Image courtesy of Roman Häbler
Leo and Björn are an artist duo based in Munich. Their works combine simplistic stylized images and use simple materials with first class animation and outstanding programming. Sleek Magazine met Leo and Björn at the Heitsch Gallery in Munich, where their new solo show has just opened to answer the question, “Do I need to go there today?”
‘Do I need to go there today?’ 2016 Videoloop, 3 minutes
It’s very unusual that you are working as a duo. How did you come up with this idea? Where did you get acquainted and when did you realize that you want to work together?
Björn: We met during design when we did the test to go to university. Leo wanted to see my drawings after the test and check out what I did, since then we became friends and started to work on projects together.
Leo: In the beginning it was very lose contact and not professional. We started very slow and then with time we got more serious.
Björn: During studies we had a long talk about drawing, and both of us were not satisfied with the state of skills we had. So we pushed each other, searching for different teachers outside the university that could help bring us forward. We still have the same kind of attitude toward things, which has kept us working together.
Was there any moment when you decided, “Okay, now we should begin working together”?
Leo: No, it grew… It was one step after another. As projects continued to go well, we kept moving forward.
The techniques of your works are very different. Do you divide the responsibilities before-hand, or do you decide it during the process?
Leo: The techniques always depend on the things we want to do. For example, when building a house, you start to work with special techniques that are specific for that task. Every project can be very different.
Björn: Drawing is a shared technique. There are different aspects both of us are focused on. Then we bring them together.
‘Lernen durch’s Machen’ 2012 Videoloop, 15 seconds
What techniques do you personally prefer?
Leo: I like to work with 3-dimensional things. For example, when I have a sketch, I begin to build a 3-dimensional model.
Björn: I do a lot in the virtual space: 3D modeling and 3D animation. I work with digital tools. For example, when designing a room installation Leo usually uses a physical small scale whereas I prefer to work in 3D.
Are there any techniques you have never tried but are keen to?
Leo: Hundreds.
Björn: Many.
Björn: One of our projects was a fire-making experience, meaning we learned to make fire with our hands. Survival techniques, craftsmanship techniques and learning more about how to program things.
‘Bin das im Spiegel Ich?’ 2013 Installation view, live-drawing-performance in wooden head sculpture
In many of your works you can see the so-called “avatar.” Who is this creature? What does he mean in general, and what does he mean for the two of you?
Björn: The avatar was born from our drawings. It is a metaphor for our collaboration, because something unexpected always develops. The work Leo and I do together is more than just building on each others’ skills and ideas, regarding form and content. This virtual figure can be interpreted as a representation of not only us, but the general population in the virtual world.
Leo: It developed its own life out of these simple drawings.
Björn: It is a condenced version of all these ideas that are in our drawings. I like bringing the drawings to life, to make them react with virtual worlds. it’s a metaphor for us to experience this world which our generation is living in. The second part of our lives is taking place and this avatar is the representative of our ideas.
What inspires you? Do you have any special techniques for gathering inspiration?
Leo: I think a lot of inspiration comes from our conversations. I do a lot of drawings while we are talking.
Björn: The search in finding new techniques is a big inspiration for us.
‘Cast away’ 2012 Mural
Your solo show “Do I need to go there today?” is going to be open this week in the Heitsch gallery in Munich. I saw your work with a similar name at the Parallel Vienna last autumn. What is the concept behind this?
Björn: We once let our avatar experience what is going on in a house with an exhibition and drew the house where the show took place. When we were working on this project we spent a lot of time discussing the question of whether art as a virtual experience is different from a physical one. It is a fact that both of us spend more time looking at the artworks as digital images than we are able to see it in the real world. This idea then morphed into “Do I need to go there today?” The question we want to ask is, in today’s world is it really necessary to visit exhibitions in real life? Or is it possible to get the idea in another way? When we started this installation, we liked the idea that this setup is impossible to reproduce. It seems to be arranged to look perfect in a digital space, but when you go there physically you are sometimes disappointed by the experience.
‘Can we work together and stay friends?’ 2015 Four-handed live-drawing-performance
‘Vom Bohren harter Bretter’ 2012, installation view
‘Do I need to go there today?’ is on display at the Heitsch Gallery in Munich until 28 May
All images courtesy of artists