Clemens von Wedemeyer examines in his work group dynamics and social relationships that he delineates by artistic means.

In Social Geometry, a video installation of 2024, he concerns himself with historical scientific theories on group organization and structure. For preliminary studies, twelve prints in total, the artist used the cyanotype process (blueprinting). In this technique—first used in 1843 by the botanist Anna Atkins for photographic representation of plants in a book—a paper brushed with ferric solutions is exposed to sunlight, and the outlines of objects placed on it emerge as bright white negatives on a typically deep blue background. Wedemeyer made irregularly shaped shells reference points for structural models. He thus spans an arc between the natural world and theoretical science: fuzzy white spots that form into fragile arrays. The geodesic model after designer and architect Richard Buckminster Fuller shows a complex grid structure of triangles that stands for self-sufficiency and synergetic efficiency.

Critical reflection of sociality is the essential characteristic of Clemens von Wedemeyer’s art. In the era of social media and its far-reaching influence on society, this artistic analysis is meaningful and illuminating.

Translation: Michael Strand