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 arcus Ahlers' sculptures are an amalgamation of anthropomorphism, and modern architectural forms, whilst his drawings and paintings reflect a heightened sensitivity to constructed space and design. Ahlers uses the process of electrolysis to materialize his own understanding of the mechanisms that control both macro and microenvironments. As a result, he succeeds in creating visual metaphors that invoke questions of where science stops and art begins.
Born in Albany, New York in 1974, Alhers graduated with a Bachelors of Science from Skidmoore College with a concentration in Studio Art and Art History. He completed a Post-Baccalaureate at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts, then entered the Continuing Education program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, before going on to complete a Masters of Fine Arts degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Rinehart School of Sculpture in Baltimore.
Ahlers is one of many artists who have recently immigrated to Berlin, Germany. In 2003, he co-founded the Takt Kunstprojekt in Berlin, where he played a central role as a curator and manager of their residency program. Ahlers has worked with London based organization Art Catalyst, with whom he ran a series of workshops in 2006. He recently collaborated with renowned artist Donna Conlon on Agua Realmente Azul in Tegucigalpa Honduras.
Ahlers has exhibited internationally through organizations such as the DUMBO Arts Center, New York; Transport Gallery, Los Angeles; Hamden Gallery, Amherst; the German Russian House, Kaliningrad; State Gallery, Kaliningrad; Art Laboratory Berlin; the Backfabrik, Berlin; and the Amerika Haus, Berlin.
Ahlers was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, the Amalie Rothchild Sculpture Award, and was honoured with first place in the Art Interview - 15th International Artist Award. Ahlers is presently embarking upon a Bachelor of Science in Energy and Process Tecnique in Berlin Germany where he continues to live and work.
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Marcus Ahlers
Horizontal Composition (detail)'
2010
Plastics, metal, found objects, water, copper-carbonate, electricity
105 x 40 x 50cm
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Marcus Ahlers: I was born in Albany, New York in 1974 and, I lived in the same house until I went away to college when I was eighteen. My father teaches philosophy and theology and my mother is a physician who also teaches.
Art Interview: Where are your parents from originally?
Marcus Ahlers: They're both from Hamburg, Germany and have known each other since they were children. When they moved to the USA they gave up their German citizenships and took on American citizenships.
Art Interview: How were you introduced into the arts?
Marcus Ahlers: I was always drawing in high school, where I took art classes as an elective. Before I started college a guidance councilor asked me what I wanted to do, and I said I wasn't really sure, but that I was interested in psychology and early child development. Then he asked me which classes I enjoyed the most in high school, and I said my art classes. So, he gave me a list of universities that offered degrees in psychology and also had good art programs. I ended up going to Skidmore College, in Saratoga Springs, New York. I started as a psychology major with a minor in art. I didn't see art as something that I could pursue fully because I didn't really consider it as a career. But all the people that I became close friends with were art majors and I thought: “If they're doing it, there's no reason that I can't do it too.” So I switched my major after the first semester.
Art Interview: How did your family react to you changing your studies from the sciences to the arts?
Marcus Ahlers: When I was in High School, I thought I was going to study psychology and early childhood development. When I switched to art, my parents did express concern. They were mostly worried that I wouldn't be able to make any money - which is a valid concern. But when I talked to one of my professors he told me that a lot of artists teach, which reassured my parents somewhat. They never said that I couldn't do it and all in all they were quite supportive.
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Marcus Ahlers
Forced Air Humidifier
2002
Plexiglass, steel, aluminum, found materials, vinyl, electrical parts, duct, air, water
Dimensions variable
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Art Interview: Your work is based on science. Do you have a solid foundation in the sciences?
Marcus Ahlers: Not yet. I am currently working on a degree in the field of engineering and energy. But there is nothing particularly high tech about the scientific components in my art. My work has developed over time in a similar way as the sciences as a discipline has developed, as an evolving process responding to basic human curiosity. People are always wondering about the world and what's going on around us. We explore in various ways in order to learn more and develop different means of checking our beliefs and doubts.
Art Interview: Do you question how something works and then create a machine, or artwork, in response to that?
Marcus Ahlers: What I make is based in the formal language of the arts; the scientific element emerged through the contemplation of the physical processes and systems defining the human experience, and through an interest in details. I find that I like researching and developing a process of inquires… but in the end, despite the scientific aspects, the underlying ideas are more of a philosophical reflection of the human condition.
