7 Questions with Alec Von Bargen
Alec Von Bargen is an American artist featured in Al-Tiba9 magazine ORIGINAL.
Born in New York City, Alec Von Bargen is a multidisciplinary artist, a social anthropologist of sorts. He captures aesthetic instances resonating true with their historical, political, and social contexts. Although his research is meticulous, he does not prep, pre-produce, light, or arrange for the photographic shoots leading to the creation of his murals, installations, and video pieces.
Von Bargen recently exhibited at both the 54th and 56th editions of the Venice Biennale, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the OCT Museum in Shanghai, China, and Les Rencontres D'Arles Festival, France, amongst others. His work has won numerous awards, including the IPA's in LA, the Sony awards, and the PX3's in Paris. He was a finalist at the Dubai Emerging Artist Award and Aesthetica Magazine selected him as a finalist for their prestigious award in 2019. He was a finalist for the Terry O'Neill Award and the Celeste Prize in Berlin, Germany. His most recent series is included in the 161st Royal Photographic Society exhibition.
Alec is Visual Advisor to both the Venice Film Festival's Biennale College Cinema and the Red Sea Film Lodge. He spends most of his time between Italy and Mexico but works all over the world.
www.alecvonbargen.com | @alecvonbargen
Interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj.
Alec Von Bargen, Photo courtesy Andreas G. Waldschuetz©
“Artist by profession, photographer by inspiration, playwright by 'obstination', actor by dedication and world traveler by addiction. Born in New York, living in Italy, grew up in England and Mexico, German parents, 5 and 1/3 languages plus a strong passion for all things Asia.
Carbon footprint's off the chart, yet recycling is fundamental, as are all things green. Human rights are an obsession: live and let live.
Some use the term 'Wanderlust,' others claim to be "In search of," many are running away from, and quite a few are lost. I can't relate to any of the above, and yet I'm guilty of all four. I'm somewhat the consequence of a lifestyle-inherited… the by-product of a set of circumstances… all I know is that my life is one long journey and that I spend most nights dreaming on foreign bed sheets, conversing with fragrances of adopted pillowcases many.
My images are my waking companions, my accomplices… my alibi. My work reveals the conversation I sustain with the world. It is immediate. I do not stage, light, or prep. My subjects are the people, the places, the moments that share my journey… those emotions I meet along the way.” by Alec Von Bargen
Man Forgotten, Installation Venice Biennale, Photo courtesy Alec Von Bargen©
Before talking about your art, could you tell us about yourself? Who is ALEC VON BARGEN?
That's such a difficult question. The most straightforward and honest answer would be to say that Alec is a natural-born storyteller. He's both a dreamer and a wanderer. He's curious and intrigued; unafraid and involved. I am very aware of the world we live in, and I am obsessed with the trials and tribulations of humankind.
I think this all comes from being what's officially known as a 'Third Culture Kid,' in the sense that I was raised in a culture that wasn't my parents or the culture of my country of birth. My parents are German, I was born in New York but never lived in the US and basically grew up between England and Mexico, speaking German, English, Spanish, French and Italian. Since leaving home at an early age, I've lived everywhere from Tokyo to Barcelona, Shanghai, to Mexico City… and now Italy. That was my reality growing up and continues to be what keeps me motivated and inspired. I create from a place of truth, the truth of my existence… and that existence just happens to involve an insatiable wanderlust and obsession with the lives of others.
On a more practical level, I've spent my entire life working either in front of or behind the lens of many a camera. Although my main focus is my artistic discourse as a visual artist, I studied performing arts, dramaturgy, graphic design, and art history. Actor, writer, filmmaker, visual artist, mentor, and world-traveler, I am somewhat the consequence of a lifestyle inherited and the result of the footsteps I continuously choose to take.
What do you see as the strengths of your pieces, visually or conceptually?
Their strength definitely lies in the lack of any formal restraints placed upon me by myself. I refuse to abide by a set of pre-established rules about what photography is or should be; how images should be presented or not. I use the camera as my tool of choice, as the basis for my creation, but how I then decide to use the image depends solely on the need of the subject itself and my emotions revealed from my interactions. It is all an extension of myself and, as such, reveals part of my soul, and that includes the materials upon which I choose to print my images. Paper, PVC, aluminum, glass, cardboard… whatever stays still.
