flora domestica (1998 – 2016)

The "physics of art" is a byword that points to a central aspect in the creative production of Tim Otto Roth: namely his occupation with space, which often accompanies the exploration of shadow worlds. His approach was shaped by the revolutionary transformation of the world of scientific imaging through Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery. Roth proceeds like a radiologist and places objects directly on light-sensitive material and, in this roundabout way, preserves the shadows they project. He thus develops a subtle game of near and far that visualizes the particularities of the shadowy pictures in a specific place. Tim Otto Roth's works emerge in absolute darkness; the film, in part, adheres closely to the plants and light does not come from afar but is directly fixed on the plant. In this way a new aesthetic is induced that requires an enormously fine sense of touch, for the composition is solely meant to be fingered. Only a short flash of light allows the artist a brief glimpse of the arrangement. The cycle flora domestica takes us to an infinitely colorful and shady world of native flora and demonstrates that shadows are in no way a purely black-and-white phenomenon.

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