Tobias Zielony

For over ten years, Tobias Zielony has been portraying young people he encounters on urban peripheries and social margins in western welfare states. His motifs are to be found in places where modern achievements are starting to crumble and promises of community and solidarity have left only disenchantment – such as young people in Los Angeles by night, looking for corners in the city where they can be (The Cast, 2007), or descendants of the original inhabitants of Canada, in the reservations of Manitoba, whose cultural traditions and future prospects have been destroyed (2009). In front of Zielony’s camera, they all seem to wish to appear in a positive light, to construct a poised, dignified image of themselves, even though they are aware of the questionability of the pictures. His most recent project is entitled Jenny Jenny (2013); the subject is young women in Berlin, several of whom earn their living as sex workers. In his lecture, Tobias Zielony will present his work and talk about the increasing significance in it of video, animation and text.