I studied analog at school and loved spending time in the darkroom, developing and rediscovering moments I had sometimes forgotten, but digital is currently my 'thing.' I love the immediacy. It reflects the historical moment we're living in and gives me the freedom to play as I see fit in post-production. That said, if the photo isn't there in the first place, then nothing will come of it. Most of my work is decontextualized, it could be anywhere. The fundamentals of photography, which are to capture a moment in time in order to tell a story are still there, but I chose to involve my own thought process and emotions relevant to the moment in the final piece. Whether it's one of my murals, or sculptures, video pieces, or even one of my more orthodox framed prints on paper, the dialogue will always be between my reality and the audience, expressed through a moment frozen in time.
Your questioning about the sociological sense of freedom and politics has a direct impact on the way you construct your artistic production. Could you tell us about your meticulous artistic research that leads you to create photographic murals and installations?
My questioning of the sociological sense of freedom and politics has a direct impact not only on the way I construct my artistic production; it has a direct impact on how I breathe. Every fiber in my body has an opinion, sometimes way too intense for my own good, but I couldn't create if I wasn't aware of what was going on around me, especially in relation to the historical context and the space I choose to inhabit. I am the enemy. I am that white man, born into 'privilege,' and I could easily just float through existence without questioning or unsettling the waters. It is not because of this that I feel an obligation to be more involved, but it's definitely something I'm extremely aware of, as I should be. In no way, am I ashamed of who I am? On the contrary, I am very proud of my truth and what I stand for, but it does make me see and approach the world in a very particular way.
Irrecoverable embrace in emperor blue 1-6, Photo courtesy Alec Von Bargen©
As far as all of this relating to my artistic research, it simply enhances what is already an innate sense of curiosity and desire to be faithful to what I am doing. It's a question of respect. How can I pretend to empathize (not sympathize) with you if I don't take the time to know as much as I possibly can about your past and present? We're all the sum of our yesterdays, so unless I know where you're coming from, for my research purposes, our interaction would be useless.
I work in 'projects,' so when I've decided what I want to question, I'll research as much as possible about that particular subject and any other subtext I might come across along the way. The deeper I get, the clearer my thought process and ultimately the specific answers I need to obtain. Without that, I would simply be shooting for a reason, 'fishing for an excuse'… I can't work like that.
Your production includes a specific portrait selection process. How would you describe that process to our readers?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'a specific portrait selection process' but most of the portraits I create, or should I say the images of the people which I use for my final pieces, are moments in the time taken without any previous planning, prepping, lighting or posing. I almost never ask anyone if I can take their photo before the fact, as it immediately detonates an inner awareness that contaminates any hope for true emotion. If needed, I show them the material and then request their permission. Most never say no.
Forgive me as I breathe, Installation, Photo courtesy Alec Von Bargen©
A couple of years ago, I created a series of 12 multi-media portraits of marginalized women titled 'Veritas Feminae,' which was a revelation even to me as the artist. They were 12 shots I had taken in different parts of the world. The subject matter came from my obsession with social marginalization (at times self-imposed), but the final pieces were developed almost in rage against a system which far too frequently requests photographers to sum up their most recent productions into a nice package of 12 – 20 images, so that the curators/critics/gallery directors can "get a feel for the material" and what it is the artist wants to say. Fundamentally artistic castration if you ask me. So, I decided to make this series not only multi-media, but the portraits were site-specific and therefore changed in every venue they were presented; this way, the interested parties needed to actually go to each show in order to experience the pieces firsthand. It was a huge exercise for me as I needed to re-envision each piece every time it was shown in a different gallery/museum.
Another series, 'Man, Forgotten' deals with the actual removal of the outer layer of what we commonly consider to be a portrait and delves into the emotion of what makes-up each human being, all pieces becoming a self-portrait made up of installations, video, and fragments of an image printed on a diverse choice of materials.
