Thomas Tankred Tabbert

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Video installation "Eyeball" by Tankred Tabbert over the Hamburg Reeperbahn in July 2015

Thomas Tankred Tabbert (* 1968 ) is a German media scientist, publicist and conceptual artist.

life and work

Tabbert studied at the Free Art School Nürtingen and the University of Stuttgart and initially worked as an art critic. For his exhibition reports and interviews, among others with Timm Ulrichs , Yoko Tawada , Richard Wentworth and Franz Erhard Walther , he was nominated in 1999 for the first prize for art criticism of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher Kunstvereine.

After receiving his doctorate as a scholarship holder of the Baden-Württemberg State Graduate Funding on artificial people in literature and technology at the University of Stuttgart, he was co-founder and until 2013 head of the Hamburg Institute for Artificial Anthropology. He also taught at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), the Bremen University of Applied Sciences , the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy and the Baden-Württemberg Academy for Technology Assessment and was also an associate member of the DFG graduate college "Image-Body-Medium" at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe as well as a member of the research cluster "Postmedial Realities" at the Hochschule Furtwangen University . 

In his dissertation he founded what is known as “artificial anthropology”, which is about overcoming the separation between the “ two cultures ” for interdisciplinary research into the phenomenon of artificial people in both cultural and technical terms. The work presented for the first time a classification of artificial people that can be used in both the natural sciences and the so-called humanities. Numerous publications on the subject of artificial people , virtual realities and questions of artificial intelligence followed, including a monograph on Oswald Wiener's "bio-adapter" from his "The Improvement of Central Europe, Roman", the first German-language monograph on the American science fiction writer and screenwriter William Gibson as well as the first German monograph on Philip K. Dick's influential novel "Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep?"

As a concept and media artist , the subjects of freedom of expression , freedom of the individual, the materiality of communication, the peculiarities and modes of action of medially conveyed communication, a socially critical representation of the present as well as a critical reflection of the “operating system” of art form the focus of his work.

His video installation “Eyeball” above the roofs of Hamburg's Reeperbahn became known nationwide in the summer of 2015 , in which a twelve square meter eyeball observed visitors to the Reeperbahn day and night. Due to the location of the video installation and the circumstances of the time, the work became an appeal against the involuntary state surveillance of the population. Due to the high number of visitors to the Reeperbahn during the summer months, the work was seen by almost four million people during the exhibition period.

In the same year the artist published a manifesto on artistic freedom under the title "Se ipsum II - The artist as perpetrator" , which sets artistic freedom absolutely and understands the artist as a perpetrator in the sense of an agent. The concept of artistic freedom postulated in this manifesto goes far beyond the concept of artistic freedom anchored in the Basic Law and was therefore controversially discussed. In 2017 Tabbert presented the manifesto at documenta 14.

His project “Whore Hearts” attracted further nationwide attention in March 2016, in which the artist asked sex workers from his adopted home of Hamburg to draw a red heart in his sketch pad. The concept was based on the assumption that such a drawn heart would be as individual and meaningful as a signature with regard to its author. In this way, the work asked about the person behind the social role of the prostitute , but also about the wishes, projections and expectations of the clients. The "whore hearts" with the range of their possible meanings represent the corresponding field of tension between abstract symbol, emotionless and meaningless cliché or even a real love message.

Also in 2016 Tabbert received an invitation to Manifesta 11 for the work “Dust Thaler”, which also made his work internationally known. The objects in the 90-part series consist of thalers made of hand-formed dust with a diameter of 49 millimeters. The Zen-Buddhist-inspired work aims to illustrate the illusion of a materialistic worldview, especially against the background of the functionalization of contemporary art as an object of speculation in the context of a profit-oriented value chain. While the work is at the same time a textbook-like, extreme example of a value chain which, with all its ironic intent, is actually suitable as a first-class speculative object, the "Dust Talers" refer to older models, primarily Piero Manzoni's "Merda d'artista". Particularly in the case of an auction of the “dust coins”, the transfer of an anti-value object into an object of value can be observed as well as the collision of the associated discourses.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 2019: "Adolf Hitler weeps / Gerhard Schröder weeps / Angela Merkel weeps / Larry Page weeps / Larry Fink weeps / Kevin Sneader weeps", "Lochschwager", Nachtspeicher 23 eV, Hamburg
  • 2019: "Art is sold out", Hinterconti, Hamburg
  • 2019: "Consumer Landscape", Art Clinic, Hamburg
  • 2018: "Bitsmoney", 23rd Kottwitzkeller, Hamburg
  • 2017: "Tankred says: ...", poster campaign, Voßstraße, Berlin
  • 2017: "Tankreds Liebesmobil", campaign, Hamburg
  • 2017: "The artist as perpetrator", documenta 14
  • 2016: “Emotions / Feelings”, action, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
  • 2016: “Super Series Special”, solo exhibition, Künstlerhaus Spektrum, Göppingen
  • 2016: "Dust Thaler", Manifesta 11
  • 2016: “The Ariadne Project”, participation in the exhibition of the international submissions to the open art competition “Middle in the Pampa” - Art in the Underground, Station of Urban Cultures, New Society for Fine Arts Berlin *
  • 2016: “Hurenherzen”, solo exhibition, Gallery StatusZone, Hamburg
  • 2015: Video installation “Eyeball” over Hamburg's Reeperbahn
  • 2015: Action / Performance "1.814.597", Kunsthalle Hamburg
  • 2015: “Places where I pissed”, solo exhibition, public facilities in Hamburg
  • 2014: "The thoughts are free", action / performance Reinbek b. Hamburg

