Timo Herbst on Transforming Gestures into Art

Timo Herbst on Transforming Gestures into Art Exploring Movement, Resistance, and Collective Memory

Timo Herbst discusses his interdisciplinary practice, exploring the transformation of gestures into art, the role of collaboration, and how residencies and research shape his socially and visually impactful installations.

Timo Herbst is a groundbreaking artist whose work explores the intersection of movement, politics, and artistic expression. Through drawing, video, and sculpture, he transforms everyday gestures and acts of resistance into powerful multimedia installations. His art masterfully balances formal aesthetics with socially relevant themes, inviting reflection on collective memory and the dynamics of dissent.

An acclaimed graduate of the Academy for Visual Arts Leipzig, Herbst has exhibited internationally and participated in prestigious residencies, including the Goethe Institute Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. In this interview, he shares insights into his creative process, collaborations, and the inspirations behind his innovative practice.

How do you approach the intersection of everyday movements, political gestures, and artistic expression in your work?

It naturally appeared when I started looking into the question of when and how a body movement becomes a gesture which we consider carrying meaning or information and even could become socially relevant. This comes out of the personal realm of my observations of daily life, the cultural expressions I observe in my profession as a cultural producer and artist and as well in the political sphere in negotiations of power or expressions of dissent in the public sphere.

Could you describe the process of collaborating with Marcus Nebe on your multimedia installations? How do these collaborations influence the final outcome?

Since 2015 I have regularly collaborated with Marcus Nebe in video works, 3d-prints and animations. We studied together in Leipzig (Germany) and are friends. We both have different qualities and concentrations in our work. We have been filming and editing together a lot about gestures in the urban landscape of the city and protest cultures since 2013. I then did archival research together with a historian which created my 10 meter drawing Ephemera while Marcus educated himself in 3D printing for example. He developed a method to transfer gestures into sculptures. Now we combine our qualities in 3D prints out of participatory international scanning sessions for example, which create works like Chain.

Your practice often focuses on the physical expression of dissent and resistance. What motivates this focus, and how do you hope your work contributes to the discourse surrounding these themes?

I draw, perform and work on this collaboratively to understand better the dynamic of the social discourse I am living in and participating in. That means simultaneously also working out contradictions that arise when gestures are in friction with their surroundings, when different narrations or historiographies clash with each other or when disagreements and misunderstandings in the perception of the world undermine social organization. For me, art has the potential to deal with these contradictions and ambivalences in a different way than political or everyday logic usually does. For me the potential of art is that it captures these contradictions and grasps them as a (pictorial) quality. The contradictions are thus treated differently and endured differently.

In your installations, you combine formal visual effects with socially relevant themes. How do you balance aesthetic considerations with the content you aim to convey?

I think a sensual experience is the basic door to any art piece and engagement into any topic or context. Usually my work originates from one sensual element or experience I get interested in. I then follow that by collecting material to work with it. In that sense I consider myself doing a lot of research or a process even before starting the final process of a new piece. This usually also lets me search for new ways to work with the material or create ney physical forms according to what is happening. Also the experience of prior art pieces point me towards new questions, contexts or materials. The form of the 5 channel video installation Play by Rules for example rebuilds the reporter’s techniques, except now the recording devices are replaced by playing devices while the projections recreate the physical space of the places shown in the films. Form and content usually communicate with each other and fall into place is my experience.

How does your background in both the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen and the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig shape your interdisciplinary approach to art today?

The interdisciplinary work came after my studies in Leipzig or Bremen, for example by a two year interdisciplinary working fellowship I had 2016-2018 at FU Berlin and HBK Braunschweig from Volkswagen Foundation. But the eagerness for communication and learning about different ways describing and questioning the world was always part of my character. I studied philosophy and cultural studies before, worked in different fields like psychology besides my study. I guess the interdisciplinary approach was already there.

Can you talk about your experience as a fellow at various international institutions, such as the Goethe Institute Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris? How have these residencies influenced your work?

Absolutely. I work with Japanese Paper a lot in my drawings. Going to Kyoto to the Villa Kamogawa 2016 gave me the possibility to research the way the paper is made and also the Japanese graphic traditions. I completely changed the way I use the paper from then on till today. For example because of that I became able to install my drawing Ephemera moving through the exhibition space. My time in Paris at Cité Internationale des Arts and Fiminco Foundation also emphasized my international interdisciplinary approach. I am still half living in Paris and in Germany. Without Paris I would never have done the prints and sculptures at Parc de la Villette Aux Folies which I will develop further for a larger project in Zagreb in Croatia 2025.

EDITOR’S HIGHLIGHTS