Art Interview: How did your style develop?
Marcus Ahlers: I was thinking about how things work in our day-to-day lives. I began to notice large systems, like the weather and the traffic in the city. I was also intrigued by very small systems, like the various biological systems that are operating within our bodies. All these things are tied into science; they move all around us, and are part of us.
I started looking for parallels between large and small systems -you don't need to look that hard to find them because everything is connected. Once I became aware of this, and started thinking about these connections, I spotted them everywhere. I realized that there are fundamental similarities among the ways those systems constructing our experience function.
Art Interview: After you received your Bachelors degree from Skidmore College you went on to do a Post-Baccalaureate degree at the School of the Museum of the Fine Arts, in Boston, Massachusetts. What prompted you to do that?
Marcus Ahlers: After I left Skidmore College I applied to graduate school, but I didn't get into a program. I realized that I needed more time to develop my work and my advisor suggested that I go into a Post-Baccalaureate program. So I went on to the School of the Museum of Arts Boston to do a Post-Baccalaureate. I trained there for one year and during that time my work changed a lot. I began constructing sculptures that, looking back, were quite crude. I welded organic forms out of steel, and also began using some Plexiglas, which I hadn't used since high school.
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Marcus Ahlers
Steel Worm
1995
Steel
90 x 80 x 160cm
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Through conversations with the professors there, I realized that the concepts that I was talking about weren't really being reflected in the forms that I was producing. That is when I really began to consider what I was thinking about, versus what I was making and I started searching for better ways to make them fit together. I was making these abstract, organic forms out of steel and ceramic but I was becoming more and more aware that making stagnant, abstract, organic sculptures didn't really fit to my ideas. Everything that I was thinking about was based on a series of cause and effect relationships: one thing affecting the other. Everything that I saw around me was constantly changing and working together in dynamic situations. I found that within that year I really hadn't had enough time to put my new ideas into action because the way I work takes time to fabricate things. So, I had new ideas and I had to figure out new ways to react to them, to develop a new way of working. When the application deadline for graduate school came round again I found that I still wanted another year to develop this new body of work.
After my Post-Baccalaureate I enrolled the Continuing Education Program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. I took a foundry class and worked in the metal shop, and I developed my series there. The main material in the pieces was still steel, and some aluminum; they were kinetic pieces… the early ones were definitely a bit clunky, looking back. But they were starting to better express what I was thinking about.
The next year I applied to graduate school at the Maryland College of Art, in Baltimore, Maryland where a friend of mine had gone. He had given me very positive feedback about the school.
Art Interview: How did your experiences at the Maryland College of Art compare to your experiences at the other institutes that you had been studying at?
Marcus Ahlers: The sculpture facilities at the Maryland College of Art were setup really well. They'd created a central area for the tools, and the studios circled around that space. They didn't have the extent of machinery that the Massachusetts College of Art had, but there was still enough for me to work with. When I arrived there I continued with the same ideas that I had been developing. We received some critics from the people within the college, but I was mostly influenced by the practicing artists who came to visit us from New York City. I was able to get feedback from them and I had enough time to focus on my work. Gradually I realized that there were other materials that I could work with, and started to integrate more found materials and use less steel. I began using a lot of Plexiglas. Now I use a lot of Plexiglas, along with other plastics.
Art Interview: Has Plexiglas led you to create more architectural forms within your work? Many of your pieces now seem to have an architectural feel to them.
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Marcus Ahlers
Electrolysis Project
2005
Plastics, metal, found objects, saltwater, electricity, soil, plants
Dimensions variable
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Marcus Ahlers: They do. That is one of the defining elements of my work. The architectural quality might stem from the Plexiglas; just by the nature of the fact that Plexiglas comes in plates, and most standard architecture is formed using strait walls. But it's hard to say where the architectural influence comes from, given that I'm living in an urban environment and surrounded constantly by architecture. After all we live in architecture. Plexiglas isn't really meant to bend, or at least it can't hold a bend well over time. So, I tend to use other plastics too; polyurethane for the cast parts required for the majority of my projects, which involve electrolysis.
Art Interview: How did you begin working with electrolysis?
