Fabian Reimann

Romantik: manual

Archetypes of Romantic Imagery

Fabian Reimann (b. Bremerhaven, 1975; lives and works in Leipzig) undertakes painstaking research into writings and images and translates his findings into arrangements of sculptural elements, photographs, and collages. Blending the factual and the fantastic, he sets out narrative installations and essays in three dimensions. His works often revolve around the—in many instances, bizarre—anecdotes behind historic events and figures.

For his artist’s book Romantik: manual, Reimann worked with the Berlin-based performance ensemble bücking&kröger to develop a multidisciplinary project that focused on a critical engagement with the Romantic period and the idea of romanticism. To delve into the rich imagery associated with them, the artists pursued a variety of performative approaches, which they documented in photographs. The resulting material was the basis for a pictorial essay in which romantic images figure as sources for visual forms in diverse genres. The idea of the creative individual as enshrined in Western culture, too, originated with the Romantics.