Artists Past & Present:

Stefan Hoderlein, Matching Jacket and Pants, 1996, Slide Projection, 3 views, Installation at Gallerie Fricke, Berlin.

Stefan Hoderlein is a video and installation artist who collects objects, people, sounds, and themes. For Hoderlein, the future means loss of things past, and this is part of his motivation for saving items from his life. He weaves the collected material into installations, which shed light on his everyday surroundings. His object collection includes cigarette lighters, magazine covers, and clothes. His people include video footage of dancers at raves, TV clips, and those who join him in creating his art. Hoderlein also collects audio recordings, including sounds of the jungle in Southeast Asia and trade fair markets in the U.S.

Hoderlein photographs his collection of clothing against black backgrounds. The combination of clothing changes in each figure. The projected slides are visible in a grid of 12 at random speeds with a slight variation so that the same projection never repeats twice, showing how, according to curator Mathias Winzen, "clothes create identity; identities are interchangeable." 1

Hoderlein is influenced by the youth club culture of Germany and by the social world that technology has created. Researchers Birgit Richard and Heinz-Hermann Krüger write about the extraordinary technological developments used by this youth culture: “Within current German youth cultures, [techno] . . . brings on a package of new visuals based on the possibilities of desktop and electronic publishing, computer graphics and animation. It is the first subculture that uses and exploits all computer-generated forms of the digital age. . .Techno-designers develop new ideas . . . the club wear and street wear styles trickle slowly into the haute couture.” 2

The social life of the rave or techno party is also significant for Hoderlein. Youth culture is transformed during these events as the boundaries of class, age, gender, color, profession, political opinion, or sexual preference are put aside while moving to the music and rhythm. Raves help youth feel less isolated in popular culture.

Hoderlein - Artists Who Collect: 2MB PDF

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