Florian Mehnert:
The German artist Florian Mehnert gained international attention with many art projects. In his art project Waldprotokolle (2013), he bugged paths and clearings in forests with microphones as a statement on the NSA affair. In his video installation Menschentracks (2014), he showed 42 video sequences of acked smartphones whose cameras and microphones were activated remotely. His photo series REFUGEE STACKS (2015) in which he stacked African refugees on top of each other was his reaction to the situation of refugee flows and an examination of post-colonialism and migration. With FREEDOM 2. 0 (2016/2018) Florian Mehnert realised a participatory art installation in public space that asked about an influence of society on BIG DATA. During the pandemic, he created his globally acclaimed photo project Social Distance Stacks in which he photographed, among others, dancers of the Stuttgart Ballet in bubbles (2020/2021). Florian Mehnert deals with social and current political issues. In doing so, he works with an expanded concept of art that often focuses on the participation of the recipients.
