Hein Gravenhorst

In 1968 Hein Gravenhorst had an exhibition with Gottfried Jäger, Pierre Cordier, and Kilian Breier at the Bielefelder Kunsthaus. Generative Photography was not only the title of the exhibition but also defined its program. The represented photographers had an aesthetic principle in common that can be described as the generation of aesthetic structures based on defined programs realized by photochemical, photo-optical or photo-technical operations with the aim of achieving an optional and functional reference of all elements involved in the construction of the aesthetic structure.

This genre of photography aimed to generate logically comprehensible aesthetic structures and was related to Max Bense's Generative Aesthetic. With his Generative Aesthetics Bense provided a principle (innovative orders in the sense of original distribution and design) to generate specific operations methodically. Likewise, Gravenhorst explains that the methodical generation of aesthetic structures enabled the visual generation of things that we perceive as a macro-aesthetic order and complexity and as micro-aesthetic redundancies and information on art.

Between 1965 and 1972 Gravenhorst created an incomparably impressive oeuvre. Several series with rare unique specimen are presented here. His works are part of international private and public collections. In recent years the Collection Peter C. Ruppert, Würzburg, 2007 TATE, London and the MoMA, New York, acquired works by Gravenhorst.

Since the mid-1970s Hein Gravenhorst has also turned to alternative medicine as a therapist. He lives and works in Berlin.