Publications

As an artist:

  • Mein Bakunin, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-9-7
  • Lochschwager, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-0-4
  • Gay Nazis - On the aesthetics and mass psychology of fascism, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-8-0
  • Hurenherzen, catalog, with essays by Undine de Rivière and Carsten Uhlig, 3rd edition, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-6-6
  • The videos, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-7-3
  • Hurenherzen, catalog, with essays by Undine de Rivière and Carsten Uhlig, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2016, ISBN 978-3-00-052228-4
  • Se ipsum II - The artist as a perpetrator . In: Tatort, catalog 20. Kottwitzkeller, ed. Wolfgang Scholz, Friends of the Kottwitzkeller, Hamburg 2015, 59.
  • HEUTEKUNST - New Works, Catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg, 2015
  • Places where I pissed, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg, 2015
  • My most beautiful successes - The best of 30 years of art, catalog, Artislife Press Hamburg, 2014

As a scientist:

  • Heike Sauer - KunstKitsch, Artistife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-2-8
  • Intermediate spaces, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-9820707-1-1
  • Parent's Guide to Internet and Computer Addiction. Recognize and remedy dependencies. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-938378-77-9
  • Development potential of virtual stars in an adventure society. In: Selke, Stefan / Dittler, Ulrich (eds.): Postmedialerealitäten, (“Telepolis” series), Hanover 2009, 93–113,  ISBN 978-3-936931-63-1
  •  On Non-human Personhood In: Erwägen-Wissen-Ethik, Vol. 20/2009, Heft 2, Stuttgart 2009, 231f.
  •  Obsessions of Passion - A Short History of Fuck Machines. Fiction and Reality in Charles Bukowski's “Fuck Machine” Translated by Anja Franke, Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-938378-70-0
  •   Artificial people in William Gibson's novels. Avatars - Artificial Intelligences - Telematic Kyborge - Virtual Idols. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-938378-44-1
  •  Cyborgs `R Us. Artificial humans in Philip K. Dick's “Do Android's Dream of Electric Shell?”. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-938378-27-4
  •  Posthuman humanity. Artificial people and their literary precursors in Michel Houellebecq's novel “Elementarteilchen”. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-938378-21-2
  •  Voss as Epitome. The Faust Motif in Patrick White's novel “Voss” and the Meaning of its Title. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-938378-19-9
  •  The enlightened machine - artificial people in ETA Hoffmann's “The Sandman”. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-938378-10-6
  •  Frankenstein's Creation - Artificial People in Mary Shelley's novels. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-938378-12-0
  •  Merged with the absolute reality machine - Oswald Wiener's “The Improvement of Central Europe, Novel”. With an interview with Oswald Wiener. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 978-3-938378-08-3
  •  Obsessions of desire. Fact and fiction in Charles Bukowski's “Fuck Machine”. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-00-014703-6
  •  The birth of posthumanism from the spirit of the adventure society. Artificial people in Michel Houellebecq's novel “Elementarteilchen”. Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-00-014261-1
  •  Man machine gods. Artificial people in literature and technology. Case studies of an artificial anthropology. (Additional dissertation. Univ. Stuttgart). Artislife Press Hamburg, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-00-014038-9
  •  The uncanny is forgotten on your own doorstep. Siegfried Hopf's Photographs on the Cooke Barracks In: Exhibition catalog Siegfried Hopf - Photographs Cooke Barracks. Municipal Museum Göppingen, Göppingen 2001, 4–12. ISBN 3-933844-34-7
  •  Award 1999 - Opportunities and Risks of Digital Photography and Electronic Image Processing In: M - People make media, Vol. 49, 5–6 (May / June 2000), 34–37.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marcus Zecha: Giant eye monitors the Reeperbahn. Neue Württembergische Zeitung, accessed on February 8, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Scholarship from the State Graduate Funding Baden-Württemberg 7631.2-99 / 2; see. also the dissertation in the catalog of the German National Library
  3. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library
  4. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library and Free Art Academy Hamburg lecturers
  5. ↑ Man machine gods: artificial people in literature and technology; Case Studies of an Artificial Anthropology - Thomas T. Tabber
  6. ↑ KIT library: Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog KVK
  7. ↑ KIT library: Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog KVK
  8. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library
  9. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library
  10. ↑ tankred-tabbert-art - art
  11. ↑ "Big Eyeball" on the Reeperbahn at half past twelve - Südwest Presse Online
  12. ↑ "Eyeball" monitors the Reeperbahn - St. Pauli News
  13. ↑ Se ipsum II (The artist as perpetrator)
  14. ↑ Tankred Tabbert Art: Tankred Tabbert_Der Künstler als Täter_documenta August 14 , 2017, accessed on August 2, 2017 .
  15. ^ DNB, catalog of the German National Library
  16. ↑ Art: "It's about your personality, not your flesh" - Zeit Online
  17. ↑ Tankred Tabbert - Pink Channel and QueerBeet
  18. ↑ Exhibition tips for the holidays: Hamburg - Image 12 - ART
  19. ↑ Tankred Tabbert - Manifesta 11
personal data
SURNAME Tabbert, Thomas Tankred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German media scientist, publicist and concept artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1968