Jonas Brinker: What Remains of Light

• Exhibition

The glow of fireflies at dusk is often read as an expression of desire. After a long larval stage and pupation, they emit bioluminescent signals during their final phase of life, expending significant energy for species-specific communication. For his first institutional solo exhibition, Jonas Brinker takes fireflies and their environment as the starting point for an expansive video installation in the historic waiting hall of the Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof. Set against the wavering sounds of the city and the shimmer of the New York skyline at night, the attempt to capture the flashes of the insects becomes a melancholy exploration of longing, time, and the interwoven worlds of human and non-human beings. Jonas Brinker’s time-based works emerge from long, patient studies of these habitats and their inhabitants. Based on extensively gathered film material, the video works form a visual concentrate of poetic observation.