Merzmensch - The Artist Is Present (1955)

From the series: NeoreAIlism
Paper: Hahnemühle Fine Art Archival Print
Sheet size: 40 × 40 cm with 1 cm white border around the motif.
Year: Edition of 2025
Edition: 3 + 1 AP
Signed, dated and edition numbered by the artist on a separate label.

MERZMENSCH - The artist is present (1955)

This work by Merzmensch from the Neorealism series combines postwar aesthetics with a deep philosophical tension. Set in a fictional 1950s exhibition space, the image depicts a man in a suit frozen in a moment of existential confrontation. His wide-open gaze, full of intensity and disbelief, meets the viewer head-on—while the crowd behind him remains engrossed in another part of the gallery.

The composition references Marina Abramović's iconic performance "The Artist is Present," but places it in a fictional, AI-imagined past. The table between the man and the viewer becomes a mirror or portal—perhaps reflecting the painting itself or the viewer's own presence.

Merzmensch's visual language invites questions about time, perception, and authenticity. Is this a performance? A lost documentary moment? Or a dream conjured by an algorithm trained on our cultural memory?

This piece is part of AI Edition Berlin's June 2025 spotlight on Merzmensch, an artist whose digital poetics challenges the boundaries between human memory and machine-generated myth.