For some time Sylvia Bernhardt has engaged herself with the phenomenon of ‚accumulation of attention‘ also as in the creation of images. Doing so she works under her own label Confetti. By a scheme well-tried already at „Medienmeile Mühlheim“ the artists invites citizens of Leipzig to, as Bernhardt says, „chatterbox around their bag“.
The medial complex work was created with the support of Leipzig´s daily newspaper LVZ. At its feuilleton Bernhardt presented a raffle about prominent citizens and their bags. Games and winnings lead the reader to the „ATTENTION!“ exhibition where they had to guess which bag and person belonged together.
In the showroom Bernhardt installed 10 colour portraits of citizens of different social backgrounds. The bags were presented in 10 glasscases standing in two rows. In front of the wall displaying the portraits a podium spotted in white light was the place where within a performance a specially hired moderator presented the winner a board game with the 10 persons and their bags.
The suitcases contain souvenirs from a six month stay in Tokyo, arranged according to date and four categories: Me (objects), Te (images), Kiku (smells) and Bun (drawings). They reflect city neurosis, nostalgia and indulgence in reminiscences. Tokyotika was initiated by ‚Confetti‘, in order to find possible answer to the question „What is a souvenir“ avoiding the first signs of wanderlust and travel addiction in the course of globalisation. Can memory be preserved forever in the form of information?7 suitcases, various objects
‚Tokyotika‘ consists of a collection of souvenirs from Tokyo.
Seven suitcases, filled with ‚Tokyotika‘ archive a „Tokyo no Monogatari“, a story from Tokyo.
*1973
Sylvia Bernhardt Design & Kommunikation
Since 2008 Owner and CEO „Galerie SYLVIA BERNHARDT“ Wiesbaden
Since 2010 Lecturer , Wiesbadener Freie Kunstschule (WFK), Wiesbaden
Since 2006 Art-Director, DESIGN & KOMMUNIKATION SYLVIA BERNHARDT, Wiesbaden
2005 – 2006 Art-Director, MEDIENFABRIK (Arvato Bertelsmann), Gütersloh
2005 Art-Director, MAINLINE MARKETING GmbH, Frankfurt
2002 – 2005 Art-Director Marketing, CONDE NAST PUBLICATIONS, Moskau
1996 – 2001 Studies in Media Arts, HGB Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig
1993 – 1996 Apprenticeship Advertising photographer, KALETSCH FOTOSTUDIOS GmbH, Nürnberg