Still-Life Preformance by Johan Lorbeer

Johan Lorbeer became famous in the past years particularly because of his spectacular “Still-Life” Performances, which took place frequently in the public area. His installations like “Proletarian Mural” and “Tarzan” are famous in Germany, but still unknown internationally. This artist was pointed to us, by our fan Simon, who sent us the original article. I have no idea how these performances were done, it bugs me /a lot) quite frankly! So if you have some knowledge or ideas, be sure to post them under comments! This is what Simon sent us:

German news website Spiegel Online features this nice photo of a performance artist Johan Lorbeer in a still-life-performance” in Krasnojarsk (it’s said to be in Siberia…)! Quite fun to see, and “Johan Lorbeer” on google images reveals many more fun installations. I don’t have a clue how they work! Keep on building the fabulous page!!!











112 Replies to “Still-Life Preformance by Johan Lorbeer”

  1. There’s an old magic trick which is similar to this, where a man would be seen to levitate with only a bar to rest his arm on. The secret, as you can guess, is in the arm-rest used. Here, instead of a bar which connects the performer to the ground, it is a wall. I’m guessing it’s the same principle (I don’t want to give away the secret because it really is a good trick, but it should do to say that the arm on the wall is a crucial factor). In the same way, the broom in the other illusion will be pretty much the same thing.

    He’s updated a very old illusion and made it seem fresh again. I love this one.

  2. I’m just wondering if the bar going up his arm sleeve just goes onto a harness on his torso or also supports his feet to stop them from dangling.

  3. Marvellous trick. But even with a bar in this arm, how he can support all the body weight? There should be even more than a trick, to stand up stick to the wall in this wall.. that’s marvellous at all !

  4. The key is the contact to the wall. Also, who said the supports had to stop at his sleeve? Either way, neat trick, but looses it’s effect if there’s an engineer in the audience.

  5. I’m pretty sure the twisting creases you see in his pants in pics 1,2,4 are wires in his pants. As for 6, there could very well be a stiff wire framework that goes through the buckets to be rooted in the ground, which runs under his clothes.

  6. Gilby, it’s a simple matter of a specially-made suit that supports his body. It should run underneath his arm and around his body. I imagine it’d be still quite strenuous to be in that position for any length of time but he’s being held in that position.

    And other Alex, I think an engineer being present ought to kill the effect :-P

    Engineers are the worst audiences for illusions. They’re pretty good at working out the secrets.

  7. You’re missing the point. He’s not a magician, he’s an artist.

    Think “why?” rather than “how?”

  8. Maybe he’s like a super hero and we don’t know it yet. I don’t know if this worlds ready for super heros!

  9. It wouldn’t have anything to do with holography (advanced optical illusion) per a chance? Whatever, it definitly is impressing.

  10. It’s just static electricity – I saw him rubbing his head like crazy before sticking his hand to the wall.

  11. These photographs are not tricks. Everybody can perform in a like manner if the following procedure is followed maticulously:-

    1. On a monday morning, take a bath with cold water. during the bath you have to continuously chant the gayatri mantra.

    2. wear unstiched white cloths. sit in padmasna and concentrate on a white dot painted on a black background about 5 feet in front of your eyes at eye level. continue for at least 45 minutes. longer the better. During these 45 minutes you should speak in your mind the following mantra:-

    Ekomkar satnam karta purkh nirbhow nirvair akal murat ajuni saimbh gurparsad

    3. after three weeks, you feel upward pull towards the sky. in the beginning it will be slight. the key is you should not resist it rather try to aid it by feeling exhilration and happy. yield to it you will have won the fight against gravity. enjoy it.

  12. Its simple.
    Its an old trick
    Supported by a harness attached to his torso, a steel bar under his arm supports his weight, but it is still a very strenuos and tiring illusion for a magician to perform

  13. The arm and hand is fake. It is actually a bar that runs under the armpits and he has his hand hidden under the jacket. At least that’s my guess.

