Alexander Heim

2007

Biography

b. 1977 Hamburg, Germany

2004-06 MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London
1998-04 Diploma in Fine Art, Hochschule für bildende Künste, Hamburg

Previous Exhibitions:
2007 Galerie Karin Günther, Hamburg
2007 Real - Fiktiv, Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
2007 Black & White, IBID projects, London
2007 Inky Toy Affinitas, Cereiala Art, Philadelphia
2007 Friedrich, Doggerfisher, Edinburgh
2006 100 Tage = 100 Videos, Kunstverein Heidelberg and Kunsthallen, Copenhagen
2006 Marler Videokunstpreis, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Germany
2006 Iduna Nova [with Nicole Wermers], Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Berlin
2005 .43, Fortescue Avenue/Jonathan Viner Gallery, London
2005 The Addiction, 4. Berlin Biennale, Gagosian Gallery, Berlin
2004 Kunstlichtkongress, Kunstraum Walcheturm Zurich, Switzerland
2003 Feine Ware, Kunstverein Harburg, Germany

Screenings:
2006 LA Freewaves, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2006 Painting Ruins, Afghan Foundation for Culture and Civil Society, Kabul
2005 Tank TV at Raindance Festival, London
2004, 2003 Rencontres Internationales Paris & Berlin
2003 A-Clip Project, Berlin, London, Los Angeles
2002 Version 02, MCA, Chicago
2001 DIG.IT Festival of Digital Media, Walker Art Center, Minnesota
2001, 2002 New York Video Festival, Lincoln Center, New York

Selectors' Comments:
On a post-jury studio visit one evening in May, I spotted one of the very swans doing maternal duty on a nest of trash in Alexander Heim's Grand Walk. Heim's video steers just short of predictable [the visual equivalent of long and loose] to offer up an uncannily convincing record of the mix of pastoral and putrid that passes for nature in the daily routine of us urbanites. Reminds of just how much we're willing to blank for the love of a bird or a boat or a dog, meandering at the pace of running water. You could smell it.

The log rolls over, and over, in the flow. The swan is desultory as well as forceful in her role as default character. The fixed camera, fixed place, observation in real time allows a tangle of plastic bag, twigs, cans and leaves, to make a place and moment worth attention and intention. All is stuck, impacted, but the parallel water and tow path carry a natural logic that also give from left to right.

Grand Walk (still), DVD video, 10 mins, 2005

Previous artist in 2007

Gabriel Hartley

Next artist in 2007

Laurie Hill