THE CREATIVE CONCEPT of H:32
5th Floor: The Desert
Stefan Busch and Stephan Meißner // TAPE THAT
Born in:
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Started out:
During his studies in communication design SteFan got inspired by an American artist to do Tape Art. After experimenting at home for a while he got hired for a party of Vice magazine and the Prince Charles club. When he met Tape That he joined the collective and became a full-time tape artist. The other StePHan started out doing graffiti and came about tape art by coincidence when his flatmate left a tape role on his desk. While pushing the tape aside for a new sketch the idea popped up to
tape it onto the wall instead of using a pen and paper. They both met the first time in a store (Klebeland) that specializes in selling tape, that was about six years ago by now. Tape That was founded around 7 years ago and grew since then to 6 artists of whom 4 are taping full time.
Specialist in: offering variety. Besides commissioned works and free artworks, spreading their love for Tape Art around the world is most important to them. Hence the project "Tape Art around the World": Often with support of the foreign ministry or the Goethe-Institut, they travel the world doing workshops, murals and exhibitions promoting their form of art (they did it in more than 20 countries by now, from Belarus to Qatar!). In order to bring the taping world to Berlin, Tape That also organized and curated the "Tape Art Convention", first edition in 2016 and the biggest Tape Art exhibition in the world.
For H:32:
they set out to interpret THE DESERT in a twofold way: by abstracting dunes in the most minimalist way, often resembling a yellow triangle, and by covering these with organic shapes using almost exclusively black tape stripes. These patterns result from wind or water interacting with sand and can be found multiples times in nature. By overlaying and intertwining the varying patterns and the abstract dunes they created a unique atmosphere that engulfs the entire floor.
Links:
Tape That about the “philosophy” of their collective:
"Our fascination for tape art lies in the combination of endless creative possibilities and the natural limitations that one has to deal with while working with tape. We are constantly challenged and inspired by the different characteristics of this medium, and the ways in which it influences our creative process. It is important for us to always involve the surrounding environment when creating each piece, thus ensuring a unique expression that fits within its context. Some of our artworks are simplistic and minimal, while others consist of intricate and complex structures. Working as a collective, each of us contribute our own unique styles and ideas, that complement and inspire the group’s work as a whole. Each project has a strong focus on cooperation – not only within the collective but also with the organizations we work with, other artists, art enthusiasts and art novices. Through our work we have had the opportunity to spread tape art as an art form and to introduce it to people around the globe who were unaware of its existence. This is probably the most rewarding aspect of our work, and we are more than excited to be a part of a movement that is just beginning."