Constantin Hartenstein

Constantin Hartenstein (born in Herzberg, former GDR) is an artist based in Berlin. Working with sculpture, video and performance, he explores how the human body is immersed in and altered by artificial environments and technological inventions. Divulging a vivid encounter with biological science and medical advancements at the core of his research and production, his works question our voluntary dependencies on technology and thus discuss whether humans still use the machine as a tool to create, or whether the opposite is the truth. Here, machine processes and production cycles are embodied by repetitive patterns and hybrid material. Taking on a queer perspective, he aims to ignite a critical debate on new forms of post-digital normativity.

SKNZ

2021
3 channel video installation, soundtrack, aluminum, epoxy resin, HB BG 3.0, water, pigment
dimensions variable

sound design: Tommi Toivonen
DOP: Anne Braun

The installation SKNZ is presented as an ever evolving sculptural environment. Three video channels present extreme close-ups of organic matter filmed at the Museum of Natural Sciences Berlin, as well as footage from bio-printing companies in the US and UK; creating 3D printed organic structures from stem cell material. A choral-like soundtrack accompanies the sculpture with circular sound pieces moving around it. The work wants to highlight new moments of technological creation itself, as AI based decision-making poses questions of how advancements in bio-printing are lead by (hetero-)normative algorithms.

Pathogen IV
2021
glass, aluminum, water, pigment, 4k video
191 x 96 x 4 cm

3D Artist: Maxim Tur

THE ONGOING WORK SERIES “PATHOGEN“ (2021) BY CONSTANTIN HARTENSTEIN PRESENTS UNIQUE BLOWN GLAS PIECES MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH A GLASSBLOWER. THIS PIECE CONSISTS OF A VIDEO PROJECTION ILLUMINATING A GLASS OBJECT PLACED IN A POOL OF LIQUID. THE WORK IS INSPIRED BY SCIENCE FICTION FILMS AND NARRATIVES, IN WHICH PATHOGENS ARE OFTEN USED (BY E.G. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE) TO KEEP A CREATION IN CHECK.