is presented that interweaves modern outdoor tourism, colonialism, and masculinity.
