Tobias Dostal. Perplexy

About

 Entitled Perplexy, several new works will be presented that were conceived specifically for this site. Upon entering the darkened exhibition space of HaL, visitors will entire a world inspired by the early history of the cinema in which diverse apparatuses of illusion do their work, sometimes quite loudly. The works are further developments and variations of Dostal’s kinetic light sculptures and animation displays made of acrylic glass. They are based on a staged aesthetic rupture that reveals the mechanisms responsible for their generation after we marvel at the magic of the images. The actual subject of Dostal’s works are the presentation and perception of images, which can be understood as a response to the smooth, seductive power of digital virtuality.

Tobias Dostal has been living in Berlin since 2014. During his studies from 2004 to 2011 at HFBK Braunschweig he worked with Walter Dahn, Thomas Virnich and Christoph Schlingensief. As Schlingensief’s assistant, he accompanied him on various trips, for example to Manaus for the staging of the Fliegender Hollände in 2007. In 2015, Dostal was the first resident artist of the Schlingensief-Opendorf-Stiftung in Burkina Faso, where he created a series of animated water drawings, which in part led to his being awarded the Horst-Janssen-Grafikpreis by the Claus Hüppe-Stiftung 2017. The prize is one of the most highly endowed honours in the realm of the graphic arts and is awarded every three years to present innovative positions in drawing and printmaking. Dostal was nominated by Jorinde Voigt as mentor for this prize, the jury members included Wulf Herzogenrath. (Artistic director: Marc Wellmann)