Kaufmann, Andreas M.

Andreas M. Kaufmann

As is the case with all of us when we come into the world, little could Andreas M. Kaufmann imagine that, after being born in Zurich in 1961, he would come to live now between Barcelona and Cologne, would be carrying out creative work, would have exhibited his work all over the world, and despite this and to his good fortune, would not form part of the myriad artists whose presence offers us little more than what is essential for understanding the world, enjoying our reality; to sum up, for being conscious of how happy we are despite this crisis already beginning to rear its head — and when it fully presents itself, we won’t even remember to smile. That’s how it is: when one is born, no one knows what will become of him. But we do know it when he begins to express who he his, to show signs of his identity, to leave his childhood behind and begin to seek his place in the world. And this is where Andreas, collecting everything and especially fossils, didn’t take long to express what he wanted to be when he grew up: an archaeologist. And although he would abandon this idea after studying fine arts, photographic design, philosophy, history and German literature in Münster and Dortmund, it’s what he continues to be: a collector of images, words and sounds, and, above all, someone who links the tools with which we communicate and inform ourselves, getting a picture of the world. The tools we use to distort our idea of reality. Because with more information, there is more manipulation, more confusion, more adulteration, and, in the end, delusion. And this must be spoken about.

The biographical text that accompanies the catalogue of the “Stuffed Silence” (Olot, 2006) exhibition says what Andreas wanted to be when he grew up before becoming an artist. Well, then, not only has he succeeded, but through his fondness over the decades for recovering and collecting the visual and sound relics from our age his database has become a treasure he turns to in order to make us properly aware of the collective consciousness of our present and the way through which a connection can be established between “the public sphere, images and the identity of the contemporary individual”.

Frederic Montornès