Jens LIEBCHEN
イエンス・リープヒェン
1970 born in Bonn
1992-1995 Studies of Social Anthropology at Freie Universität Berlin
since 1995 freelance work as photographer
Since 1995 Jens Liebchen has created a number of projects. Most well known is his work DL07 Stereotypes of war – a photographic investigation. The book which is mentioned in Martin Parrs / Gerry Badgers The Photobook: A History Vol. II has been published by Edition J.J.Heckenhauer in 2000.
Ian Jeffrey writes in the introduction: “Think of DL07 as a kind of Arte Povera. Liebchen went to Tirana with no thought of significant reportage, for the city was relatively speaking at peace. But he found in passing on its streets available evidence which allowed him to reflect in depth on the post-modern conspectus, on a large part of our contemporary predicament caught as we are between the here-and-now and all those mysterious termini and sources to which we defer.”
Furthermore Jens Liebchen is well known for his body of work Politics & Art – Art & Politics where he photographed artists like Georg Baselitz, Christian Boltanski, Jenny Holzer, Siegmar Polke, Günther Uecker and many others, who had been invited to create artworks for the Berlin Reichstag Building. Politics & Art – Art & Politics has been published as a specially designed book in 2004. The work became part of the international art programme of the Goethe Institute and has been exhibited so far in Athens, Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico-City and Sydney.
Playing Fields has been published in magazine format in 2005, designed by Winfried Heininger. Playing Fields is focusing on the quite infrastructure and peripheral spaces of the new Great Game – spaces which are very close to the mythical netscapes of a new contesting order concerning resources in Caucasus and Central Asia. The publication includes an essay by Gerry Badger.
Tsukuba–Narita 2011/03/13 has been published as a direct reaction on the incidents in Japan in March 2011. The book has been published by Spector Books, Leipzig 2011.
Liebchens recent book System has been co-published by Peperoni Books and White Press in 2014. System is looking at drastically modified trees in Central Tokyo and by doing so holding a mirror up to society as a whole.
Jens Liebchen has given numerous workshops for the Goethe-Institut: e.g. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (in cooperation with Ale School of Fine Arts and Design, Addis Ababa University) / Almaty, Kazakhstan / Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan / Brisbane, Australia / Cairo, Egypt (in cooperation with CIC Contemporary Image Collective)
Jens Liebchens photographs have been published in The New York Times, Esquire, Qvest, brandeins and many others. He has been living in Tokyo from 2010–2013, ever since he is based in Berlin.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2013 "Tsukuba-Narita 2011/03/13", Kunsthaus Essen, Germany
2011 "Tsukuba-Narita 2011/03/13", Raum für Zweckfreiheit, Berlin
2008 "Politics & Art – Art & Politics", Goethe-Institutes in Singapur, Kiew, Karachi
2007 "Politics & Art – Art & Politics", Goethe-Institutes in Athen, Helsinki, Hongkong, Sydney
2006 "Politics & Art – Art & Politics", Goethe-Institutes in Peking, Curtiba, Belgrad, Sarajevo
2005 "Playing Fields“, Galerie J.J.Heckenhauer, Berlin
2005 "Politics & Art – Art & Politics“, Goethe-Institutes in Sofia, Riga, Tel Aviv, Lissabon, Coimbra
2004 "Politics & Art – Art & Politics ", Gallery J.J.Heckenhauer , Berlin /
Deutscher Bundestag, Berlin
2000 "DL07 – stereotypes of war : a photographic investigation", Photography Now, Berlin
1997 "Vortex“, J.J.Heckenhauer - Galerie für Fotografie, Tübingen
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 "Peperoni Photobooks - A decade of publishing", Forum für Fotografie, Cologne, Germany
2015 "System" at Visual Communication Exhibition 2015, Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2014 "The La Brea Matrix - Extended Version", The Photo Book Museum, Cologne, Germany
2014 "Revisited: Marks of Honour - A striking Library", The Photo Book Museum, Cologne, Germany
2014 "Distant Observations. Fukushima in Berlin", Kunstraum Kreuzberg/ Bethanien, Berlin
2013 "Sense of Mutual Belonging", Tsukuba Museum of Art, Ibaraki, Japan
2012 "Japan in Spring", Takashi Homma (J), Rinko Kawauchi (J), Karianne Bueno (NL), Kai-Uwe Gundlach (D), Jens Liebchen (D), Jochen Manz (D), Nina Poppe (D). Kunstverein Leverkusen Schloß Morsbroich, Germany
2011 "The La Brea Photobookstudy" von Markus Schaden at "PHOTOGRAPHY CALLING!", Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany
2011 "Hijacked 2: Australia / Germany", Queensland College of Art Gallery Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
2010 "Hijacked 2: Australia / Germany", ACP Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia
2010 "Marks of Honour – A Striking Library", Bookshop Exhibition, The Photographers´Gallery London
2009 "The La Brea Matrix - Six German Photographers & a New Color Icon by Stephen Shore", A project by Schaden.com, Cologne and The Lapis Press, Culver City LA, exhibition at Kaune/Sudendorf, Gallery for Contemporary Photography, Cologne, Germany
2009 "Marks of Honour - A Striking Library“, FOAM_Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2009 "Portrait: Berlin", Palacio Nacional de las Artes - Palais de Glace, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2009 "Marks of Honour - A Striking Library“, Kaune/Sudendorf, Gallery for Contemporary Photography, Cologne, Germany
2009 "Retrato: Berlín" Sala de Exposición Portal la Dehesa, Goethe-Institut Santiago, Chile
2008 "Original Books – Morten Andersen, Gabriele Basilico, John Gossage, Keizo Kitajima, Jens Liebchen", Cohen Amador Gallery, New York, USA
2008 "Fotografie in der Sammlung des Deutschen Bundestages“, Ausstellungsraum im Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, Berlin
2007 "Art and Politics // Kunst und Politik - Sophie Calle, Jörg Herold, Jens Liebchen“, De Markten, Brussels, Belgium
2007 "PORTRAIT : BERLIN - Contemporary Photography and Video Art”, Moving Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska / Goethe-Institut Washington, Washington, USA
2007 "Reale und konstruierte Orte", Galerie J.J.Heckenhauer, Berlin
2006 "From Fair to Fine - 20th-Century Photography Books That Matter", Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, USA
2005 "Inter City: Berlin – Praha“, Manes, Prague
2003 "Ortsbegehung 9“, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin
2001 "Portrait: Berlin - Contemporary Photography", Plaza Gallery, Tokyo
1999 "Body and Urbanism“, International Centre of Culture, Tirana, Albania
1999 "55 photographs at 55 mercer", Mercer Gallery, New York
1999 "Europäischer Architekturfotografie-Preis", Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Bonn
1998 "Gesichter und Dinge – Contemporary Photography“, Neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (NGBK), Berlin
Collections
Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris
Heiting Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)
DZ BANK Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt a.M.
