REGGIE VOIGTLÄNDER

Niche

Niche is a series of photo‑based digital paintings derived from a single photograph taken after a site‑specific intervention. Each iteration applies a new surface to the original image, giving the niche a different presence or emotional charge. The work examines how shifts in light, colour and digital treatment alter our perception of the same architectural situation.

The ten variations are brought together in a square artist’s book (10 × 10 cm), where each image functions as a distinct spatial proposition. Through repeated reconfiguration, the niche moves from a concrete location to a set of possible manifestations. During its presentation, the work was shown within the architectural context from which it emerged, allowing the dialogue between the physical site and its digital transformations to become directly perceptible.

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Cornered

'Cornered' originates from a single photograph taken during a residency at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen. The image is digitally reconfigured by mirroring one half of the frame, producing a spatial construction that appears plausible at first glance yet does not exist in the physical world. The resulting box‑like formation suggests enclosure and inevitability: a situation that folds back onto itself and offers no exit.

The digital intervention transforms the photograph from documentation into a constructed spatial proposition. The mirrored structure generates a self‑contained reality in which the internal logic of the image overrides the conditions of the original scene. In this way, Cornered operates within the post‑material dimension of the practice, where manipulation becomes a method to reveal latent tensions and to articulate the psychological and socio‑political pressures embedded in the context from which the image emerged.

A small version of this work was presented as part of total installation '40 Titles' (I) in the gallery of CEAC (2014).

In 2015 a large version was part of total installation '40 Titles II', Cacaofabriek, Helmond, NL.

2018 - 2018 during solo exhibition 'A moment in the process', Academisch Genootschap, Eindhoven.

Two Sides

Two Sides brings together two photographs taken from opposite viewpoints of the same situation. Placed side by side, the images appear to form a corner, a spatial suggestion that implies the possibility of moving around or beyond the scene. This sense of openness is deceptive: looking closely, it becomes clear that the corner is merely an illusion created by the juxtaposition of two separate photographs.

The work plays with the act of viewing from two sides, exposing how perspective shapes interpretation. By presenting both viewpoints simultaneously, Two Sides shifts attention from the depicted objects to the conditions of looking itself. The image‑object does not construct a new space; it reveals how easily the mind assembles one. In this way, the work underscores the instability of spatial perception and the subtle power of framing.

Red Garden Series

One of a series of digitally modified photographs reflecting on the landscape and city of Xiamen, functioning as tokens for the city and for the universal ways people anchor meaning in their surroundings. The work is presented in photo frames with an acrylic finish, arranged like family photographs or markers of meaningful life events.

The arrangement was first shown as part of the total installation 40 Titles (I) at the gallery of CEAC in Xiamen, China, in 2014. In 2015 the works were included in the sculptural multimedia installation The Columbarium, where they were placed on a large structure of tables representing housing structures and the lives within the city.

In 2018–2019, this particular piece was presented again during the artist’s first retrospective exhibition A Moment in the Process at the Academisch Genootschap in Eindhoven, NL.

Red River

Before the Red Garden series and prior to the residency at CEAC came the ‘Red River’ diptych.

Digitally formed spirals deform the original, depicting a red coloured, probably polluted Chinese river. The photo was taken by a concerned local resident and circles the internet for years now. Here the alteration provides a literal representation of the polluting mix that takes place and is caught in the photograph: red dye in water. At the same time, the spiral is a shape of the infinite circle, one of the oldest human symbols; that of circulation and awareness about it. The act of altering the original image reinforces what’s taking place and at the same time reminds of interconnection.

'Red River' (I) shows the spiral in its origin within the given of earthly existence. In 'Red River' (II) various circles have been elaborated and placed together, creating a landscape that refers to the cosmic connection the concepts and realisation of sculptural installation 'Move' and actual installation 'Nadir’ which is a continuation of the dismantling of the previous. The image was found during research for project '40 Titles’, of which ‘Red River’ is also part.

Move - Deconstruct

In between ‘Move’ and ‘Nadir’ various photographs of the dismantling of the installation were worked out digitally. The red pigment was scraped from the floor and collected. Just like the red mopping water. Photographs of the dismantling of the installation became the canvas for new propositions. The several stages were continuously digitally altered, until it’s origin became unknown and started to become a cosmic world in its own. The focus was completely on the creative process. A series of successive changing images emerged. Placed in a sequence it resulted in a video, reflecting an imaginary world an imaginary cosmic situation.

The video was presented alongside actual installation ‘Nadir’, a slowly melting ice object, created out of the frozen mopping water, shaped in the form of the small buckets in which it was frozen and kept after dismantling.

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Red Earth

During the residency in Xiamen, China, which was a result of a self initiated research project concerning intercontinental relationships regarding trade, wealth and socio-political realities, this triptych came into existence. It comes in line with previous series and projects. Here digital modification is used to visualise hidden powers and structures and tangible tensions related to that.

'Red Earth' first was presented during exhibition '40 Titles' in the gallery of CEAC in Xiamen, 2014. Later in total installation '40 Titles II' (Cacaofabriek, NL, 2015) one photograph was replaced by 'The Entrance' (II), now lare large works on perspex. Click here for large version