Artist statement/Bio
Timo Menke is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Stockholm. His practice is driven by an interest in dark objects, processes and methodologies to cultivate a dark holism – a new cosmopolitics of the dark encompassing the paradoxical complexity of (w)holeness. Using a wide spectrum of light-sensitive, performative, conceptual and text-based methods, his work deals with various forms of nature-cultures and their entangled histories, phenomena, and agencies – from Danish sperm donors to Finnish male choirs, from a defunct Swedish mine to a waste landfill in Southern Sweden. His work unfolds in both studio- and research-based, site-specific and trans-material processes.
Menke graduated from Konstfack in 1999 where he also taught as Assistant Professor in the Art Department between 2004-2014. Menke is represented by Moderna Museet Stockholm, Kalmar konstmuseum, Pori Art Museum and is distributed by Filmform – The Art Film and Video Archive. He holds major grants from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee/IASPIS and is on the board (Treasurer) of The Nordic Art Association (NKF) – a nonprofit organisation dedicated to the visual arts in the Nordic countries, aiming to create networks and dialogue both locally, nationally and internationally.