martin eugen raabenstein
raabenstein’s distinct excursions in image, text, and sound delve into serially structured sequences. by exposing and recombining the underlying structures of the respective medium’s topography, layers of construction emerge, whose temporal/spatial sequencing allows for various contextualization possibilities. the artist’s archaeological approach employs both complex condensations of form and equally weighted zones of looseness by integrating one or more voids into each composition.
through the quasi-binary sequence and structuring of these arranged modules, the artist’s characteristic, syncopically fractured flurry of his grid-like arrangements arises. subtle rhythmic and broken, musical configurations reeve through all three of raabenstein’s fields of activity. unlike many mathematically organized currents of modernism, such as twelve-tone or serial music, raabenstein’s constructions resemble biomorphic models, functioning as open rather than hermetical systems.
within this individual mythology, the artist uses irrational strategies to occupy unscheduled, advanced territories. through this interplay of sameness and difference, he expands françois jullien’s concept of de-coincidence. true to the saying „grey hare, new practice“ raabenstein subtly erodes seemingly rigid systems. „the steady drip wears away the stone“, is not a satisfactory attitude for overly restless people, but that doesn’t have to trouble the process implicitly.
intergenerational value conflicts often obscure the fact that a uniform, intragenerational value system does not exist. in the struggle for interpretive dominance, the rebellious new generation is supported by parts of the old one with goodwill. meanwhile, the majority-forming dynamic shifts from one side to the other, only to eventually move back again when the time is right. in the tumult of each dispute, it is often overlooked that, in the longue durée, the process forms an endless, horizontal figure eight. raise / erase examines the moment when a value shifts from esteem to contempt. in contrast to joseph kosuth, who crosses out passages appropriated from other authors in some of his works, raabenstein writes the texts himself, which he then deletes by hand.
endless pierre, photography, (9 parts), 100 x 100 cm each, 2025 is a tribute to the work of sound engineer and composer pierre schaeffer.
the trickster marcel duchamp has his nose-leading gag—everything can be art—handed straight back to him by being covered in fame and honor, while his merry band of followers busies itself with the infinitely delightful communication classic: „who says what, in which channel, to whom, and with what effect?“ while some examine the death of postmodernism, others smugly declare that we were never modern, and everywhere the most enraptured tunes resound, depending on which note-tuned guitar one is willing to listen to. everything is everything, everywhere we find even more everything, and wise art gurus consider answers to their clever questions to be corrupting. a farce? rather not, just a perfectly normal human party running on a continuous loop. too much talk, too much drink, too little vomiting… and onward. why does the pig curl its tail? because it looks cute.
one can accuse art’s confusing, incoherent self-narration of all this, or one can skillfully arrange collected fragments of this narrative into another, individual fiction. nothing seems as alive as what has been declared dead, and yesterday’s news clearly serves a greater purpose than just wrapping fish and hot potatoes. in this recombination, the word „new“ hides rather reluctantly—though that is not the intended focus here.
when raabenstein, in his series pass, documents photographically the process of creating and erasing a drawing, arranges the results digitally, then mounts this selection into spaces in a classical, non-ai-assisted act, and integrates the remaining originals in closed boxes within private collections, the artist refers to art-historical processes and episodes. the question to be posed—what is the work, where does it ultimately reside, and how, what is sought to be achieved through this multimedia-accessed process, and what can therefore be achieved—is left to the viewer. the individual groupings, the work steps of the series, are scattered, and thematically placed connections lead down misleading paths. the contents of the boxes remain unknown, their storage akin to being locked away in a safe. furthermore, art handled in this way alters its commodity character—it is not marketable but instead externalizes itself in an act of autonomous dissolution, serving simultaneously as both a boundary and a final stone in an action.
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for dust you are and to dust you will return. the condemning words of god after the fall of man miraculously transformed into the affectionate character study of a child damned to filthiness.
peanuts, the american comic strip classic, created by charles m. schulz introduced in the 1950s, pictures a boy called pigpen, surrounded by clouds of dust, dirty and disheveled, unable to be clean. one day charlie brown, accepting him for what he is, comments: ‚don’t think of it as dust. just think of it as the dirt and dust of far-off lands blowing over here and settling on pigpen. it staggers the imagination. he may be carrying the soil that was trod upon by solomon or nebuchadnezzar or genghis khan!‘.
dust, god’s curse and condemnation to a toilsome life on the one hand, and the exhilaratingly compassionate twirl of one of the most popular comic authors on the other, are both approach and terminus in this examination of the uttermost unpleasant element of our existence. dust, dirt, discarded and expelled, unloved whether as waste or as outcast, is seized to form a conceptual project: welcome to pigpen’s palace, shaped to spin and dominate. this is no wall of hatred or revenge – a mirror rather. by the sweat of your brow it will crumble again, eventually.
is there a considerable discrepancy between how we perceive ourselves and how the environment observes us, we speak of a self-image-other-image incongruence. characteristics that a person is not aware of, but others are, are called a blind spot. this area is difficult to influence. as an essential part of our personal identity, our self-image would like to be perceived as such from the outside. if this is not the case, we feel unseen or unfairly labelled. stamped explores the relationship between a randomly chosen word and the person who has these letters printed on their forehead without their intervention.
paint on artist is the predecessor series in which the words are sprayed onto the backs of the people photographed.
the result, whether worked in ink, clay or photography, is a layered, interpenetrating amalgam, whose original elements and the way in which it was worked are still recognisable through the transparency. it is precisely through the targeted approach of the refining cut, which removes the unimportant parts of the work, that the essential core is revealed. a butcher proceeds in a similar way, only you can no longer recognise the deer in the shape of a fillet. in raabenstein’s work, you can sense rather than see it, but the artist has already disappeared behind the next line in his process, only to unfold again in a different medium.
