Wolfgang Tillmans Reflects on Time and Temporality in New Exhibition

German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans will present a new solo exhibition at David Zwirner‘s Hong Kong location next month. The forthcoming show will be the Turner-prize winner’s fifth with the gallery and encompasses images shot in Addis Ababa, Berlin, Lagos, and Mongolia, amongst other locations.

Tillmans images, though at times featuring euphoric abstractions, distill notions of ‘high’ and ‘low’ brow art in favor of ordinary scenes that implores one to view the world without fear. As has been well documented, his early interests in music, not photography, held a bigger attraction for Tillmans as he began capturing the lifestyles of Berlin and London’s nightlife during the 1990s. Standout works on view include Filled with Light (2011), which depicts the momentary orange glow of the sunset as it reflects against a largely cold warehouse space — an exploration into themes tied to time and temporality.

Equal parts of show and conceal, Tillmans believes that “it’s not all about the doing,” he’s previously described about his practice. “It’s about what you don’t do. The pictures you don’t take, I mean that’s a very conscious decision,” he added. While his multidisciplinary practice has shape-shifted across the decades, his images are united by the thread of “what it feels like to be alive today,” Tillmans added.

The eponymously titled show will open on March 25.

David Zwirner
5-6/F, H Queen’s
80 Queen’s Road Central,
Central, Hong Kong