Sascha Weidner´s series Hanami (literally “blossom viewing”) follows the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying – once a year in springtime – the transient beauty of blossoms. “Blossom” in this case almost always meaning the cherry blossom (jap. sakura). The way nature constantly reconstructs and renews itself, adapting to the most various situations, can also be exemplary of industry recreating itself in groupings and connections, blossoming in all its glory and withering away due to new conditions. The cycle of natural evolution thus going hand in hand with the industrial revolution. It is about life and death, and the short period in between when we as humans are supposed to blossom. The photographs of Hanami were taken 2013 during his residency at Villa Kamogawa, Kyoto in Japan.

His work deals with the ”search of a refuge, where utopia orchestrates reality and viceversa”. He has won numerous prestigious awards, such as the Award for Photographic Art of the Alison & Peter Klein Foundation and in 2010 he won the Berlin Art Prize, awarded by the Academy of the Arts Berlin. Weidner’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions as well as in public and private collections. Since tomorrow was his solo show at C/O Berlin, Germany in 2011. In 2014 Sascha Weidner has been named as the inaugural winner of the entrepreneur 4.0 award. The work for the exhibition Aokigahara also arose during his residency program at the Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, Japan. In 2012 he was appointed a member of the German Photographic Society. Sascha Weidner was finalist of the Otto-Steinert-preis 2013.

Sascha Weidner was born 1974 in Osnabrück and died 2015 in Norden, Germany. Weidner studied Photography, Painting and Communication Design at the University of the Arts in Braunschweig, Germany. In 2004, he was Meisterschüler of Dörte Eißfeldt and graduated with distinction.

Sascha Weidner was born 1974 in Osnabrück and died 2015 in Norden, Germany. He lived and worked in Belm and Berlin, Germany.

EDUCATION

Honor student under Prof. Dörte Eißfeldt 2004

Diploma Communication Design 2004

Diploma Fine Arts (photography and painting) 2003

Studies at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweigs 2003

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (IN SELECTION)

(Narratives), Le jardin de Lélise, Clervaux, Luxembourg 2017

To, co pozostaje / What remains, Galeria Fotografii pf, Poznań, Poland 2017

Sascha Weidner and Japan, Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2017

It’s all connected somehow, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany 2017

Was übrig bleibt, Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Germany 2016

Sascha Weidner–Bleiben ist nirgends, Mönchshaus-Museum für Moderne Kunst Goslar, Germany 2016

Sascha Weidner. Fotografie, RAY Fotografietriennale, Marta Hoepffner-Gesellschaft für Fotografie e.V., Hofheim, Germany 2015

The Absence of Presence, Gallery Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany 2014

Sascha Weidner – The Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Germany 2014

Aokigahara, Pavlov´s Dog, Berlin, Germany 2014

A part of it, VGHgalerie, Hannover, Germany 2013

Sascha Weidner – Selected Works, Padova, Italy 2013

Do not alight here, Athens Photo Festival, Greece 2013

Unveiled, the Sydney project, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia 2012

Lay down close by, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany 2012

Just let go, FO.KU.S, Innsbruck, Austria 2012

Revolve, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain 2011

Seit morgen, C/O Berlin, Germany 2011

Was übrig bleibt, Museum für Photographie Braunschweig, Germany 2009

Bleiben ist nirgends, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany 2009

To be handled carefully, Galerie zur Stockeregg 2009

Am Wasser gebaut, Zephyr / Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim 2009

Enduring Beauty, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany 2008

Bis es wehtut, Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel, Germany 2008

Bleiben ist nirgends, FOAM, Amsterdam, NL 2007

Enduring Beauty, Galeria Toni Tàpies, Barcelona, Spain 2007

All that could have been, Filiale Berlin, Germany 2007

Beauty remains, DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2006

Untold, Verein für Junge Kunst e.V., Wolfsburg, Germany 2005

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (IN SELECTION)

Upcoming:TraumWelten. In Between. Vom Träumen und Leben, Kunsthalle “Talstraße”, Halle, Germany, 2018

Paris Photo, Grundemark Nilsson Gallery, Paris, France 2016

Our Collectors, our Donors, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hannover, Germany 2015