  14. I am German and I`ve never heard of this guy till … now. But it`s cool what he`s doing there! I’d really like to know how he`s doing that! I mean, no one would think a 14 year old girl knows this trick so it could be kinda fun showing them I do … well, don`t listen .. read, I was more talking, er, writing oO to myself than to you xD

  15. Why and How are the difference between Religion and Science.

    If you don’t think ‘How?’ all you get is ‘OMG IT MUST BE GOD!’

  16. look at his left arm in pic 2… it’s a little bit longer or not proportionated compared to the rest of his body, it’s harder to notice in pic 1 because of the angle, but open the large version of pic 2 (click on it) that’s when it becomes so obvious and that’s why his right arm is not extended and always on his hip, so you can’t see the actual length of his “natural” arm and the difference between the fake arm (the one on the wall) not-so-obvious … the arm is fake, and his real arm is hidden under his jacket look how his jacket is slightly bumped even though he is totally parallel to the wall in a 90 degree angle… gravity should pull his jacket down, not towards the wall. his body is supported by the fake arm which should be connected to an harness or body suit around his torso

    I’ve came out with explanations for all the other tricks… it’s really not so hard, since he uses fake body parts and metal supports, but then again, he’s a respectable, creative and clever guy! the pics make a great impression, i can’t imagine seeing him live!

  17. did you notice in the last picture there is almost a watermark image of someone in an orange suite with the broom and the legs being cut off by the window he is facing the opposite way

  18. Fao Seraphor:

    Unless you’re an atheist…. then what you get is:

    “Hmm…this is pretty neat…what’s the bet everyone says it’s God?”

    Still pretty cool though.

    And the trick is to KNOW WHAT TO SAY WHY TO AND WHAT TO SAY HOW TO.

  19. …you just look at the shadows the light throws on the opposite wall of the room. Look at it again. It’s amazing. You will see that there are not just walls attached to the persons but whole buildings. I imagine that building a house is no magic at all and spoke to some engineers who explained to me how it is done. But why? I have no clue. But to be honest, I find cave drawings a much bigger source of reason and truth than having the eyes fixed on such artistic illusion.

    Pietro

  20. on the one where he is leaning forward, he probbally has these special shose that allow you to bend forward that far, trust me i’ve tryed them.

  21. I know how they do it, so i’ll just give you a clue. (It would be a lot more revealing without a sports coat on)……darn that kinda just gave it away!

  22. If you were strong enough, you could do the ‘cleaner with broom’ ones yourself WITHOUT a body support frame.

    The broom is clearly stuck to the wall, but from the way he leans out from it, he could simply be using it to brace his feet against the wall.

    That sort of thing is not so hard- any decent rock climber could do it. (at least for a while!)

    Of course this begs the question… How does he get down?

  23. If you look at the black and white picture, you can see the shadow of his right leg, his left leg, and then something else that’s much smaller. Anchor?
    Eh, but you can see it blatantly in the other two pics i guess.

  24. While you think “How” I used to think “Why” Why would he hang in the air like that? For the entertainment of others? To prove that he is better than us all? Thats what I USED to think, now I think, COOL. No,I’m not trying to be deep

  25. Well, if you look at the man when he is wearing a yellow jacket, and the one where he is weaering the red jacket, you can clearly see the bars holidng him up..
    fairly easy to do.., or there is an extra hand which is reallu a bar going through his jacket which is holding him up..

  26. on the last one, a side-ways photo of him standing on the ground was taken and the pillars are part of the WALL not th FLOOR as it may seem.

  27. Here you guys, here’s the answer
    THE ARM IS A FAKE..!!! It’s attached to a body brace that holds up his thighs (his fake arm is the supporting bar)and his real arm is hidden inside his clothes.

  28. I dont know how he does all of them but as for the seventh one it’s easily explained, its just a wall, from the angle hes on it quite easy to tell that he has just painted a wall in the way, for there is nothing that can show he’s really standing on the wall

    1. It doesn’t have to be photoshopped. There could be installments,a hidden harness… All sorts of possibilities. Don’t jump to conclusions.

