Thorsten Brinkmann
A LIVING-ROOM IN THE PUBLIC
SPACE
it is a common object that stands out
because of its commonness. It can be a
wardrobe, a lamp-shade, a table, a car
pet, a chair or whatever. They have been
abandoned and have lost their original
function. Brinkmann re-uses the item as
a readymade, in a sometimes surreal con
nection with another object or a person,
for example Brinkmann himself. In his
photographic self-portraits he disguises
himself and always dresses up differently.
On one occasion he covers his head with
second-hand clothing and on another he
hides his face in a lamp-shade or a flower
pot. He continuously realises different
representations of himself. These poses
invariably seem to refer to statues of
heroes or magistrates.
In his use of readymades Brinkmann
stands in a long tradition, going back to the
beginning of the twentieth century, with its
godfather, Marcel Duchamp. By putting a
common object in a completely different
environment, such as a museum, one strips
the object of its known function and in
that manner it obtains a new significance.
Duchamp did not view art as artisanal work,
but as an idea to make people think. This
is the same for Thorsten
Brinkmann. He uses the
things he gathered in
Hamburg to wrap lantern
poles in Middelburg. It
can be compared to a
play in which the props
are changed to create
a different reality. He
stages a new world with
old things that carry a
meaning unconnected
to the new context. Once
they functioned in an
interior, which he ran
domly recreates outside,
but without the cosiness
they formerly radiated.
Brinkmann organises a
living-room feeling in the
public space. This invokes
questions as to how we
deal with things and how
we live, but also about
the fluidity of the bound
ary between private and
public spaces in a city,
and ultimately about the
boundary between idea
and reality. Brinkmann
is indebted to Marcel
Duchamp, so much is
clear.
Thorsten Brinkmann is a hunter and
collector of things that one can find in
every common interior. These are items
that have been dumped and have thus
lost their value. However, Brinkmann
considers them in a different way, and
takes the second-hand materials with
their anonymous histories to his shed in
order to rework them. All these things
have been found at the flea market, at the
recycling store or just
among waste. Everything
can be used and that is
exactly what Brinkmann
does. He is an artist who
infuses old things with
new life.
He selected three lan
tern poles (which keep
on functioning for the
duration of the project)
and has wrapped them
with used furniture from
his collection. To further
encourage the idea of
homely cosiness still
very much attached to
the furniture he added a
snug corner around one
of the poles, which is
really meant to serve as
seating for the visitors.
From a technical
point of view Brink-
mann's work is heter
ogeneous. He is a pho
tographer and painter.
He uses readymades
and makes statues and
collages. In fact he
incorporates all these
strategies into what he
makes. No matter how
he does it, for him the
most important thing is
The Thing. In his case
www.thorstenbrink-
mann.com
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