Tobias Zielony (b. 1973, Wuppertal, Germany) is internationally recognized for his long-term projects
with adolescents, prostitutes, and refugees - outsiders on the margins of society. He portrays them in
particular architectural and social contexts, emphasizing moments in which they coincide neither with
one's image of them nor with their image itself. Their presence speaks of two conflicting desires: the
desire to identify with the conformist gestures of a globalized youth culture and the expression of their in-
dividuality.
Zielony studied Photography at the University of Wales in Newport and at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Leipzig. In 2010 he produced with Galleria Lia Rumma, the project Vele, dedicated to the housing
complex of the same name conceived in the 1960s-70s by architect Franz Di Salvo in the Scampia
neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Naples. The project was presented in 2012 in two major solo
exhibitions at MAXXI in Rome, and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Other major solo exhibitions include Marta Herford (2022), Folkwang Museum Essen (2021 and 2011),
Berlinische Galerie (2013), MMK Zollamt Frankfurt and Camera Austria Graz in 2011, Kunstverein
Hamburg (2010,) C/O Berlin (2007). In 2015, with the work "The Citizen" he is among the artists invited
to exhibit in the German Pavilion, curated by Florian Ebner, at the 56th Venice Biennale.
He received the GASAG prize in 2006 and the Karl-Ströher-Preis in 2011; he participated in the
International Studio Program, New York (2006).
Recent publications include Wolfen, Spector Books (2023), The Fall (2021), Maskirovka, Mousse
Magazine (2017); Vele, Spector Books (2014), Jenny Jenny, Spector Books (2013), Manitoba, Spector
Books (2010); Story / No Story, Hatje Cantz (2010).
Since 2022 he has been professor of photography at HFBK in Hamburg.
The project takes its title from the 1986 novel by Enzo Striano, which recounts the life story of Eleonora de Fonseca Pimentel, and the revolution of 1799 that led to the birth of the short-lived Neapolitan Republic. Between subjectivity and history, the book explores the possibility of social and anthropological
The Gelsenkirchen Art Museum presents for the first time a new exhibition by Tobias Zielony, whose evocative night photographs of youth subcultures, post-industrial landscapes and urban realities make him an important chronicler of the present. In 2021, he took photographs in Gelsenkirchen and the Ruhr area during the Corona pandemic:
It’s Art Week time in Milan: from 11 to 16 April 2023, on the occasion of Miart, the international fair for modern and contemporary art, the Lombard capital will be studded with exhibitions, openings and unmissable events.
Tobias Zielony has become known for his sensitive portraits of people, whom he accompanies with a lot of closeness, also in conversation and in their respective environments. Often it is about subcultures and questions of identity. Research and interviews are an elementary part of his artistic practice. These contexts and
The photographer and video artist Tobias Zielony (born in 1973 in Wuppertal, lives in Berlin) explores darkness as a physical, social and metaphorical phenomenon. The solo exhibition Dark Data explores the space between the illuminating moment of an image and the hidden information within it.
Lia Rumma Gallery is pleased to participate in Frieze London 2022 with a presentation of works by artists of our gallery roaster including Marina Abramović, William Kentridge, Joseph Kosuth, Ugo Mulas, Thomas Ruff, Wael Shawky, Ettore Spalletti, Gian Maria Tosatti and Tobias Zielony.
