BIOGRAPHY
"He understands urban space as modernity´s extreme" - Ralf Hanselle
Born in 1968, Torsten Warmuth works as a photo artist in Berlin. After graduating from a school in Erfurt, he completed a degree in science and a doctorate in computer-aided mathematics at the University of Kassel in 1995. As from 1996, Warmuth has dedicated himself exclusively to photography.
He produces large-format, toned enlargements on gelatin silver paper at his studio in Berlin, and his works focus on man´s anonymity in an urban environment. Schooled on the works of Photodynamism, Warmuth depicts a world that is constantly changing. Playing with the dynamics of time and motion, he creates photographs that are certainly sharply focused, but nevertheless full of optical hazes and substantial uncertainties. Long and multiple exposures create the impression that the figures in his artworks are elongated or even beginning to dissolve and disappear.
Warmuth publishes his own works in very small editions or even as unique works. They are all gelatin silver prints with multiple toning; he makes use of classical analogue darkroom processes to produce them by himself by hand.
Over the last ten years,Warmuth has exhibited many times in leading galleries and public art collections: Warsaw (2002), Kunstsammlungen Jena (2004), Hayward Gallery London (2004), Musée de l’Elysée Lausanne (2004), Kunsthalle Erfurt (2006), and Galerie Brusberg Berlin (2008).
His works can also be found in the collection of the DG Bank in Frankfurt/Main, the Kunstsammlungen Jena, and many private collections throughout Germany.
Curriculum Vitae
1995 After studying natural sciences, Warmuth obtained his doctorate in the field of computer-aided mathematics at the University of Kassel.
1996 Devoted himself entirely to photography, initially earning a living as a computer technician. An intense private study of works of art and photography followed. Production of the series Unter Grund / Under Ground in Berlin.
1997 First solo exhibition in the Berlin gallery, art 5 III Inge Herbert.
1998 Stay in New York, production of the series New Walk.
1999 Together with actors in Kassel, he photographed the extensive work Herzbruch / HeartBreak, based on Patrick Marber’s theatre play Closer. Renewed, longer stay in New York; produced Mirror and his only experiments with colour photography (series Yellow Cabs).
2000 Stay in Naples. Continuation of double-exposure techniques using the large-format camera, which he employed almost exclusively from then onwards (series Stadtwolf/ Citywolf). Moved his studio to Berlin-Kreuzberg. Sets up a laboratory in which he produced his large-format gelatin silver enlargements himself.
2001 Further stay in New York; production of the series Passing. During this time, he also took photos for Nach dem Regen / After the Rain. Intense work together with actor Peter Schröder on August, August, based on Henry Miller’s novella The Smile at the Foot of the Ladder.
2003 Production of the triptych Nachtgestalten / Night Shapes after a stay in Paris. Journey to Lisbon, several-part work Das Kreischen der Elektrischen / TheScreech of the Tram.
2004 Catalogue torsten warmuth is published for an individual exhibition in the museum Kunstsammlungen Jena. Takes part in the exhibition About Face – Photographyand the Death of the Portrait at the London Hayward Gallery with his series Passing.
2005 Journey to Buenos Aires, work on the series Nachtsammler / Night Gatherers. Again travelled to Lisbon. Start of work on the mural Gegen den Strom /Against the Flow.
2006 Solo exhibition in the Kunsthalle Erfurt, which gave a survey of works from the last 10 years. Publication of the catalogue Nachtsammler / Night Gatherers. Photographed the series Demontage / Disassembly – images of old industrial objects in Leipzig and machinery from closed-down, open-cast coalmines in East Germany.
2007 Longer stay in Cairo, production of the cycle It’s a Man’s World. Invitation to the art festival Port Izmir 07, on-the-spot production of his competition entry Vis-à-vis.
2008 Art Prize Kunstpreis Literatur Fotografie 2008 for It’s a Man’s World, donated by Lotto GmbH Land Brandenburg.
