Lukas Birk

Lives and works in Beijing since November 2007

A moment’s departure

Lukas Birk's photo series A moment's departure plays with the visual perception of time through old photographic material.

In a city like Beijing, in which enormous changes take place within a very short time span, temporality takes on its own tempo. New shops, 

cafes and restaurants open daily, buildings are erected in a few month’s time and outlying districts continue to merge with the city. Within the 

same timeframe, many shops, cafes and restaurants also close and entire neighborhoods are torn down to make space for new, modern high-rises. 

This constant state of flux creates a dynamic energy open for anything new. Though these changes are hugely welcomed, a plaintive tone for that 

which has vanished invariably sets in. Nostalgia is omnipresent, nostalgia for things almost still existing. 

For this series, Lukas works with Polaroid film that expired in 1991, discovered by chance in a basement. The chemicals, given the age of the 

material, are practically unusable. The corrupted colors of the images resemble yellowed photographs from the 1960s. Visually, one connects 

these images with something past. Nostalgia for departed times. Initially, these images of China, and especially Beijing, give the impression of an 

old China. Only when studied in detail does the viewer separate the aged visual appearance of the images and their contemporary content. Instant 

nostalgia, as Lukas would title it.

CV Lukas Birk

1982 born in Bregenz

Solo exhibitions

2009   A moments departure, Pingyao Photofestival, Pingyao

2009   Junsui, Institut franco-japonais à Yokohama, Yokohama 

2009   Kafkanistan, Anni Art, 798, Beijing

2009   A moment’s departure, CNEX, Beijing 

2009   A moment’s departure, China International Gallery Exposition, Beijing

2008   Kafkanistan, Platforma, Athens, 

2008   Junsui, Secrets on Display II, ShiTang Arts Space, Beijing, 

2008   Junsui – Secrets on Display, C. Zarah, Beijing, 

2005   Time and Technology, Doppelmayer , Wolfurt

2003   “Weg der Begegnung”, SeeC., Bregenz, 

Group shows (selection)

2009   A moment’s departure, DUN Gallery, Beijing

2008   Junsui – Sunshine Museum, Songzhuang, Beijing, 

2007   Kafkanistan – F22, Trueman Brewery, London

2007   Learn to Breathe, PixelShake, AdaStreet Gallery, London

2007   Human Tool, Take Away Festival, Science Museum, London

Filmscreenings, Presentations, Publicatinos (selection)

2009   Kafkanistan, screening, CNEX, Beijing

2009   Junsui, book, ISBN 978-3-9502773-0-2

2009   Kafkanistan, presentation, Institut Franco-Japonais, Yokohama

2009   Kafkanistan, presentation, Pecha Kucha – Beijing

2008   Kafkanistan, screening, Platforma, Athens

2008   Kafkanistan, book & DVD, ISBN 978-3-200-01130-4

2008   Kafkanistan, screening, New York Independent Film Festival, Los Angeles

2008   Kafkanistan, presentation, Museumsquarter & Planhaus Salon - Wien

2008   Kafkanistan, screening, Pingyao Photo Festival, Pingyao 

2007   Kafkanistan, screening, RampArtGallery, London