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elementum is honoured to collaborate with the Manfred P. Kage Estate on the late artist's Genesis NFT drop of three works this Friday, 9th of December at 5 pm CET. Manfred P. Kage (1935-2019) was a renowned chemist, photographer, author, filmmaker and artist. Considered as one of the visionaries and pioneers of Scientific Photomicrograph. In the 1950s he developed his own machine, the “polychromator"; a type of optical synthesizer, that helped him view and photograph worlds imperceptible to the naked eye.
Born in 1935, in Delitzsch near Leipzig, Germany, it was at the age of eight years-old, that Manfred P. Kage looked for the first time through a microscope which changed his life forever, later stating: "The fact that things are not what they appear was an enlightenment for me then, it was like opening the door to a mysterious world - a universe that can explore step by step and gain insights."
Image below: Manfred P. Kage's Studio Source: Südwest Press. © Foto Staufenpress
In 1955, following his training as a chemical technician, Manfred P. Kage started working for the chemical and optical industries however, it was only while performing microscopic examinations that he found his fascination with the aesthetic appeal of crystalline structures, which could only be observed under the microscope. His first photomicrograph was a black and white image of tin crystals.
This was quickly followed by others, which soon became coloured. Nevertheless, urged to further knowledge, his work expanded gradually across the boundaries of inorganic crystals into almost every micro and macroscopic facet of the animate and inanimate world.
Manfred P. Kage produced images of microplankton - of unicellular radiolarians, diatoms, and foraminifera - never before seen by anyone. His visual creations were distinctively characterized by aesthetic-artistic aspects and hence in the late 1960s Manfred P. Kage coined the term "Art of Science" and "Art of Modern Science”.
In 1962, Manfred P. Kage exhibited his crystal projection at the Biennale d'Arte in San marino together with members of the group ZERO (pictured below).
In 1966 Manfred P. Kage and Carl Strüwe exhibited together at a group exhibition in Bielefeld, curated by Gottfried Jäger (pictured below).
NFT release of "Radiolarie - No. 2, 2004" artwork pictured below to be minted on elementum.
Release opens on Friday, 9th of December at 5 pm CET Find out more on "Radiolarie - No. 2, 2004", link here
NFT release of "Mikrokosmos Verschmelzung, 2009" artwork pictured below to be minted on elementum.
Release opens on Friday, 9th of December at 5 pm CET Find out more on "Mikrokosmos Verschmelzung, 2009", link here
NFT release of "Dimensionssprung, 2007" artwork pictured below to be minted on elementum.
Release opens on Friday, 9th of December at 5 pm CET Find out more on "Dimensionssprung, 2007", link here
From 1967 Manfred P. Kage developed repro kaleidoscopes for the Mikrofotografie and projectors for his multi-media installations and performances, which complemented his artistic work. Kage's coloured moon rock images (photographed with his polychromator) were published in 1971 in the magazine "Bild der Zeit".
In 1974 Manfred P. Kage, who had previously been artistically active in the ZERO movement, created the special effects for the WDR-produced film “Hommage à la haute Mongolie” by Salvador Dalí, in which the overflight over a fantastic landscape should be simulated on the surface of a ballpoint pen. In the early 1990s, Manfred P. Kage received a guest professorship at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe, where he developed a subject for scientific, experimental photography in the field of media art.
His works have been presented in numerous exhibitions worldwide and his life's work was awarded the culture prize by the German Photographic Society (DGPh) in 2012. Until his death in 2019, Manfred P. Kage created new developments for his artistic microphotography and video and multimedia art. In addition, he was among the microphotographers who first showed microvideo in HD and 4K as well as moving SEM images, artistic portraits of microorganisms and microscopic gigapixel images.