issue 8
// art
Title: Central Europe from 1914 until today
Artist: Reiner Heidorn
about the piece
| Central Europe 200 x 210 cm Oil on schoolmap 2026 I’m a German painter near Munich, and I focus on the subject of microorganisms through abstract oil painting. I’ve been collecting old school maps for a while. Since everything is digital now, schools have willingly given me the maps. I own 40 maps, some of them very large, and I’ve painted over many of them. Some show Hitler’s Germany at various stages during the war. Painting over these maps is also a political statement against the AfD’s (German shit party) denial and trivialization of history, and against the radicalization of right-wing sentiments in society. The memory is always there, even beneath the paint. I collect nature materials, such as leaves, brushwoods and blossoms, which I use as printing templates along with the oil colors, to create an overgrown impression with weeds. Here is a video still from a TV interview in Germany. At the link you can see the painting process: Weilheim: Weilheim: Alte Schullandkarten als Kunstobjekt | BR.de Statement: “The maps have been radically painted over, so that the original content is no longer visible. Only the titles remain as a silent reminder of a dark era. Through botanical motifs, I create a contrast between life, growth, and memory: Nature grows beyond the past, yet traces of history remain visible in the choice of motifs, the structure of the image, and the color. A warning against forgetting, trivialization, and denial of history. The overpainting transforms the maps into new pictorial spaces in which criticism, memory, and responsibility become visible.” In 1914, prior to the outbreak of the First World War, Central Europe was politically shaped above all by the German Empire and the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. World War I broke out in July/August 1914. |
about the artist // Reiner Heidorn
| Reiner Heidorn is a German painter with a focus on freshwater microorganisms, plants, and chlorophyll. Using his own technique, he translates the pointillism of microscope photographs into abstract expressionism. He also collects natural materials and uses leaves, twigs, and blossoms as print templates for his abstract, botanical pictorial spaces. Reiner Heidorn has collected old school maps and paints them over, including maps from the Nazi regime. In doing so, he aims to keep historical memory alive and take a stand against denial. |
Instagram: @reinerheidorn
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