HANS-CHRISTIAN SCHINK

In its first solo exhibition of 2011 Kicken Berlin presents selected works from the series 1 h by Hans-Christian Schink. The phenomenon of true solarization, in which the light source – in this case the sun – is pictured in black rather than in white due to the physical-chemical reverse reaction to extreme overexposure, is at the heart of the series. Between 2003 and 2010 Schink sought out various locations on both the northern and southern hemispheres and recorded the sun’s course for exactly one hour. Each site created a different characteristic image in which the sun’s path appears as a dark diagonal line. The naked eye is unable to perceive the sun’s movement or the rotation of the earth; only the camera’s eye, open for a specific length of time, can affix the trace of light on the analog black-and-white film.
In the series 1 h Schink develops the representation of the landscape in experimental and nonetheless genuinely photographic ways. In precise experimental procedures simply titled according to the latitude and longitude, length of exposure, and date, the trace of light inscribes itself onto the image.
Schink alludes to American photographer Minor White’s photograph Black Sun from 1955, in which solarization was coincidentally produced, as well as the historical works of Hermann Krone, who captured the characteristic black bar of the sun’s path as early as 1888. Schink’s images recall the standards of objective, scientific documentation, travel photography, and the attempt to visually represent the invisible. The positive reception of these aspects has led the artist into contemporary discussions of Measuring the World – after Daniel Kehlmann’s novel – in both the arts and in science. The works also take up the question of time, which seems simultaneously stopped and yet elapsing due to the long exposure. Schink also tackled the topic of the landscape as a space-time continuum in his earlier works, objectively documented, large- format color photographs. Hatje Cantz published a comprehensive book of the 1 h series in 2010. (Carolin Förster)