This first solo exhibition by artist Erik Niedling (*1973 Erfurt) in Berlin shows a new series of photographies titled "FORMATION".

The show includes images from numbered cacti species including their roots, tools of unclear purpose arranged by size, plants with delicate root patterns or anonymous hands holding plants in front of the camera. A large scale image shows women at a work table who appear to be sorting something. The table is located in the centre of a hall, the right wall of which is covered by an archival cupboard with small drawers. A special technique results in all images having the appearance of negatives whose sharp black and white contrasts are partially complemented by mysterious red or violet hues.

Erik Niedling: FORMATION # 3, 2007

C-Print, Diasec, 37 x 47 cm

Click on image to enlarge.

The Berlin-based artist searches in his photo series for the subtle layers of our memory. He finds his material in archives, family albums, museum stores or attics. By employing various techniques to uncover the hidden aesthetics of practical sorting systems, he also succeeds in making the ambivalent motivations and consequences of the human compulsion to systematise palpable.

Erik Niedling has already received considerable attention in his previous museum and gallery exhibitions, including Galerie Rothamel in Frankfurt am Main, Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nürnberg, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Spinnerei Leipzig and others, as well as in his numerous publications. For the series "FORMATION" a catalogue will be published by Hantje Cantz Verlag.