When Platitudes Become Form

Biographical sediments and narratives Julius von Bismarck (born 1983 in Breisach am Rhein, lives and works in Berlin) engages in his artistic practice with what is commonly discussed in society as nature. He repeatedly employs deconstruction to question how we, as a society, shape and evaluate nature and who holds the interpretative authority in this process. By linking visual art with themes from the natural and social sciences, his work takes on various forms: installations, happenings, sculptures, or land art. With humor and sharp insight, von Bismarck reflects on our often superficial view of nature and the associated impacts on current political discourses. As a viewer of these magically appealing works – the artist filmed fires, chased hurricanes, painted on the sea – one is torn; they are both terrible and beautiful at the same time.

The catalog "When Platitudes Become Form" expands von Bismarck's eponymous exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie, for which he chose a biographical approach through his own family history for the first time, featuring contributions from international scholars as well as numerous installation views and images of works. In addition to an introduction by Thomas Köhler, director of the Berlinische Galerie, it includes essays by literary scholar and philosopher Timothy Morton, landscape architect Violeta Burckhardt, and art historian Paul Farber, among others.