unreal city, under the brown fog of a winter dawn

unreal city,
under the brown fog
of a winter dawn
BILL BECKER
08.07.22 to 27.07.22

“I am interested in processes of decay, of decomposition, of wastelands.
I find curiosity in the found artifact, or human-made objects,
that have been left aside, stripped of their former use. These irrelevant
objects create a dialogue between human-beings and the human-imprint
on nature.
There is an element of presence and/or absence in these artifacts that
are left behind. I focus on what is not there: sometimes their shadow
is what I capture, as it shows what is missing”.
Bill Becker’s solo show explores traces of absent objects, reminding
us of our temporality, like a memento mori. We see them, but our memory
of them slips through our fast paced routines. To produce new works of
art is not what Becker is interested in. Rather, his process questions
how to make a work of art long-term and durable, which we can see in
the work «Setzlinge».

WHO IS THE THIRD, WHO WALKS ALWAYS BESIDE YOU?
2021, Poster-paper print on wall, (516 x 252 cm)
Taken in September 2021 in Kyiv with a broken bar-camera, built during the second wave of the industrial
revolution. The broken camera enables sun rays to penetrate the raw film, leaving “illumination-
like”-marks.
The image is of a poster of the Dynamo Kyiv soccer players. The ambivalent look in their eyes invites
the viewer to enter the rectangular space of gr_und, and immerse themselves into the exhibition.

SETZLINGE,
2021, Installation, 10 uprooted chairs, earth, stones and branches, (500 x 300 x 80 cm)
The Chairs have been uprooted. Discarded, they are waste, excess objects irrelevant for use. In the
wake of covid, Becker went exploring the wastelands of the former dutch Expo-Pavilion in Hannover.
His interest in decaying architectural and urban spaces brought him to think of them as a site
of research for his practice. Back in Berlin, he found The Chairs in a construction site situated
between the New National Gallery, and the Philharmonie, in a wasteland where the future Museum of
the 21st century is currently being built. The Chairs stood alone, secluded from the public. After
Becker got permission to use them, they were in-midst of the natural construction processes, weeded
out of the earth and flung together, creating a true image of absence. Even though brutally dug up,
they were gently clumped in conjunction, removing them from their original utility of “man-thought
and machine-made objects”.
A new dialogue is thus created for these objects with the present, to think of their future.
Before this show, they have been carefully preserved in the treasure house/museum-depot of the
“Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz” next to many colonial artifacts from stolen escapades.
As part of the finissage, the chairs will be moved to a small village in the east of Germany (Molauer
Land) shipped and replanted on the edge of a forest clearing.

MIRROR SUBPLANTING
2022, Video, color, sound, 14:33 min
The (artificial mirror) puddle is placed on the ground next to a rural street. It is dark. An early
morning is suggested as we hear the bird singing interlaced with the motors of the passing cars.
Their tail-lights reflecting in the mirror. Gradually, the image becomes clearer; the sun is awakening.
We are transported in this jungle-like soundscape, where time runs out, yet is trapped in the medium
of the mirror until we are reminded of where we are.
Bill Becker is also a musician composing coldwave music interlaced with bass and trap elements. His
goal is to create a bridge between art, sound, anthropology, and science; making time based media
work, in order for it to last, and not just be quickly consumed and forgotten.