Quiet Moments, Fremantle Arts Center, Fremantle, Australia 2015

Thinking. Acting. Reflecting., SAP, Walldorf, Germany 2015

Urban Spirit, Gallery Christophe Guye, Zurich, Switzerland 2014

Hängung #12 – Weltenträumen, Sammlung Klein, Nußdorf, Germany 2014

Portraying Visions, Wittenstein AG, Igersheim, Germany 2014

WILD – Animals in Contemporary Photography / Tiere in der zeitgenössischen

Fotografie, Alfred Ehrhardt Foundation, Berlin, Germany 2014

Mit den Augen Düsseldorfer Galeristen – Zeitgenössische Fotografie, E.ON Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany 2014

Context Art Miami, Grundemark Nilsson Gallery, US 2014

Capita, Broelmuseum Kortrijk, Belgium 2014

Works on Paper, Galerie Conrads, Düsseldorf, Germany 2014

Entrepreneur 4.0, Igersheim, Germany 2014

The Youth Code, curated by N. Herschdorfer, Galerie Christoph Guye, Zürich, Switzerland 2013

Heute kein Plenum / 20 jahre Klasse Doerte Eißfeldt, 2013

267 Quartiere für zeitgen. Kunst und Fotografie, BS, Germany 2013

Welt, Reisen, Selbst, Suche, Alt. Rathaus Musberg, Germany 2013

Murakami & Weidner, A.P.P. photography, Kyoto, Japan 2013

Dark sights, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt, Germany 2012

It’s a magic world, Zeithaus, Wolfsburg, Germany 2012

Hijacked 2, Zephyr, Mannheim, Germany 2012

Fame, DZ Bank Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2011

Traummänner – Starfotografen zeigen ihre Vision vom Ideal, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany 2011

(Selbst)-Portrait / Abbilder & Netzwerke, Schwules Museum, Germany 2011

Hijacked 2 – Australia / Germany, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, SA 2011

Neue Kunst aus Niedersachsen, Schloss Salder, Germany 2011

Hijacked 2, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia 2010

Art Regionale V, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche, OS, Germany 2010

Photography Group Show, Van Mieden, Antwerpen, Belgium 2010

Tool, Photofestival Knokke, Belgium 2010

Young Collectors #2, Sign, Groningen, NL 2010

Jahresgaben 09/10, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany 2010

Enthusiasmus & Leichtigkeit, Kunstmuseum Wob, Germany 2009

15 Jahre Sammlung – Gegen den Strich, Kunstmuseum Wob, Germany 2009

Until it hurts, Openeye Gallery, Liverpool, UK 2009

Arthaus 2009 / Los Angeles – Berlin, Los Angeles, USA 2009

Land, Scaped, Galerie Conrads, Filiale Berlin, Germany 2008

10 Jahre Junge Kunst, Verein für Junge Kunst e.V., Wolfsburg, Germany 2008

Concept: Photography – Dialogues & Attitudes, Museum Ludwig, Budapest, Hungary 2007

Die Liebe zum Licht – Fotografie im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany 2006

COLLECTIONS

Sprengel Museum Hannover, Hanover
Berlinische Galerie, Berlin
Museum Folkwang, Essen
House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany Foundation, Bonn
Huis Marseille, Amsterdam
Mönchehaus Museum Goslar, Goslar
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York
Collection DZ Bank, Frankfurt am Main
Collection NBank, Hanover
Collection IBB, Berlin
Collection of the City of Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg
Museum Kunstwerk, Nußdorf
Foundation Vera Chaves Barcellos, Porte Alegre

AWARDS (IN SELECTION)

Entrepreneur 4.0 (Winner) 2013
Finalist Otto-Steinert-Preis Otto-Steinert-prize 2013
Kunstfonds 2013/2014
Villa Kamowaga, Kyoto, Japan 2013
Artist Residency COFA, Sydney, Australien 2012
Stiftungspreis für Fotokunst 2011 Alison & Peter 2011
Klein Stiftung, Kunstwerk / Nußdorf 2011
Shortlist – Intern. Weldekunstpreis für Fotografie 2011
Sponsorship award Academy of Fine Arts 2010
Künstlerhaus Lukas, Ahrenshoop 2008
2. DAAD-Reisestipendium scholarship, Los Angeles 2006
Förderpreis Fotografie der NBank 2005
1. DAAD-Reisestipendium scholarship, Los Angeles 2004
Otto-Steinert-Preis honor mention
input / output, Best Awarded Works 2004
Villa Vigoni, Stipendium scholarship German Federal Ministry 2003
Phænographie – Zaha Hadid 2003
input / output, Best Awarded Works 2002
1. Prize International Polaroid Award 2001
Elite 2000, Nord-LB-Auswahl Norddeutschland 2000