Sinje Dillenkofer\u2019s (b. Neustadt a.d.W., 1959) body of work ARCHIVES VIVANTES<\/em> inquires into the idea of the \u201carchive,\u201d harnessing the means of visual art to allow us to see and perceive what the archive does not reveal. With staged photographs that combine conceptual rigor with a wide spectrum of creative techniques and devices, Dillenkofer\u2019s pictorial essay turns the spotlight on specimens, artifacts, graphic art, and writings compiled by the explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769\u20131859) and the ornithologist Carlo von Erlanger (1872\u20131904). Examining the archive as a model of nature and reality as well as a mirror of \u201chuman nature,\u201d the artist develops compositional ideas inspired by the peculiar features of the objects in the collections in visual analogies, pictorial spaces, and spatial compositions. Animals and plants that died long ago \u201cin the service of science\u201d are vividly embodied through the distinctive use of light and shadow. The resulting pictures consider the archive in a new context, framed by our complex relationships with nature, humankind, society and its values and ideals, circumstances and constellations of power. The pictures were taken in six German collection archives: at the Museum bei der Kaiserpfalz Ingelheim, the Naturhistorisches Museum Mainz, the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, the Stadtmuseum Berlin, and the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History. Dillenkofer was the first artist to be invited by the Berlin State Library\u2014Prussian Cultural Heritage to translate Humboldt\u2019s American travel diaries into art.<\/p>\n Sinje Dillenkofer studied at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and has taught at universities and art academies. Her work is held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, and the Berlinische Galerie, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":18255,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[2208,2211],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18262","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-all-books","7":"product_cat-photography","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"taxable","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n