The exhibition reflects the entire spectrum of Willi Baumeister’s (1889-1955) artistic oeuvre. Baumeister was an exceptional artist in many respects. His artistic path was characterised by constant change and renewal. One of his specialities was his ability to use a wide variety of media for his purposes at a time when a strict, classical separation of artistic genres still prevailed.
Hannelore Paflik-Huber and Hans Dieter Huber (curators of the exhibition): “Baumeister—this visionary of abstraction—is worth to be rediscovered. We are showing him as a masterful networker of his time.”
From today’s perspective, Willi Baumeister can be characterised as a “social hub.” He was an excellent networker throughout his life, establishing important international contacts very early on in his artistic career, which he was largely able to maintain during the Second World War. His circle of friends included Hans Arp, Hanna Bekker, Max Bill, Robert Delaunay, Sonja Delaunay-Terk, Karl Otto Götz, Camille Graeser, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Oskar Kokoschka. But his extensive contacts in architecture (such as Le Corbusier, Alfred Roth and Richard Döcker) and in the world of commercial art (Ella Bergmann-Michel, Robert Michel, Kurt Schwitters and others) also proved to be extremely fruitful for the wide-ranging development of an essentially intermedial oeuvre that was not limited to painting.
Together with the Domnick Collection in Nürtingen the Museum Gunzenhauser in Chemnitz owns the third largest public collection of Willi Baumeister paintings in Germany after the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Today, the collection comprises 39 works from the artist’s various stylistic phases. This collection, which has never been shown in its entirety before, offers an ideal starting point for a large-scale Willi Baumeister exhibition dedicated to this exceptional artist and all of his work phases and media, his art theory and artistic attitudes. The show has a particular focus on the visualisation of works from artists’ estates that have rarely been shown to date. The exhibits are supplemented by items on loan from other museums.
Furthermore, a wide-ranging selection of films, letters, postcards and photographs sheds light on the artist as a cultural-political cosmopolitan, advocate of abstract art and exceptional university teacher. Supplementary documents and artworks by third parties illustrate the high esteem in which he was held.
Next to works by Willi Baumeister, the following artists are presented in the exhibition: Max Ackermann, Gerhard Altenbourg, Hans Arp, Hanna Bekker, Ella Bergmann-Michel, Karl Bohrmann, Peter Brüning, Carlfriedrich Claus, Le Corbusier, Lily Hildebrandt, Adolf Hölzel, Marta Hoeppfner, Johannes Itten, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Ida Kerkovius, Franz Krause, Fernand Léger, Charlotte Mayer-Posenenske, Kasimir Malevich, László Moholy-Nagy, Otto Meyer-Amden, Robert Michel, Gonn Mosny, Margarete Oehm-Baumeister, Amédée Ozenfant, Oskar Schlemmer, Kurt Schwitters, Hermann Stenner, Ludwig Wilding.
Hanna Bekker, Roter Fuchs, um 1920. Oil on cardboard, 29,5 x 24,5 cm Estate Hanna Bekker/Archive Hanna Bekker vom Rath, Frankfurt/Main Photo: Fotostudio Herbert Fischer FrankfurtWassily Kandinsky, Rot im Quadrat, 1931 Watercolour, pen and ink on paper,34 x 33,9 cm. Private collection Photo: Archiv Baumeister im Kunstmuseum Stuttgart
The Museum of the City of Belgrade, Princess Ljubica’s Residence, 8 Kneza Sime Markovića Street in Belgrade, and The Association of Artists in Fine Arts, Applied Arts and Designers of Serbia (ULUPUDS) is pleased to present:
Annual Exhibition of the Painting and Graphic Section of ULUPUDS
7th – 20th November, 2023
The Association of Artists in Fine Arts, Applied Arts and Designers of Serbia organizes the Annual Exhibition of painting and graphic arts, which, through the presentation of artistic concepts and their elaborations in diverse media, techniques and formats, aims to provide insight into ways of thinking about the very concept of artistic presentation.
The Annual Exhibition, showcasing the individual artistic creativity within the framework of contemporary aesthetic, anthropological, cultural, political, economic, feminist, historical and sociological dimensions, aim to examine the expressive capacities of contemporary Serbian artists dealing with technologically and materially complex ideas.
One of the featured works is Katarina Andjelkovic’s digital graphics, The Levitation Scene, which is a part of the decade-long drawing project called War [Un]Story.
Katarina Andjelkovic, The Levitation Scene (from The Sequence of explosion of architectural orders: patterning of relations). Digital graphics, 76 x 55 cm, 2021.
Katarina Andjelkovic’s digital graphics The Levitation Scene has championed a decade-long drawing project War [Un]Story. The author of this collection has offered an aesthetic reflection on the aftermath of war by appropriating the concept of architecture as a visual resource to (un)tell the apocalyptic scenario of NATO-sanctioned bombings of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A series of digital graphics deal with an aesthetic reflection on political bodies and conditions, asking how they have re-territorialised the material reality of the Serbian Military Headquarters in Belgrade (Generalštab building, architect Nikola Dobrović, built between 1956 and 1965) as a cultural artifact into the performativity of its political function. The project is seen as an opportunity to rethink political power through the analytics of physical sciences. It is revealed as a type of image which, instead of reproducing architectural reality, rather produces new perceptions of the event through the power of the energy and forces war unleashes. To animate the viewing encounter, the author chose to transcribe the energetic event of explosion into visual forms. Material decay of the building granted access to the immateriality of perceptual fields and delineated a multi-layered untold story in a fusion of energy (the fundamental concept in physics), power (the fundamental concept in social science) and transformation. The resulting choreographic notations can be registered and apprehended through the universe of image representation that negotiates physical boundaries by energy and forces. In Boccioni’s early twentieth-century references to the ‘electric theory of matter’, according to which matter is only energy, the exhibition shifts away from representational images to a more abstracted non-representational forms, the fragments of broken structure that are represented in a flow, bearing a striking resemblance to electrons in their ‘bareness’ or lack of materiality.
About Katarina Andjelkovic
Katarina Andjelkovic, with a Ph.D., M.Arch.Eng., M. Applied Arts, is a theorist, practicing architect, researcher and painter. She is a high-skilled draftsman, writer and researcher. Andjelkovic is simultaneously engaged in architectural practice, teaching, and research. Katarina’s research, writing and teaching, focus on how ideas can be translated across different media, crossing architecture, visual arts and film. In Spring semester 2021, Katarina is the main instructor of the HAND-DRAWING COURSE: THE FACE[S] OF ARCHITECTURE at SMT New York in New York City. She served as a Visiting Professor, Chair of Creative Architecture, at the University of Oklahoma U.S.A., Visiting Lecturer at Coburg University of Applied Sciences – Faculty of Design (Department of Architecture) in Germany, Institute of Form Theory and History in Oslo, Institute of Urbanism and Landscape in Oslo, Norway, at The University of Belgrade – Faculty of Architecture. Katarina is guest-lecturing and mentoring at Master Studies of TU Delft – Faculty of architecture and the built environment, Doctoral studies of AHO – Oslo School of architecture and design, FAUP Porto, DIA Anhalt Dessau, SMT New York, and Bachelor studies of ITU – Istanbul Technical University. She lectures internationally at conferences in film, photography and architecture, urban space and visual representation, exploring architecture with image technologies: from film to VR and AR, modern aesthetics of architecture, film-philosophy, drawing research, teaching-research frameworks, artistic research, and visual culture in more than 35 countries in Europe, United Kingdom, North America, Canada, Australia, China, and South America. Katarina has published her research widely in international journals (Web of Science). She is a full author of the Preliminary Architectural Design, a national project supported by the government of Serbia. She won the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce Award for Best Master Thesis defended at Universities in Serbia in all disciplines. Katarina has published two monographs; an upcoming book chapter and several journal articles with Intellect United Kingdom, University of Chicago Press (U.S.), Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group (London, United Kingdom), Büchner-Verlag eG, Marburg/Germany, etc. During her Ph.D., Andjelkovic’s research stays were all at European universities in Copenhagen, Ljubljana, Porto, