Julius von Bismarck Fire with Fire (Test Apparatus #4), 2021

The body of work Fire with Fire (2018-2021) stems from Julius von Bismarck’s continuous quest to explore the aesthetics of nature’s calamitous force. Including film, photography and sculpture, Fire with Fire exposes unseen images of fire, which von Bismarck captured during various expeditions to forest fire sites in Germany, the Arctic Circle in Sweden, and across California. The year 2018 being determined by the most destructive wildfires since the beginning of records, a typical aesthetic of calamity became ubiquitous in the media. This led Julius von Bismarck to question how to see beyond this simplified, politicised perspective on wildfires and natural catastrophes in general. For his work Fire with Fire von Bismarck collaborated with various fire fighting forces, to be allowed admittance to the restricted areas, and seizure the aesthetic apocalypse of blustering flames. Using slow motion and image mirroring as a technique to enhance the hypnotic effect of fire, von Bismarck’s Fire with Fire images differ greatly from the brutal reality depicted.