In his work ‘καίω’ Nemo Nonnenmacher is exploring the materiality of remnants collected from areas that were devastated by wildfires. The work reflects on the personal experience through the sense of touch and develops a new tactility through digital tools. Charred bark becomes a sculptural object and is digitalised in a VR environment and interactive video installation. Through processes of transformation, ‘καίω’ draws on the emotional reaction to physicality and the implications of remote interconnectivity through new technologies and media.
The project was developed as part of the Artist-in-Residence Program at CYENS Thinker Maker Space.
Nemo Nonnenmacher (b. 1988, Germany) is a visual artist based in Europe.
He uses photography, sculpture and Virtual Reality to explore the relationship between body and digital space, the connection between ‘physical’ and ‘virtual’. He creates immersive visual worlds, constantly testing and investigating new technologies. On the one a fascination with the democratic outset, the participatory ‘everyone is a creator’, on the other hand the awareness of how virtual environments and digital culture ‘grow’ into and dictate our daily lives.
Nemo holds an MA Photography from the Royal College of Art, London and has been artist in residence at THISISFAKE media art collective (Leipzig/Zeitz, DE, 2020), Summer Hall/Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Edinburgh, UK, 2019), Outset Contemporary Art Fund, 91-93 Baker Street (London, UK, 2018) and Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop (London, UK, 2018). From 2012 to 2017 he was a fellow of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation.
Selected exhibitions include ‘Authentic Spaces’ (THISISFAKE, Zeitz, DE, 2020), ‘Onslaught Undone’ (Meno Parkas, Kaunas, LIT, 2020), ‘Prototypen’ at Opelvillen Art and Culture Foundation (Rüsselsheim, DE, 2017), ‘Lo Stato delle Cose’ at Fondazione Fotografia (Modena, IT, 2016), and ‘Emerging Artists’ at U, Center for the Arts and Creativity (Dortmund, DE, 2015).
He currently works between London, UK and Agios Nikolaos, West Mani, Greece.