Her, Blistering revelations from conversing with oneself, Photo courtesy Alec Von Bargen©
For my most recent series, 'So.lil.o.quy,' done in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières, I wanted to push myself both emotionally and artistically, so I traveled to 23 of their projects around the world to document human resistance within a variety of conflicts. Some of the portraits for this series are much more 'standard' or should I say 'formal,' but still they're presented out of context so that the conversation between the audience and the piece can still be an emotional one without being fully influenced by the surrounding tragedy.
Finally, for SWATCH, I created an installation piece made up of more than 350 large-format tiles titled 'Split.' It was a single self- portrait, which took up over 500 square meters of their amazing exhibition gallery in Shanghai.
I guess it's fair to say that when it comes to my portraits, I let the subjects speak for themselves and allow them to indicate how large or small they need to be, how important space needs to be where they are exhibited, and especially how loud their voice needs to be amongst the other pieces around them.
Her, Installation, Photo courtesy Alec Von Bargen©
Today, the world is facing the pandemic COVID-19. What is a typical day like for you? How do you continue doing your art under these circumstances?
I was caught in Italy for the entire pandemic, so let's just say that I am in the European epicenter of the disaster. Having worked around the world on my project with MSF, I innocently thought I had seen and felt just about everything I could related to human conflict. I was wrong. The silence I've been enveloped in for the past three months, with nothing but the distant whining of exhausted ambulances, has taken a deep emotional toll on me.
I am in constant 'creative' mode, but I find it extremely hard to concentrate. I find myself fighting an inner battle between what I'm doing and the relevance of it all. It's a very strange moment in history, not so much because of COVID-19, but more so because of how the world has reacted to it. I frequently question if the world would have cared, let alone shut down, if this virus had affected only China, or if it had solely hit the third world countries accustomed to being suffocated by natural disasters and pandemics. More people die on a daily basis due to hunger, and I don't see the world mobilizing in such unison to help combat that. I need to stop questioning before I go mad.
As for the typical day, I wake up early and go to bed very late. I spend most of the day focused on organizing what's to come and reorganizing that which was canceled or postponed. Lots of green tea and jumping around the house to try to keep some sort of routine going and the blood flowing. All of this won't hit my creative nerve until it's over, and I am able to take a step back and analyze the damage within and how that relates to whatever the world will look like when it's done.
Do you have any upcoming shows or collaborations?
All of my shows were either postponed or canceled, which I can't really say was a bad thing. I am just coming off of two/three years of non-stop, back-to-back openings (whether group or solo) so at least I have had some time to re-navigate my course. As soon as we have the new dates there are shows planned for Berlin, New York, and Mexico City. We'll see.
I am continuing to collaborate as Creative Consultant / Visual Advisor to the Venice Biennale's / Venice Film Festival's Biennale College Cinema and with TorinoFilmLab and The Red Sea International Film Festival as Creative Consultant / Visual Advisor to the Red Sea Lodge in Jeddah (focusing on a commitment to furthering new work from the Arab world.) I will also continue to collaborate online this year as a mentor at the Scuola Holden in Turin.
As for other collaborations, I'm working on a new series tentatively titled 'Confluences.' This will be another series of portraits, this time inspired by creators/friends/beautiful minds which encourage me with their brilliance for my everyday creative process. Musicians, actors, producers/ writers… let's call them 'my tribe.' The final work will be multi-media installation pieces done with everything from traditional to thermal to microscopic cameras in order to build their portraits from the very cells that make them who they are.
Over 50% of the human body is composed of water. About 71% of the earth's surface is water-covered. I want to create analogies and find parallels between these people and bodies of water around the world. At what exact point do these two realities co-exist, and where precisely do they converge? Once I identify the subject with the body of water, I will travel with them there and produce the piece on-site.
You said, "My work reveals the conversation I sustain with the world." Share something you would like the world to know about you?
Apart from the fact that I think every one of us should talk less and listen more, I definitely think the one thing that underlines who I am as a human being is my respect for time. Your time, my time. There is no gift more precious than time… it's something you will never be able to get back. I'm extremely appreciative of every second offered to me by others.
Oh, and I love brussels sprout. I am just saying!
