Marcus Bering: What’s the point? (2007)
artdesigncafé | café library | Published 15 September 2009
This article first appeared in Sculpture magazine, 26(6), pp. 36-7 in 2007.
Some viewers of contemporary art, particularly Minimalist art, have
been known to ask the question, “What’s the point?” but it is highly
unusual for artists themselves to raise the issue. However, such is
the case with German artist Marcus Bering, whose minimalistic work draws from a variety of influences ranging from the thoughts, actions, and critiques of his eight-year-old son to the 18th-century philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
Marcus Bering. Wire (left) and Drawing Room (right), 2001. Arteaspoon Gallery, Brussels.
On the exhibition front, Bering’s CV has been jumpstarted by
a newfound confidence, largely aligned to an international network
of practicing artists focused on non-objective art production. Over
the past three years alone, Bering’s practice has gone from an
essentially studio-centered production of sculptures, installations,
and drawings to exhibitions at Elastic Residence, London; Non-
Objective Sud in Tulette, France; Provinciehuis and the Sugar Factory
in Haarlem and Amsterdam in the Netherlands; SNO Gallery in
Sydney, Australia; and Raid Projects in Los Angeles. He also was
featured in a two-person exhibition at the Center for Contemporary
Non-Objective Art in Brussels.
Born in the 1960s in Germany, Bering first studied art history,
philosophy, and graphic design. He later studied sculpture at the
Academie Royale des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and in 1990, he returned
to the Belgian capital where he now lives and works.
R.J. Preece: When we met, in 2002, you were isolating yourself
in your studio, making art but not getting it out there. Why was that?
Marcus Bering: I was a stay-at-home dad, and I spent a lot of time
with my son, who was just over a year old at that time. I was
exploring with him, and on my own, basic visual elements that had
close emotional or physical meaning.
R.J. Preece: And now, you’re exhibiting all over the place. And you’ve built
an inspiring and very dynamic practice. What happened?
Marcus Bering: Well, for me, it was time to communicate my work “outside.”
In 2005, together with Tilman, a painter, I opened the exhibition
space H29. This introduced a whole group of like-minded artists to
me, and the conversations kept expanding to other people.
R.J. Preece: I’m particularly drawn into your work through your experimentation
with visual elements, but your work also uses theory.
Marcus Bering: Yes, that’s true. I am especially fond of Immanuel Kant’s
Critique of Pure Judgment. I like to understand his work as a concept
of art, as a free play between the extremes of the social and
the analytical. Thierry de Duve, a Belgian philosopher, has recently
reinvestigated Kant and, at the same time, aims to overcome
some contradicting theoretical approaches in contemporary art,
as exemplified by Clement Greenberg’s formalism and Joseph
Kosuth’s conceptualism.
Having said this, a lot of my work starts by whimsically playing
around with found elements, like a pack of beans accidentally
dropped in the supermarket. The theory enters when I ask myself:
How did I get here? How does this chaos make sense? Is there
a point in doing this on purpose? This can lead to mathematical
analysis or writing computer programs, like the drawing program
I developed for the Raid Projects works (2006).
Marcus Bering: 1 | 2
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