Stand By Me

Stand by Me is an exhibition by Elmar Hermann (*1978) at Island of Contemporary Art in Cologne. As part of the preparations for the show, a dialogue-based exploration presented itself as a natural course of action.

ICA: Your own working method as an artist is characterised by collaborations, ephemeral moments and the blurring of boundaries of authorship. What led you to this approach, and how does it fit with your understanding of art?

ELMAR: For me, art is first and foremost a form of communication. We use images, language and situations to interact with other people. What fascinates me is how diverse this communication can be – it can be humorous, confrontational, unifying or even unsettling. I am particularly interested in the tension between general comprehensibility and specific ‘languages’, for instance within art. At the same time, time plays an important role: how long do we want to engage with a particular statement, an image, etc.? Some works have an impact for only a brief moment, whilst others unfold over a longer period. I feel this ephemeral quality, as well as timing and rhythm, is heightened by the environment of the underpass. My approach to authorship is deliberately open. I frequently work with quotations, images by others or existing works, because I assume that cultural signs are fundamentally available. For me, it is less about ownership and more about exchange. For me, incorporating other perspectives isn’t a curatorial act, but an artistic process – I see exhibitions as encounters or settings in which different figures interact with one another.

ICA: You are very much influenced by film. What role does it play in your understanding of art?

ELMAR: Film, and also TV series, are an important pop-cultural frame of reference for me. Something that many people refer to when we strike up a conversation. This common ground allows us to construct meaning together. At the same time, film is a deeply narrative medium. It offers me the opportunity to integrate narrative structures into my work. When I work with film stills, for instance, associations with sequences and stories immediately arise, which I can incorporate into specific exhibition contexts. I’m particularly interested in the recognisability of such images – that is, the question of how much they form part of a collective visual memory and how narratives can be developed from them using relatively simple means.

ICA: “Stand by Me” is a classic coming-of-age story. What was the key point of reference for you – in terms of content or space?

ELMAR: My initial connection to Stand by Me came through the title itself, which also evokes musical associations. I find this ambiguity interesting because it opens up different layers of meaning simultaneously. In terms of content, the theme of friendship plays a central role: Please stay with me here in this dark passage! There is often an underlying sense of threat in these stories, particularly in the context of childhood and adolescence. I am very interested in this tension and the associated clichés, which recur frequently in my work. The specific location – in this case, the underpass – reinforces this atmosphere. It is a space that tends to be avoided and creates a certain unease. Furthermore, I work with the idea of fictionalising my own origins. My home thus becomes an imaginary place, similar to the recurring settings in Stephen King’s books. This creates a kind of conceptual space in which familiar templates and new artistic contributions overlap.

ICA: The exhibition concludes with a scenography you have created. How are Darlingtonia, the photographic work and your sculpture connected?

ELMAR: The exhibition functions as an interplay of images, people, memories and visions. Friendship and mutual appreciation play an important role here: I deliberately include works by artists I admire, and see this as a form of dialogue. In this specific setting (an unreal place), I am interested in how a certain intimacy can nevertheless be created. “Stand by me!” explores the idea of a sculpture park in an unfamiliar context. I have been working on this for some time in my hometown of Neuwied, and the piece “Darlingtonia” on display here serves as a model, a kind of preview of what is yet to come. My own sculpture is based on the earlier works “Mommy” (Kunsthaus NRW 2017) and “Terminator” (Arp Museum 2018), both of which in turn are based on a cinematic moment. I am particularly interested here in the process of translation: from film to sculpture, from positive to negative, from one material to the next. The combination of a glass object and a photographic background creates an overlay of different levels. This intertwining of media and spaces leads to a new, independent moment; a setting in which fiction and reality meet.

Elmar Hermann (*1978, Neuwied) ist ein deutscher bildender Künstler, der in seinen Arbeiten die Komplexität menschlicher Kommunikation untersucht. Hermann lebt und arbeitet in Neuwied und bewegt sich in einem Spannungsfeld zwischen Kunst, Theorie und Popkultur. Seine Werke reichen von Grafiken über Skulpturen und Installationen bis zu Textarbeiten; häufig nutzt er Elemente aus Linguistik, Philosophie, Film und Fernsehen. Er studierte freie Kunst an der Hochschule Mainz (2000–2002) und an der Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (2002–2006), dort zuletzt als Meisterschüler bei Prof. Rita McBride. Parallel absolvierte er ein Studium in Linguistik und Philosophie an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf. Hermann ist Mitglied der Künstlerinitiative NUANS (seit 2007). Seine Arbeiten wurden in vielfältigen Ausstellungskontexten gezeigt — u.a. in Düsseldorf, Köln, Leipzig, Istanbul, Tokio und New York. Zu seinen neueren Projekten gehört U RU RU (Galerie der Stadt Fellbach, 2025), ein Beitrag zum Besinnungsweg Fellbach zum Thema "Grenzen", sowie A Natural History of Default Concepts, eine Webserie und mehrfach modifizierte Installation, die seit 2020 erscheint. Hermann ist Mitbegründer des NKVM (Neuer Kunstverein Mittelrhein e.V.) und künstlerischer Leiter des Kunstvereins.