BERLIN.- For the first time, Galerie Springer Berlin is presenting the artist and photographer Jens Liebchen and his »System« series. His photo book, published under the same title by Peperoni Books/White Press in 2014, was highly acclaimed by critics and sold out within only a short time. The gallery is therefore all the more fortunate to now be able to exhibit his large-sized works. Jens Liebchen studied Social Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin before turning his attention entirely to photography. In his works, he deals with political and social issues. His time spent living in Tokyo, from 2010 until 2013, provided him with a reflective insight into Japanese society and culture.

While in Tokyo and at the heart of the metropolis, he produced his »System« series. In the outer part of the Imperial Palace Garden, Liebchen photographed pine trees during a blizzard. In Photonews Blogbuch, Michael Klein and Peter Lindhorst described the series as seeming similarly contemplative to the art of black-and-white oriental ink painting, which is practised in Japan to perfection”. What on first glance appears to be an arrangement of nature in an untouched environment is actually a setting right in the middle of the megacity Tokyo. Whereas in the background there is the suggestion of cars and parts of the city’s silhouette through the heavy blizzard, the lighting conditions clearly highlight the shapes and structures of the trees, making the colour photographs look almost as if they were black-and-white. The trees appear like protagonists on a stage: partly representing individual characters, partly seeming to be acting in groups. In November 2014, Hannes Wanderer wrote: “Nature only delivered the material for the trees. Position, growth, size and shape have been defined by people and designed down to the smallest detail.” For Jens Liebchen, the trees have an exemplary function. Shaped systematically, they thus correspond to social norms and in this sense cast a reflection on society as a whole. His book begins with the following text: “The tradition of tree shaping has come to assume an emblematic role in Japanese culture. Trees and shrubs in Japanese gardens are often drastically modified. Sculptors both control the location of trees and manipulate the growth of trunks, branches, and leaves. Little, if anything, is left to nature. The trees get cut, bent, buckled, diverted, redirected, and twisted into what is considered a perfect shape. In other words, they hold a mirror to a system meant to create individuals that invariably suit the needs of society”. J.L.

In addition to the »System« series, the gallery is also exhibiting works from the »Tsukuba-Narita 2011/03/13« series. The series is Liebchen’s immediate artistic reaction to the earthquake-tsunami-reactor catastrophe in Japan in March 2011 and questions the medial truthfulness of images in the content of global news reporting. Almost like a road movie, the images present in chronological sequence the view from a bus window while travelling to Narita Airport outside of Tokyo. “I left Japan two days after the quake. The situation was unclear. Information from Japanese and Western media differed to a great extent. The bus to Narita left on time, as usual.”.JL. In his essay, Christoph Schaden writes: "How are we read today? - the images ask in a hushed tone. How will you perceive us tomorrow? And what will be recognized in us? … Liebchen´s 80 images have their origins in an artistic scepticism that even questions itself. In a virtuosic and complex manner their perception subverts a dilemma regarding a kind of recognition that will one day affect us too." The book with the same title was released by Spector Books in 2011.

Born in Bonn in 1970, he has been living in Berlin since the early 1990s. He studied Social Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin and turned his attention exclusively to photography in 1995. He lived and worked in Japan from 2010 to 2013. His works have been exhibited in numerous international individual and group exhibitions. »Politics & Art – Art & Politics« attracted particular attention and was presented on tour across the world by the Goethe-Institut. Books are a main focus of his work, the book "DL07 – Stereotypes of war: a photographic investigation" is prominently presented in Parr/Badgers “The Photobook – a history”. Jens Liebchen was part of the project “The La Brea Matrix” in Los Angeles. Over the last few years, Liebchen has held a number of workshops for the Goethe-Institut. His works are represented in national and international collections, including the art collection of the German Bundestag, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung Frankfurt, Bibliotheque Nationale de France in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA).