Malte Bartsch was teached by a number of important artists, including Tadashi Kavamata at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, and Olafur Eliasson at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). In 2015 he completed his studies as a master student of Manfred Pernice.
His oeuvre encompasses a wide range of visual media - sculpture, installation, photography, and video. His focus is on the themes of modern machinery and technology, which often present themselves to the viewer in a dystopian manner. More concretely, they are intended to visualize the unclear future of the relationship between man and machine.
Bartsch's art broaches the subject of man by integrating him directly into the production of his (often) ephemeral works. This interactivity is, for example, revealed in Feuerwehrautomat II (2018), in which the dramaturgy of a firework display is in the hands of the observer. Such interactivity between viewer and work is also displayed in the works Insert Coin (2014) and Coin Drop (2015). Time Machine (2013) prompts the viewer to press a red button, causing the machine to issue a receipt indicating the duration of the button press, the time, and the location of the machine. The boundary between work and beholder, between machine and man, disappears, opening up further questions about their shared present and future (co-existence).
His works have been shown at Kunsthalle Willhelmshaven, Art Space Lemoyne in Zurich, Kunsthalle Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, Kunstverein Bochum, Neue Nationalgalerie as well as Eigen + Art Gallery in Berlin and other venues.
Malte Bartsch lives and works in Berlin.
Education
2014–2015 Master student under Manfred Pernice, University of the Arts Berlin
2014 Graduate under Olafur Eliasson, University of the Arts Berlin
2012–2014 Institute for Spatial Experiments with Olafur Eliasson, University of the Arts Berlin
2011 DAAD Scholarship, Beaux-Arts de Paris with Tadashi Kawamata
2010 Founding of the Kunstverein Jahnstrasse e.V. in Braunschweig
2009–2011 Sculpture with Michael Sailstorfer and Bogomir Ecker, HBK Braunschweig
2008 Erasmus at Bogazici University in Istanbul
2006–2009 Bachelor of Science in Human Geography and Economics, Utrecht University
Scholarships and Grants
2022 Project funding for digitalization, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, DE
2022 Neustart Kultur, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, DE
2020 New York Scholarship, State Government of Lower Saxony, New York, US
2019 Residency Grant, CCA Andratx, Andratx, ES
2018 Project Grant, Karin Abt-Straubinger Foundation
2018 Work Grant, Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn, Bonn, DE
2017 Creative Prototyping Grant, Senate Department for Economics Berlin
2016 Project Grant Art Communication, Kunsthaus Gravenhorst, Gravenhorst, DE
2016 Research Grant, Step Beyond Cultural Foundation, Tel Aviv, IS
Collections
SKAC (SKWAT Kamera Art Centre) Tokyo, JP
Municipal Gallery Wolfsburg, DE
Kunsthalle Bremen, DE
Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin, DE
Sprengel Museum Hannover, DE
City of Arnsberg, DE
Hückstädt Collection, DE
von Foerster Collection, DE
Spartakus Collection Berlin, DE
Droom en Daad Foundation, Rotterdam, NL
Ivo Wessel Collection Berlin, DE
Haus N Collection, DE