Kilian Breier: Abstrakt Konkret – Materie Licht und Form

In the organizer's words:

Curated by Franziska Schmidt
In collaboration with the estate of Kilian Breier
As part of the EMOP Berlin - European Month of Photography

The Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation invites you to the exhibition "Kilian Breier: Abstrakt Konkret - Materie Licht und Form", which focuses on the work of the German avant-garde photographer Kilian Breier (1931-2011). Breier is considered one of the most important experimental photo artists of the post-war period. The exhibition provides an exemplary insight into his artistic development and shows how Breier understood photography as a medium that creates images independently.

Breier's work is characterized by the idea that photography is far more than just a means of depicting reality. For him, it was a method of generating images that did not show the obvious, but rather formed independent, often abstract visual worlds. For decades, he explored the possibilities of using light, chemical processes and cameraless techniques to create images that exist beyond traditional photography.

From nature to abstraction: the path of an experimenter

The exhibition shows around 50 works from the 1950s to 1980s, some of which are being shown for the first time, which illustrate Breier's development from the representational depiction of nature to complete abstraction. Even in his early works from his student days around 1953, he used random constellations in his surroundings, such as upright and closely spaced trees, dense undergrowth or stacked wood, to abstract the structures and forms of these motifs using light and shadow. His aim was not to depict nature realistically, but rather to depict its aesthetic elements graphically and in high contrast. These early works already show Breier's interest in the reduction of natural forms and the abstracting graphic effect of photography.

At the same time, Breier experimented with cameraless techniques such as the photogram, in which objects are placed directly on light-sensitive photographic paper and exposed. Grasses, leaves and other natural materials were thus alienated by him in the darkroom. He processed other motifs by reversing negatives or copying montages. He also created his own image forms such as grid images or partial exposures of photographic paper. His experiments, which Breier also expanded to include photochemical processes such as oxidation, illustrate his search for the "zero point" of photography - the moment in which the image detaches itself from the image of a representational reality.

Camera-less photography: chemical graphics

Breier not only used the camera, but also explored new ways of creating images. In the 1980s, Breier continued his experiments with unfixed chemical graphics. He treated photographic paper with chemicals that triggered a continuous oxidation of the light-sensitive layer. These works show the dynamic character of his art, as the images constantly change over time and are never completely finished. Breier described these works as photographic "primal signs" that refer to their own development and the duration of time, rather than just a single moment as in conventional camera photography.

Breier's influence and teaching

Kilian Breier studied in Saarbrücken and Paris, where he specialized in graphics, painting and photography. He began his professional career as an assistant to the photographer Otto Steinert and Oskar Holweck, a representative of the Zero movement, who strongly influenced his experimental way of working. From 1960 to 1966, Breier taught photography and animated film at the Werkkunstschule in Darmstadt. From 1966 to 1999, he was Professor of Photography at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. As a member of the neue gruppe saar and representative of the Zero movement, he is one of the most important figures in the development of experimental photography.

Breier's works reflect an intensive exploration of the visual language of photography that goes far beyond its purely technical application. He was always looking for new ways to harmonize light, form and matter and to expand the perception of photography as an art form.