Axel Töpfer studied artistic photography and media art at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst (Academy of Visual Arts) in Leipzig, masterclasses in typography, textual sculpture and film/TV at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He is a member of the collective Zeit Genossen, Netzwerke Videoklub and Songs for a Pigeon, director of Saotharlann Infheictheachta Hy Brasil and Feuer Folgt Flut, European ambassador of the Inagawa Mukojiki Society, board member of Visarte Region Basel, vice president of the Association de la Colonne Sans Fin en Chocolat, même.

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Björn Kämmerer studied from 2002-2008 at the University of Art and Design Linz and between 2006 and 2011 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Harun Farocki. In 2017 he received the State Scholarship for Fine Arts. Björn Kämmerer works with film, video and installations. In 2014 he took part in the MAK-Schindler Artist-in-Residence Programme in Los Angeles, in 2015 at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris and in 2024 he was at the ISCP in NYC.

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Töpfer shot the photographs of Kaltes Feuer during the filming of Kämmerer's film Conference (2025). Here, both artists contrast the animated movement of fire in the film with a non-linear form of cinematic movement that draws on imagination and memory through the transparency and folding of the photographic paper, which is exposed on both sides and multiple times. Each object in the edition is unique due to the multi-stage production process and the use of reanimated materials.

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Axel Töpfer

Björn Kämmerer