Performance/Action and later video with a pseudo advertising poster and in interaction with Vietnamese cigarette sellers. Berlin, Schönhäuser Alle, 2001.

In 2001 Sebastian Bieniek observed the illegal Vietnamese cigarette sellers who sell the "West" cigarette brand in Berlin for weeks and recorded them on video and photo at work.

The artist noticed the parallel between the concept of the West cigarette advertising at the time (the fiction) and the Vietnamese cigarette sellers (the reality). The advertisement relied on an encounter between a "German" and someone who was exotic, such as B. an Indian, or a desert warrior who meets a German woman.

Based on this concept, Sebastian Bieniek photographed one of the Vietnamese cigarette sellers and created a pseudo-west poster from the photo, which he then enlarged to the size of an advertising poster.

With this poster the artist drove to the place where the photo was taken and confronted the cigarette sellers with your image on a West cigarette poster.

Against the backdrop of this poster, Sebastian Bieniek sold the West cigarettes this time and thus brought reality onto the poster, while conversely he transported fiction (the artist as a cigarette seller) into reality.

Press reviews:

English translation from original german:

"... And here at the moment there is the chance to see the working concept of industrial society reflected in that of the post-modern service society (to which the art business can be attributed). For example in the video" Importexport "by Sebastian Bieniek, in the" West "-Promotions and illegal cigarette selling coalesce into a hybrid situation, as evoked by the kung-fu western mix with Jackie Chan, which the young Polish artist cut into his 13-minute street video ..."

Brigitte Werneburg, DIE TAZ

Original in german:

"...Und hier gibt es im Moment die Chance, den Arbeitsbegriff der Industriegesellschaft in dem der postmodernen Dienstleistungsgesel-lschaft (der man den Kunstbetrieb zurechnen darf) widergespiegelt zu sehen. Etwa im Video "Importexport" von Sebastian Bieniek, in dem "West"-Promotion und illegales Zigarettenverkaufen sich zu einer ebenso hybriden Situation verknäulen, wie sie der Kung-Fu-Westernmix mit Jackie Chan evoziert, den der junge polnische Künstler in sein 13 Minuten Straßenvideo reingeschnitten hat..."

Brigitte Werneburg, DIE TAZ 

(anlässlich einer Ausstellung kuratiert von Maike Janssen in der Feuerwache Kreuzberg in 2002)

Performance by Sebastian Bieniek in the Sophiensäle in Berlin, 1999 titeled "In Front of the Distance". Artist is walking a distance while the blood is draining.

Video of Performance by Sebastian Bieniek in the Sophiensäle in Berlin, 1999 titeled "In Front of the Distance". Artist is walking a distance while the blood is draining.