Bo Soremsky: Interactive reportage

The opening page to Bo Serensky's trial drawings

Bo Soremsky and Der Kachelmann-Prozess
 
Bo Soremsky is a Berlin based reportage artist. His recent Masters thesis looks at future possibilities in reportage drawing, in particular focusing on interactivity and non-linear narrative.
 
Jorg Kachelmann is a popular weatherman, and involved in a legal trial. Der Kachelmann –prozess, is Soremsky’s method of recording this trial as a reportage artist. During the trial Soremsky drew as much as he was allowed, some information he had to retrieve from newspaper reports, witness statements and visits to relevant places, as the courtroom was closed to him. Gathering information in this way, from various sources led him to the conclusion that a non-linear, interactive resource was the most comprehensive way to document the trial.
Viewers can select the participants, read their testimonies, and compare the available facts (and fictions). It is subjective and reflects in a way, how a judge would hear evidence.
 
 Digital technology is a perfect vehicle for reportage illustration. Drawings offer an emotive and experiential account of events and can emphasise and comment as well as document. In addition, sound, animation, photography, maps and text can complement the information. A nonlinear reading allows for multiple stories and relationships to become clearer.
 
Part of my research into a narrative of South Shields has resulted in bringing together stories (audio), maps and illustrations to ‘place’ the narrative in specific locations and give an overview of their relationships to each other. This approach has much potential for future projects.

Reportager (2012) ‘Reportager’: Projects: Bo Soremsky: ‘Passengers’ and ‘der Kachelmann-Prozess’: Research group and Programme at the school of creative arts, university of the west of England.[online]
​Available from: http://reportager.uwe.ac.uk/projects12/soremsky/kachelmann.htm [Accessed: 8 November 2016].

Experimental map of South Shields; 2016, I thought about linking the drawings and stories in a similar way.