Hendrik Czakainski

The Völklingen Ironworks flooded in red light
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Oliver Dietze

Henndrik Czakainski credit Lukas Stiller

Henndrik Czakainski credit Lukas Stiller
Copyright: Lukas-Stiller

Born in 1979 in Aurich, Germany
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Exhibitions

Werke

Technofossils

Hendrik Czakainski by Lukas K Stiller

Hendrik Czakainski by Lukas K Stiller
Copyright: Lukas K. Stiller

Date

2022

Dimensions

140 x 140 cm each

Material

MDF, cardboard, paint, surfacer

Description

Technofossils is Hendrik Czakainski’s title for the work he is presenting in Völklingen—and it is well suited to its aesthetic and message. Deposited as sediments, such remains will presumably what tells the story of us and our era—if someone or something makes the effort to look into it. Reminiscent at first, presumably not unintentionally, in terms of perspective and composition of aerial photography or zoomed-in satellite images, on closer inspection they turn out to be detailed assemblages. Coming from traditional painting, Czakainski enhanced his oeuvre by employing medium-density fiberboard, nets, spackle, and iron powder to create a hybrid form between painting and model building in his Berlin studio. The color structures are partially corroded and evoke the flipside of our economic and social order: slagheaps and slums. As profits increase, the use of resources and the exploitation of “human materials” increase as well. The growth logic of Homo oeconomicus always ensures—at least for the invisible hand of its beneficiary—that the slagheap of mental and material toxic waste will grow as well—as Hendrik Czakainski has deftly illustrated.