Artist Statement
by Markus Oberndorfer
I am a visual artist working at the intersection of photographic practice and media arts. Rooted in analog photography, my practice extends into time-based media, digital art, and spatial installation. I explore how we perceive, inhabit, and emotionally respond to the world around us. Through images, framed works, handmade books, 360° VR videos, space-time panoramas, immersive soundscapes, and music, I examine how mediated technologies shape our experience of time, space, and presence.
At the core of my practice is a sensitivity to the pre-existing — everything a place presents that exerts a force so strong as to pull me out of ordinary life and compel to engage. My photography documents this pre-existing, focusing on the ‘sensed space’1 in presence of one or more objects rather than the objects themselves, though they often trigger the act of taking a photograph. This experience of being seized by place and presence echoes what philosopher Hermann Schmitz describes as ‘the onset of the sudden in a moment of primitive present.’
While (analog) photography remains central, my practice extends fluidly across media — including photofilm, collage, video, spatial installation, objects, performance, music production, creative coding, 3D, and emerging processes such as generative AI. I work with whichever tools best serve the conceptual intent of a project and deepen its sensory or emotional resonance. Writing — both as an artistic method and as reflection — is integral to this process.
My projects often unfold as multi-layered bodies of work that develop over years. They seek to reveal broader contexts while allowing individual images, videos, and soundscapes to stand on their own — capable of triggering associations, inviting introspection, and enabling viewers to immerse themselves in the worlds they depict. I am interested in how we interact with our surrounding, how we perceive and transform it, and what this reveals about the ‘relationship between environmental qualities and the human condition.’2
Don’t hesitate to browse the WRITING and PROJECT sections to find out more about my motivation and artistic practice.
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