Tobias Zielony

In the early 2000s, Tobias Zielony portrayed the night-time activities of teenagers remote from urban centres: gestures in suburban settings. Regardless of the differences between subcultures in Recklinghausen and Halle (Saale), the photographs show the similarities between young people in East and West. Zielony accompanied his protagonists over several weeks. The images are too close to the viewer in terms of space and time to be historicised. Rather, they create a state in which the dramatic events of the past 20 years appear to be possibilities for the future, but nothing’s been set yet. It could be called a »pre-conscious« state, an expression that also encompasses Zielony’s artistic engagement with youth and youth culture.