    2. its not photosopped i no hw he did i the table is acually on the wall yea its connected and the man is wallsitting

  29. They arent photoshopped- he does these in public.

    Its all easy to see he uses harnesses- the part that I dont get is how he sets them up so that people dont notice what hes doing before he finishes the piece

  30. Hey guys guys…any of you can explain the pic 3…ok I agreed that he got a harness or whatever to support his body…but what the heck with the table floating in the air..?..I cant believe he is supporting the table while his hands on the laptop…and i dont believe in any of those superhuman fantasies…
    Nify Mat

    1. oooooooh yeah that is really cool though the table could of been lifted with inivisble string or something but good for spotting that I didn’t even notice that the table was floating :)

    2. The table is cantilevered under the sleeves of his shirt and down the front, (see the straight lines where his abs should be,) down through his trousers into the base which is anchored to the floor. Clever use of engineering mechanics used in building bridges and arches. Keep looking folks.

  31. Great Website I LOVE IT well done whoever made it .P.S FORGET WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE WRITES THEY,RE JUST 100% JEALOUS.

  32. Actually I saw this on another site, his real arm is inside of a fake arm glued to the wall. It’s probably the same principle with the others. Although, he must have alot of strength to hold himself up.

  33. If you know anything about stage magic and illusions, think of how “levitation” is done. This is just a well put-together illusion, he can keep this up for hours if he chooses with no physical effort.
    Oh yeah…there is no photoshop involved. The spectators are real people around the scene.

  34. i don’t know, just a guess… but i think that he puts this really thick thick! piece of steel rod through the wall and into his suit, and shaping it to fit his body shape just enough to get down to the waist and hold him up or something like that, or all the way to his feet.

    Just a guess…… check youtube also for videos “johan lorbeer”

  35. It’s actually very simple. He has a reinforcing frame that follows the contours of his body. Kind of an exoskeleton of sorts. That’s what supports all the weight.

  36. Human can do those incredible things when improve the mind.If you can improve your mind then you can zero the weight of your body for sometimes.Meditation is the method of doing these things………

  37. i know the trick for the first 2,
    he is accualy being supported by his arm touching the wall, its a fake arm and is connected to a strap and harness we wears under his coat and suit

  38. I don’t get it. The illusion in the 4th one is that his fly is down! XYZPDQ! eXamine Your Zipper Pretty Darn Quick!

  39. Yes. He’s using harnesses and support beams, but he’s hiding them in his clothes. Notice how he’s always wearing long sleeves and long pants? Notice that he’s always got at least one hand or foot flatly and soundly pressed onto something solid? My theory is that under those clothes, he’s standing/sitting in some kind of metal frame that is grounded to the wall or floor. Under his loose-fitting clothes (and with his lack of movement), we don’t notice that his body is encased in a suspended cage… the supports of which are most likely hidden under his wrists and/or the soles of his shoes.

  40. What a bunch of dumb asses. PhotoShop? Really? Another good one was “mind power”…what a classic. This is a f**ked up world we live in when people can’t figure out simple stuff. I guess that’s what makes a con man’s life a whole lot easier! Golly Batman…maybe he’s a Warlock and has magic powers granted to him by Satan.

    1. maybe he does it how people make the ball move when you play Mind Flex, the game where you have to use your mindpower to win! xD that doesnt necessarily work on humans but thats my idea. what i like the Mind Flex commercial!

  41. He wears a harness and the arm attached to the wall is a fake arm. As for the computer, it is probably a hollow cardboard model, stuck to his arms.. It’s not photoshopped, or fake, I’ve seen the live performance before, and I’ve seen the behind the scenes for it.

  42. hm i beleve those who say its a matal harrnes attached to a solid at first i thought they were modles made of concrete and suh thatcks for the mettale frame pposability th theose people who have brains and no its not majic maybe majic does exist buts its probably some guy who gets a fork to move 2 centameters and remmember theese r OBSTICAL ILLUSIONS not rell majic mojo or watever.

