Jakobus Durstewitz

Jakobus Durstewitz is particularly known for his paintings of Hamburg's harbor. These are sometimes dystopian-looking transit scenes, which the artist captures in unusual color compositions and which are located away from the urban bustle. Durstewitz is interested in industrial architecture, which he captures in form and which is usually surrounded by water. "The focus here is not on vast, unadapted nature, but on water as a workplace, a transportation route, a transshipment point, and a major player in industrialization and globalization," his partner in crime, Dr. Ebba Durstewitz, writes about his paintings. In addition to water, cranes, ships, bollards and dolphins are brought into focus in his works, creating a peculiar temporality - time seems to stand still. If we immerse ourselves in Durstewitz's paintings, they also act in part as visual case studies of disappearing architectural relics.

Durstewitz's solo exhibition "Tollerort" is dedicated to the area around the Köhlbrand Bridge. The cable-stayed bridge has connected Wilhelmsburg, an island on the Elbe, with the A7 federal highway since 1974 and spans the Köhlbrand, an arm of the Süderelbe. With its planned demolition starting in 2033, it could be representative of one of those disappearing architectural relics that will have to make way in favor of an efficiency-oriented course. Similar to the motives behind the deepening of the Elbe, space is being made here for larger ships and trucks. The exhibition title "Tollerort" also refers to the smallest of the four container terminals in the Port of Hamburg and was the official name of the mouth of the Köhlbrand into the Norderelbe until the beginning of the 20th century.

Even though Durstewitz is far from happy about the future omission of that great and symbolic landmark, which can still be seen from his home in the Lüneburger Heide, he rejects any moralizing intentions. He sees himself in his work rather as an observer of circumstances. Even his companion Ebba does not interpret any hopeless gloominess in his art and choice of motifs, but formulates confidently: "[...] nature is not absent. She is waiting."

Text by Helene Osbahr