Oliver Gather

Oliver Gather is a full-time lecturer in the Department of Culture, Aesthetics, Media at Hochschule Düsseldorf's Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies. Born in 1963, Gather is an active artist-educator whose work bridges academic teaching and artistic practice, with recent projects extending through 2024. His institutional affiliation centers on exploring aesthetic practices within social and spatial contexts.

Gather's research interests focus on examining social contexts through visual arts media. His practice spans drawing, concrete and plaster work, experimental film, public interventions, performance, installation, photography, and sound art. Central to his approach is challenging aesthetic perception of the world, with particular attention to how sense organs allow us to grasp physicality and spatiality. Rather than using art to decorate or embellish, Gather employs it to enable awareness of our own situation from perspectives complementary to scientific thinking.

His recent artistic output reveals a sustained engagement with landscape, urban space, and human relationships to environments. Projects like 'Schmuckeremit*in im Edelsteingarten' demonstrate his interest in historical references within contemporary contexts, while 'Sounds for a wounded landscape' and 'Hochsitzen' explore human-animal and human-environment relationships through ethnographic observation frameworks. Gather frequently utilizes digital tools like Google Street View as artistic media, as seen in 'Home Search,' creating what he terms 'Road Movie 2.0' approaches to spatial representation.

Scientific Awards:

• Award at Oberhausen Short Film Festival 2021 for 'Hochsitzen'
• DA Scholarship in Gravenhorst (2014)

Gather's teaching practice emphasizes collaborative and site-specific approaches, as evidenced by courses like 'Ästhetische Praxen im Landschaftsraum' (Aesthetic Practices in Landscape Space) and 'Performance im öffentlichen Raum - Interventionen.' His artistic research projects often involve partnerships with performers, sound artists, and local communities, such as the 'Schmuckeremit*in' project which included a public casting process with neighborhood residents serving on the selection jury. While specific grant information isn't detailed in the provided texts, his DA Scholarship indicates recognition from arts funding bodies.

Through projects like 'Gasthof Worringer Platz' (2013-2020) and ongoing work at Worringer Platz in Düsseldorf, Gather has established long-term engagement with specific urban sites, creating what functions as de facto research laboratories for examining social dynamics in public space. His website platforms (www.olivergather.de, www.gatherseminare.de, www.gasthofworringerplatz.de) serve as digital extensions of these physical research spaces, documenting interventions and facilitating ongoing dialogue about urban environments.