pete john
Conceptual Artist
PROJECTS
Every project begins with a rule, not with a picture.
pete john works conceptually: before the first shot there is the rule — who takes part, what is shown, in which order it is seen and when the series is closed. Nothing is touched up afterwards. The work does not come into being in the subject, but in the rule being kept.
That is why each project has its own rules, its own catalogue of works and its own way in. What connects them is not the subject but the question of how we construct reality — and the conviction that the actual work only comes into being in the viewer. Three projects are under way, more will follow.
TWO WAYS OF BEING REAL
Under way — the first shoots have taken place, applications are open
The same person. Two ways of being real.
TWO WAYS OF BEING REAL is a conceptual media work about perception, authenticity and judgement. It examines how we perceive people — and why we judge them before we understand them.
Each work consists of three parts: an analogue Polaroid series showing a person nude during a self-chosen everyday activity — deconstructed into unrepeatable individual pieces within twelve hours —, an unedited one-minute video of the same activity, clothed and observed from a threshold, and the portrayed person's own statement. This sequence is deliberate: it leads through a process in which it is not the work that changes, but your own perception.
“I do not photograph people. I create a stage on which they can show themselves.”
— pete john, from the artist statement
To the project and the application → · View works → · Read the full interview →
The first shoots are already underway in Cologne and Münster.
ONLY ONCE Analog Polaroid series — nude, a physical one-of-a-kind original. The first, wordless encounter.
FAMILIAR Digital film — clothed, moving. It does not change the person, it changes the way you look at them.
FOR ITSELF The portrayed person's own statement — not about themselves, from within themselves
You encounter a person. At first you only see the picture — you interpret, you fill in, you judge. Then you see the video: your gaze shifts, the nudity recedes, the person comes forward. Only then come the words — not the artist's, but their own. And all at once you notice: it is not the work that has changed, but your perception.
The project does not proclaim a message. It creates a moment in which you notice how your judgement forms — and whether you are willing to question it.
WORTH THE TIME. TWICE.
Under way — the first works are being made, applications are open
One object. Two stories.
WORTH THE TIME. TWICE. portrays eight people who give old things new value: by repairing them, by upcycling them or by turning them into art. It is not about perfection and not about nostalgia, but about the decision to put time into something that could simply have been replaced.
The real working process is filmed from a fixed camera position and later condensed into one minute — hours become a minute. Eight analogue Polaroids showing the person and the object are made alongside. And one sentence from the person portrayed.
Only the person doing the work is visible. The object's own story is present nonetheless: in its traces of use and in the decision not to throw it away.
“It is not new. It has become more.” — pete john
SET ASIDE The origin: an object marked by use that could simply have been replaced.
THE TIME The activity that creates the new value: repairing, rebuilding or turning it into art.
MORE The result: not new, but more — and what stays visible is the person who did it.
ECHOES
Under way — with no fixed number of encounters and no end
Public attention changes. The person remains.
ECHOES portrays people who have become part of our public memory and meets them again in the present — from sport, music, film and television, from politics, culture and science, from the internet.
It is not about setting a then against a now, but about a portrait in which both are present: the public image, the memory of it, and the person standing in front of the camera today. The artistic form stays open and develops with the project.
Further projects are in preparation. Some follow the rules of the series projects — one completed series, eight people, the same compensation — while others take their own path, as ECHOES does. To hear about them first, sign up for the newsletter below. To the newsletter →
From the blog
A publisher by my side
pete john · 26.10.2026
The second unique work — and a visual language
pete john · 17.10.2026
The first unique work
Steffi Paulsen · 14.10.2026
The first attempt. Failed.
pete john · 14.10.2026
From the workshop
pete john · 02.10.2026
ECHOES begins
pete john · 01.10.2026
The second project is open
pete john · 30.09.2026
The first prints
pete john · 18.09.2026
News from pete john
An occasional email: new works, exhibitions and actions, glimpses of how they are made, when individual works go on sale — and when a new project opens, you hear it here first.
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About pete john
pete john is a conceptual artist with artistic roots in New York and Cologne. Since the 1990s his work has focused on people, bodies, spaces and the question of how we construct reality. His current works combine one-of-a-kind analog Polaroids, unedited moving images and the voices of the people portrayed into conceptual media works about perception, closeness and judgement — in a time when real, edited and artificially generated images have become almost impossible to tell apart. pete john lives and works in Germany. Alongside his conceptual practice, pete john is the founder and bandleader of Alive Phoenix, an international new wave and synth-pop project running since 2020, for which he composes, produces and directs some of the videos himself.
Artist Statement
I do not photograph people. I create a stage on which they can show themselves.
In a time when images can be generated and interpreted at will, I am interested in how we construct reality. The Polaroid is the first, wordless encounter. The video does not change the person — it changes the way we look at them. Then the person speaks: not about themselves, but from within themselves.
I do not tell their story. I give it a stage. Each project sets the rules for that beforehand — and within those rules the people involved decide for themselves what they show of themselves.
The actual work does not come into being on the stage. It comes into being in the viewer — in the moment they recognise their own gaze and are willing to question it.
Want to become part of a series yourself? All information and the application — one for each project: TWO WAYS OF BEING REAL · WORTH THE TIME. TWICE. · Already part of it? Portal login