- Other
Human Cartography
Felix Bamforth
3 July 2026 19:00–22:00
4 July 2026 14:00–22:00
5 July 2026 14:00–19:00
Human Cartography is a collection of sketches, drawings and paintings that were created over the past years in Neuköln and more generally around Berlin. Many of them originated in the context of weekly life drawing sessions on Monday evenings at Sfera, during the “Life Drawing for Idiots” sessions.
The topic of this year's 48 Hours Neuköln, In/Side/Out, which quotes Judith Shalansky’s great book Atlas of Remote Islands, is about the meaning of maps and borders. Through this lens, the exhibited sketches embody a process of cartography, where the drawings are not made through precise measurements and rigid boundaries, but rather as a poetic interpretation of the body, emerging from a silent dialogue between viewer and model. As a world unto itself, in which valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and cities merge into one another and gently connect with the outside world. Life drawing is often understood as a representation of the external, but here the external serves to highlight the internal: the inner self of the subject, as well as the subjective perception and style of the artist. The artist helps map out and reveal a world hidden in each person.
By exploring the body and the human within, through a technique that requires the commitment of one's own body, we are led to deeper questions about maps, borders and humans. In a time where political leaders remap the world to their will and the promise of salvatory technology is silently cutting is off from our own humanity, this exhibitions aims to celebrate the human form as a subject of endless beauty and diversity, as well as the act of drawing, as one of our most innate ways of expression.
The topic of this year's 48 Hours Neuköln, In/Side/Out, which quotes Judith Shalansky’s great book Atlas of Remote Islands, is about the meaning of maps and borders. Through this lens, the exhibited sketches embody a process of cartography, where the drawings are not made through precise measurements and rigid boundaries, but rather as a poetic interpretation of the body, emerging from a silent dialogue between viewer and model. As a world unto itself, in which valleys, mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, and cities merge into one another and gently connect with the outside world. Life drawing is often understood as a representation of the external, but here the external serves to highlight the internal: the inner self of the subject, as well as the subjective perception and style of the artist. The artist helps map out and reveal a world hidden in each person.
By exploring the body and the human within, through a technique that requires the commitment of one's own body, we are led to deeper questions about maps, borders and humans. In a time where political leaders remap the world to their will and the promise of salvatory technology is silently cutting is off from our own humanity, this exhibitions aims to celebrate the human form as a subject of endless beauty and diversity, as well as the act of drawing, as one of our most innate ways of expression.
Biography
Felix Bamforth
Felix Bamforth, a German-Scot from Strasbourg, has lived in Berlin-Neukölln for two years, having previously resided in Wedding. He works as an illustrator and painter, focusing on people, often in a caricatural style, inspired by the art of Egon Schiele or Maria Lassnig, but also by illustrators like Sempé, Sattouf, and Beardsley. His works combine concise lines with an expressive depiction of the human body. A trained type designer, he also works as a designer and font engineer at Beam Type, where he indulges his passion for programming, typography, and design.
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