Michael Bachhofer is best known for his ultra-high-resolution, large-format photographs, each consisting of thousands of individual photos, that are often taken through the microscope. He studied multiple subjects at six universities and spent an overseas year at the Tokyo University...
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Michael Bachhofer is best known for his
ultra-high-resolution, large-format photographs, each consisting of thousands
of individual photos, that are often taken through the microscope. He studied
multiple subjects at six universities and spent an overseas year at the Tokyo
University of the Arts where he focused on art anatomy and photography. Michael
works in the field intersecting art, science, technology, and society. His work
has been shown in some major museums in Vienna and at international art
festivals such as the Ostrale in Dresden, the Klanglichtfestival in Graz and
the NordArt in Büdelsdorf, as well as in magazines such as European Photography.
He received the annual scholarship in fine arts by the State of Carinthia in
2018, as well as several project grants from the BKA, MA7, the State of
Carinthia and the Valletta Fundation. Michael has been an invited artist at the
JRC of the European Commission in 2018. His works are part of the following
collections: Oesterrechische Nationalbank, bene-Stiftung, FRAMOS Young Art
Collection, Hotel Altstadt Vienna
STATEMENT
Nature observation and artificial staging both play an
equally important role in my artistic work. The art concept of realism seems
appropriate, but it is not the well-known reality that interests me primarily.
I´m mainly interested in possible "realities".
I believe that both arts and sciences help us to deal with
ourselves surrounding world. Both are the basics of "reality
building" and “realization expansion”, that is why I feel like an artistic
explorer.
For my artistic work I mainly use tools and methods such
as sequential photography, photomicrography, space-time transformations, screen
scraping, geographical information systems, light waves outside our visual
spectrum and infrasound and low frequency soundwaves. I focus on theories and
issues that deal with perception, reality, and something we know under the term
“truth” as well as the relations between art, science, technology, and society.
I am heavily influenced by the philosophy and
epistemology of Heinz von Foerster´s and Ernst von Glasersfeld´s radical
constructivism. Other important influencers on my work are Gregory Bateson, Jan
Dibbets, Albrecht Dürer, John Hilliard, Maria Sibylla Merian and Nikola Tesla.
