In week one of Berliner Luft, the gallery presents the work of Andreas Greiner, an artist whose practice examines the influences of humanity on the biological and atmospheric processes of our planet. Greiner’s work questions definitions of life, its value, and the role of humans within larger—planetary—living communities, as aptly stated by Carson Chan, editor of the recently published catalog Life Forms. Essays on the Artwork of Andreas Greiner, and the Display, Synthesis and Simulation of Life.

In the series Jungle Memory, the artist employs Artificial Intelligence to obtain data in order to then visually map and render a landscape. Greiner developed an algorithm to be fed thousands of photographs of forests so it could then independently generate its own conception of a “forest” from the data. Sample images fed to the algorithm included ones from endangered forests in western Germany and Poland. Titled Lost in the Woods II (2019), the resulting images are layered and morphed together to create a cinematic dance of trees.

This video work is presented alongside Jungle_Memory_0011 (2019), exhibited in his solo show at Mönchehaus Museum Goslar. This large-scale rendering mimics a contemporary version of historic landscape painting, and is framed in an ornate CNC-milled frame embossed with iconography referencing bark-beetle tunnels and microcircuit boards. The project is discussed in detail by Ursula Ströbele in her essay Tangible and Virtual (Eco)Systems: Paradoxes of the Everyday, also contained in Life Forms.

Greiner presents a new work from the Seed Pattern series, in which a number of beech seeds are neatly arranged, pinned in individual parametric patterns in a charcoal frame. Each work in Seed Pattern is unique, with a varying quantity of seeds which correspond to specific statistics. The arrangement presented here of 3,670 seeds and their predicted CO2 uptake in their lifespan as beech trees compensates the carbon footprint of 4 average Germans for the same duration.

+ Signed copies by the artist of the newly released catalog Life Forms are available for purchase at the gallery. On view 11-18h until Saturday May 2nd. 

Please note that following procedures will be followed. Please visit with the necessary caution.

– One visitor may enter the gallery at a time.
– Visits are limited to 15 minutes.
– Visitors are required to wear their own protective mask while maintaining physical distance.

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