Martin Dammann

Zum Resultat beruhigter Tumult

Martin Dammann (born in 1965 in Friedrichshafen; lives and works in Berlin) is known for his large-format watercolors, though his body of work also includes video films, photographic works, and drawings. The primary source material for his watercolors and drawings consists of amateur photographs that capture private memories or events. One of his main sources is the Archive of Modern Conflict in London, which he has supported for many years in expanding its collection. This collection of private photographs set against the backdrop of political conflicts and wars since World War I now comprises approximately 4 million artifacts. During his many years of work for the archive, Martin Dammann began building his own collection of photographs. Through the process of translating these images into watercolor paintings, the original motifs are partially abstracted. Applied to large-format, white-coated hardboard panels, the contours become blurred because the surface of the hardboard repels the water-based paints. The motif, which is usually easily recognizable from a distance, dissolves upon closer inspection. The transfer of memory from photography to another medium, such as painting or drawing, heightens the uncertainty about what images actually convey and what effect they can have. Yet it is precisely this uncertainty—created by the fragmentary, fleeting, and hybrid nature of Dammann’s images—that sets the process of remembrance in motion, a process experienced as a confrontation with both one’s own past and the unfamiliar.

Martin Dammann’s exhibition at the Kunsthalle Nürnberg provided a focused insight into his body of work, drawing primarily on pieces created in recent years. A publication accompanying the exhibition documented the works on display.