Lorenz Schulze Beerhorst - Hochschule Pforzheim

$W4G mit dir, du Land der Bayern 2026 – Hochschule Pforzheim

$W4G with you, Land of Bavaria 2026

“$W4G with you, Land of Bavaria” is an attempt at a Gesamtkunstwerk.

A personal deep dive into my homeland, into Bavarian over-the-top theatrics, the mechanics of political aura-farming, and the question of why presentation is often more important than content today. At a time when politics, identity and community function less through arguments and more through images, memes and performative self-presentation. “IMAGE FIRST, REST SECOND”. For the NEW GEN in particular, political debate takes place primarily in digital spaces – as content, as a brand, as a show. Politics is experienced, not explained. Bavaria is (as always) the best at this. No other federal state serves up such a constant dose of “God-like aura”. Monuments, memorials, castles, ministries of home affairs, white and blue to the max – for centuries, Bavaria has been staging itself as something greater, more fairy-tale-like, more sublime. From the fairy-tale King Ludwig II, through the Bavaria statue, to today’s social media-savvy Minister-President Markus Söder, a thread of Bavarian ‘swag politics’ runs through it all. This work interprets Bavaria as a stage. As a place where power has always been negotiated aesthetically, and continues to be so today. Where architecture, rituals and images take on a political function – especially when real power crumbles. Ludwig II loses political relevance and builds castles. Markus Söder reigns amidst a constant digital barrage of Reels, food content and meme-worthiness. Different eras, similar mechanisms. At the same time, this work focuses on contemporary niche cultures – the NEW GEN. Anime, furry fandoms, irony, internet cultures and cultural branding demonstrate just how powerfully performance can foster a sense of community – particularly for young people in a present-day world beset by multiple crises. Here, performance is not superficial nonsense, but a survival strategy, a safe space and an act of rebellion all at once. Theory is not explained, but experienced. Humour, exaggeration and pop aesthetics are not a devaluation, but a method. Everything is performance – so this work, too, is staged. “$W4G with you, land of Bavaria” is neither pure bashing nor sentimental nostalgia. It is an ambivalent declaration. A little love, a little anger and a lot of irony. 

“IMAGE FIRST, REST SECOND”

I am an artist, fashion designer, dedicated collector and chronicler of a hyperactive post-internet reality. As a graduate of Pforzheim University, my artistic work navigates the intersection of politics, fashion, internet memes, pop culture and a deep, personal fascination with his native Bavaria. My design approach breaks radically with conventions and visual habits. I deconstruct contemporary visual codes and reassemble them – always with a healthy dose of irony, provocative humour and an eye for what others would dismiss as trash. Between fashion concepts, potato salad, installations and the eternal question “I love Söder and Söder loves me?”, I create fashion and spaces that unsettle, entertain and distil the zeitgeist of young internet junkies. For me, fashion is more than just clothing; it is a playground for collective longings and ironic statements that fluidly transcends the boundaries between artistic freedom and pop-cultural ‘shitposting’.
Maximalist.
Loud.
Disarmingly honest.
#mehrismore

FOTOCREDITS
Lorenz Schulze Beerhorst & Jan Engert
@lorientos @janskizzen