Marco Reichert
“Eigentlich ist es ein Spaziergang am Nachmittag”
Circle Culture Gallery, Hamburg
In his solo exhibition “Eigentlich ist es ein Spaziergang am Nachmittag” (“Actually, it is a walk in the afternoon”) at Circle Culture Gallery Hamburg, Marco Reichert invites viewers into his evolving journey with art, technology, and poetic randomness. The exhibition title, inspired by an accidental yet profoundly evocative encounter with Japanese characters on his smartphone, encapsulates his exploration of the serendipitous intersections between the digital and the human.
This exhibition underscores Reichert’s unique synthesis of algorithmic precision and painterly spontaneity. Building on his background in digital and robotic processes, Reichert’s self-designed painting robot operates as both a tool and a collaborator in his creative practice, challenging the traditional roles of artist and medium. The robot applies paint with mechanical accuracy, yet the results reveal unexpected textures and organic forms. This interplay evokes parallels with avant-garde movements like Dadaism and Automatism, where randomness and chance served as essential tools to explore the unconscious. Reichert’s work, however, pushes beyond the avant- garde’s aims by delving into the complexities of digital interfacing, where code and machine blur the lines between automation and agency.
Reichert’s latest body of work reflects his experimentation with ephemeral media and sculptural forms, each piece a testament to his curiosity about technology’s capacity to elicit genuine emotional resonance. Central to the exhibition project is an immersive installation in a pop up location in Hamburg to be announced, featuring a painting robot in action, creating bold, transient patterns with fluorescent inks. This choice of medium, though technologically driven, invites a visceral connection and emphasizes the impermanence and unpredictability intrinsic to Reichert’s approach.
The gallery at Bismarckstrasse features new paintings of varying sizes, where expressive color fields and layered textures demonstrate his continual refinement of hybrid techniques. These works, marked by both mechanical precision and painterly freedom, serve as a visual journey through his practice, oscillating between control and chaos, spontaneity and system. His inclusion of wall sculptures further extends his paintings into three-dimensional space, reflecting his curiosity about how digital aesthetics can transform traditional mediums.
Reichert’s work is in dialogue with the trajectory of machine aesthetics in modern and contemporary art, echoing early 20th-century explorations by artists of Constructivism and later kinetic art pioneers like Jean Tinguely. Where Tinguely’s kinetic sculptures embodied an absurdist take on the machine, Reichert’s works view the machine as a collaborator—an equal partner in the act of creation. His practice also engages with contemporary debates on artificial intelligence and authorship, positing questions about the role of artist versus algorithm and the place of intuition in a digital age.
At its core, “Eigentlich ist es ein Spaziergang am Nachmittag.” is an invitation to wander through a world where the randomness of digital algorithms meets the intentionality of human touch. Reichert’s ability to create poetic connections from seemingly arbitrary digital elements reflects a modern sensibility that values both the machine’s efficiency and the serendipity of human discovery. This exhibition is a testament to the potential for art to bridge technology and emotion, offering a reflection on the nature of creativity in an era where machines and humans are increasingly intertwined.
