Kummer

more-than-human drama, 2025-26

This visual research is part of the eponymous PhD project, which examines the dramaturgical, linguistic, and aesthetic articulations of so-called “animals” in storytelling - particularly in animation - and how these representations shape human–animal relationships. Many appearances of non-human animals tend to be very finished, very much a species, very cute and very anthropomorphized. This assemblage, by contrast, is interested with more open and provisional forms ranging from snow figures to raw 3d files. It is a personal investigation into the joyful processes of gathering traces of living beings around myself.
Questions about the relationships between observing and playing / presence and pretending are central to this collection of materials. It is an invitation to engage with your own internal animations of the “animal” – highlighting the magical skill to animate in our minds, to project life into matter.

After all, what if the animals are neither present nor represented by the image? What if they live in our heads waiting to jump out and populate our surroundings?
(Or are we just desperate for their company?)

more-than-human drama (visual research), 2026. fake fur, styrofoam, metal tubes, branches, 3d-printed Polyactide, drawings and text on paper, HD video. installation views HFBK Hamburg

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eintagsfliege gestell zwei, 2024 (kunstfell, polyactice 3D-print, gips, notenständer) / installationsansicht @projektraum_rochade Foto : Lukas Giesler

‘believability’ 2023-24, 1-channel video, duration ✴︎ 00:11:30 / installation view @projektraum_rochade / Foto: Lukas Giesler

‘believability’ 2023-25, 1-channel video, duration ✴︎ 00:11:30 / Still

Installation view at 'fish along', solo show at Galerie Genscher, Hamburg, 29.6.-02.07.2023 {Photos: Helene Kummer}

nemo 3, 2023 / Polyactide 3D-print / detail shot: Joseph Ruben Heicks

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they come, rigged (2022), 3:30 min, Motion Capture Performer: Lena Eikenbusch, Soundtrack based on Giuni Russo's 'Gabbiano' 1997, {installation view at 'Gute Gerätschaft' group show at Frappant Galerie, Hamburg, Aug 2022, Photos: Julian Hülser}
on the right: Hye-Eun Kim, Commuter 4 (2022), {ceramics}

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Such as - You, Kind of (2022), 2-Channel Video, 11min

Starring: Justyna Chaberek, Cinematography: Zacharias Zitouni, Direction+CGI: Helene Kummer

{Installation View at HFBK Hamburg, Photos: Janosch Boerckel, on the right: 'Zugabe' (2021) by Chris Hausdorf}

Such as - You, Kind of (2022), {still images}

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Salad Fingers (2021), CGI-animation, Pflanzen-Scans 00:03:30, Installationsansicht: Feinkunst Krüger Hamburg

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Tier (untitled), 2020, 3D-printed PLA sculpture (85x20x60cm), custom carpets, prosa on A4

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Untitled (2020), CGI-animation, 00:03:00, video still

Untitled (2020), CGI-animation, 00:03:00, Installation view at "hiscox nominees" 2020, Photo by Andreas Hopfgarten

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Video Piece (CGI, Projection Mapping) for Biathlon der Sehnsucht (Warten auf den Snow) 2021, Regie: Lorenz Nolting, Stage Design: Martha Szymkowiak & Betty Kirmair, Kampnagel Hamburg, {Photo: Tillmann Engel}

Video Piece (CGI, Projection Mapping) for Biathlon der Sehnsucht (Warten auf den Snow) 2021, Regie: Lorenz Nolting, Stage Design: Martha Szymkowiak & Betty Kirmair, Kampnagel Hamburg, {Still}

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Extended Puppy Pose (i.i.i.) with Fabian Hesse, 2020, interactive installation, webcams, Kunstverein Hamburg, Humor nach #MeToo, Foto: Fred Dott

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Direct Diorama (i.i.i.) 2020 - collaborative installation with Fabian Hesse, Merlin Reichart

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Romantic Limits, 2019, collaborative exhibition with Moritz Führer, Paul Kolling, Johannes Klever

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Never Let me Go, 2019, 3D-printed wall sculptures (4 pieces)