Biography

Lars Klingenberg, born 1978 in Aachen, lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.

Since 2014, Lars Klingenberg has been self-taught, working entirely on independent, conceptual-artistic long-term projects and creating, among other things, "Sociocritical Sculptures of the Metropolis". Using photographic tools and iterations (partly from objects found or collected on the street), to reflect social states and poverty in Germany. The comparative, objective and serial depictions reactivate a veristic working method of New Objectivity and connect to the conceptual approach of Conceptual Art of the 1960s.

Driven by the advancing social inequality in German society, escalating consumerism and the Anthropocene, Lars Klingenberg is working on a counter-draft to the depictions and aesthetic distortions in contemporary (documentary) photography that have been shaped since the 1980s by educated bourgeois, neoliberal world views. Lars Klingenberg's works all fulfil a function, are bearers of a political message and the social meaning is the fundamental aspect. They formulate the clear demand of a necessary social change. The objectivity of the depictions liberates the seroius themes of their superficial shamefulness and touching emotionality and describes itself as "Social Objectivity". Although the images question our personal, social behaviour and ways of thinking, the reduced aesthetic allows for a social approach. The stylistic device of iteration clarifies a long, continuous period of time, as well as the stagnation or ongoing aggravation of the issues depicted, thus describing the misbehaviour of political decision makers.

In 2022 Lars Klingenberg initiated the "Poverty Working Group", a platform for regular exchange and the development of new project ideas with experts from the fields of social science and sociology.

CV

2023
- - Localize, „Von Amts Wegen“, Potsdam, Germany, group show
- - Fabrik der Künste, „Position”, Hamburg, Germany, group show
- - Helsinki Photo Festival, Thema „Courage“, shortlisted
- - Fine Art Photography Awards, Professional Conceptual, Nomination
- - London International Creative Competition, Professional / CREATE (Art), Finalist
2022
- - Who’s Next? Homelessness, architecture and the city, MK&G Hamburg, group show
- - MS Artville Hamburg, group show
- - ND Award, Fine Art: Conceptual, Honorable Mention
- - Creative Photo Awards, Conceptual Commended
- - Triennale der Photographie Hamburg, International Portfolio Review “Friends of Photography”"
- - digit! Magazine #4-2022, Cologne/Germany, topic "Sustainability in photography"
- - Exit Magazine #85, Madrid/Spain, topic "Sleepers and Dreamers"
2021
- - Tokyo International Foto Awards⁣, TIFA 2021 Gold Winner in Editorial/Political
- - Life Framer, “Colors” editors pick
- - DongGang International Photo Festival, Korea, group show
- - Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg, Future Scholarship for Visual Arts and Literature
- - Claussen-Simon-Stiftung Hamburg, “Drei Milliarden” project funding
2020
- - Getxophoto International Image Festival, shortlist
- - Designxport Hamburg - "Grenzen aus drei Perspektiven", group show
2019
- - ISSP International Summer School, Latvia, workshop with Mathieu Asselin
2018
- - EMOP Berlin, Photowerk, screening Kurfürstendamm
- - Photoszene Festival Cologne - “Sichtbar” portfolio review
2017
- - Portfoliowalk DFA, Deichtorhallen Hamburg
- - Dummy Magazine No. 57, Berlin/Germany, topic “Home”, cover photo
2015
- - BundeskunstHALL OF FAME, Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, group show
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