Stephan Tillmans

Stephan Tillmans (b. 1982), is a Berlin-based photographer and designer. After starting a business degree in a small town in Germany, Tillmans decided to move to Berlin instead where he started working in the props department of a theatre. Having both an artistic but also technical interest, Tillmans successfully applied to the Berliner Technical Art School (BTK) where he completed his degree in communication design. Tillmans worked on his photographic series Luminant Point Arrays, alongside a theoretical paper on concrete and abstract in the photographic image in 2010.

Luminant Point Arrays shows images of old tube televisions taken at the very moment they are being switched off. This series has often been interpreted as representing the end of the traditional broadcasting era. But it is the light becoming materialistic and almost sculptural that fascinates Tillmans most, both in his award-winning series and his following attempts and experiments as a photographer. Tillman’s works have been, included in exhibitions in the United Photo Industries (New York City), Deichtorhallen (Hamburg), Future Presence (Minneapolis) and a solo exhibition at the artplosiv gallery in Freiburg. He recently completed the HPI School of Design Thinking and teaches design processes and methods as a freelance lecturer.