  43. The Million dollar question is? Why did someone in the crowd ask him to remove his hand on the wall, just for a second? I wonder what will happen next if he do it. hehehe.
    Two things at the most, either he falls on the ground (if he really is floating?) or his secret would be found out that there’s a metal harness on the wall through his “fake arm”

  44. Well, he is an artist, not a magician.
    and Still-life Performance is ART, not spiritual things.

    Here’s a little clue on the trick; His arm is the supporting bar, and his real arm is hide inside his cloth.

  45. does anyone not read half of these comments?! its a friggin metal frame around his body… the whole things on youtube, he even takes himself ( out of the harness attached to the wall) “off”of the wall in broad day light…. jeeze people come on…

  46. oh so i got the tricks for last two..
    if u would separately see the vertical and horizontal frames..things will get clearer.
    actually he is just standing up on a floor which has been then been adjusted vertically with the horizontal frame..nice work with photo-shop (combining vertical n horizontal frames)!

  47. Hey, what you are looking at are ALL paintings. This man is a 3D artist. Look again, you are looking at a piece of canvas with some 3D art work. The “crowd” in pics 1 and 2 are part of the painting. I can’t believe all the comments I have read…
    All he has to do now is frame those pieces and sell them.

  48. I’m just curious. What’s the 6th one supposed to be? I really don’t get it ’cause it only looks like a man is holding a blanket while his two feet are in buckets of paint.

    1. the 6th one is special becuase he is leaning to far for anyone to be able to naturally stand up, his centre of gravity is to far out, with the buckets on his feet this would be even harder.

    2. I think what it showing is how far he’s leaning without falling over only thing it can be

  49. these aren’t all paintings. he does LIVE shows. read the top of the page. forget the comments. he does LIVE performances. i’m not saying there isn’t a trick to it, but they aren’t paintings. he’s s still-life artist, who does still-life performances. showing someone a painting you did isn’t exactly a performance. he really does this stuff in front of crowds of people, on the streets in germany. i don’t know how he does it. a trick of some kind, but its not a painting. that’s got to be the stupidest explaination on here so far

  50. WOW!! We don’t have to be so harsh! Everyone is apparently speculating using some logic of sorts…no need to be insulting anyone.

  51. ON PICTURE #1 . . . WHY DOES HE HAS TO LEAN ON THE WALL? WHAT HAPPENS IF HE JUST STAND STILL? (w/out touching the wall)

  52. ok i wont ruin it for everyone by telling u how he does it, but ill give u a hint, notice in every picture how his hands are either touching something, or sightly obscured, the trick is in his apendeges, now figure out in wat way

  53. not getting what’s so amazing about the 5th pic down…. so he’s sitting in a weird chair?? so?? :(

    1. The desk he’s sitting at is suspended in air, at least that what it looks like to me!!!

  54. in picture 3 when he has his hand on the wall if you look closely you can see an arm in his shirt so its obvious that he has a metal bar or something but how can he not show it to the crowd?

  55. also in pic 4 from the bottem
    he has his feet stuck in stuff but he can move his body, but pic 3 from the bottem he has a metal slot or something in his wrist because you can see a bar

  56. ok ok hes photoshopped em its showing, he might have used harness too, or other buggings or stuff we might not know about…

    1. Or he has maybe a Rod in his clothing if their not seen outside of them that are holding him in an incline. ETC.

  57. I’m thinking he may be quadriplegic missing all or partial limbs. Then he can stick stuff in and brace his back and so on. It’s a good thought.

  58. He most probably has rods or something hidden beneath his clothing. Good trick though, it certainly gets the public’s attention.

  59. After reading all of the comments as to how Johan Lorbeer was able to pull off these “stunts”, every solution sounds just about right.

    However, I don’t know how did it and I am not about to damage the very little cells I have left in brain to figure it out. All I can say is . . . way cool, however he did it ! ! !

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