Marcus Ahlers: It started about six years ago. Once I realized that a fundamental element of my work was about questioning what we are and what connects us with the world. I went through various stages and at some point I realized that, on a very fundamental level, we're all an elaborate electrochemical reaction. Electrical charges are being exchanged among our molecules. You could say the same thing about all of our surroundings. All materials; everything that exists is made up of this electrochemical field, which is always changing.
I wanted to try and use an electro-chemical reaction in my work. I did some research online and came up with the electrolysis of water. I was drawn to the process because it seemed very easy to work with; it was something I could do within my studio. You simply run electricity through saltwater, although recently I've just been using water. It works ideally with 12 volts, but you can also use just 3. Over time I found that the electrolysis process consistently fit for what I am thinking about. Now it's become a standard element within my work.
Art Interview: The electrolysis actually separates the molecules and as a result builds a corrosive after a period of time.
Marcus Ahlers: Yes, it's breaking apart the molecules in the fluid through the application of electricity. If you use copper for the poles and water for the liquid, it forms a green copper oxide, which you see on the rods. It looks nice, but it also adds another interesting element to the work, something that builds up over time, collecting within the piece.
I've also started collecting copper oxide. I make the stuff in a separate container, collect it, and then use it in drawings. You can also create a black substance using iron oxide.
Art Interview: Is it toxic?
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Marcus Ahlers
Assembly Line
2009
Pencil and copper-carbonate on paper
2 pages: 24 x 35cm each
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Marcus Ahlers: The copper carbonate is toxic if you eat it, but not if it's just sitting around.
Art Interview: In 2002 you won the Amalie R. Rothschild Sculpture Award. I haven't heard of this award. Can you tell me more about it?
Marcus Ahlers: I learned about it through the MFA sculpture program in Baltimore. One person from that program always wins the award and everyone from the year applied. It was designed to provide money to buy tools. That same year I had applied and received a Fullbright Scholarship to go to Berlin, Germany. Before I new I'd won the Fullbright, I had planned to buy saws and a drill press, but once I realized that I had won the Fullbright I decided to buy a computer, and a camera. Initially, I hadn't planned to stay in Berlin very long, but I ended up staying a little longer, and a little longer after that, until finally I realized that I was living here.
Art Interview: Is it your intension to work professionally as an artist in Berlin?
Marcus Ahlers: Yes, but I don't have a gallery representing me at the moment and I am not making a living from selling my work, which is probably how most people would define a professional artist.
Art Interview: How do you support your art making habit?
Marcus Ahlers: I do work for Siemens AG and teach English. Before that I was running a gallery and residency program, teaching art history at a university in Berlin and taking care of children at a daycare center.
Art Interview: Is it difficult for you to work and produce art at the same time?
Marcus Ahlers: I'm very busy. I always have a lot to do, but somehow it all works out. Normally, I live in a large studio space or I have a studio very close to my apartment - I've had both situations. That offers me the benefit of being able to make art while I am doing other things. I actually found that I really don't produce much more work during the times that I'm not as busy. I seem to function better when I have a lot of things to do.
Art Interview: When you came to Berlin you founded the Takt Kunstprogrektram Galerie.
Marcus Ahlers: Yes, I co-founded it with two other Americans: Jaque Lui and Sarah Burgess. They stayed on for a while before going back to America. We then went through a period of transitions with different spaces and teams. During the last phase that I was part of, we also started a residency program, which is still running.
Art Interview: Why did you found the Takt Kunstprogrektram Galerie?
Marcus Ahlers: We were still relatively new to Berlin when we started it. I thought it would be a good way to meet other artists. I hadn't ever been my intention to be a gallerist, or run an artist's project on an ongoing basis. After five years I started thinking about the original goals that I had set for myself, and realized I had accomplished them. So, I left to focus more on my art.
Art Interview: You have been included in a number of exhibitions within the USA, the UK, Germany, Russia and other countries. How difficult has it been for you to get your work into these exhibitions?
This oral history transcript is the result of a digitally recorded interview with Marcus Ahlers on January 08, 2010. The interview took place at Ahlers' studio in Berlin, Germany. Brendan Davis conducted this interview for Art Interview Online Magazine. Natasha Raphael wrote the introductory text at the beginning of this interview. |
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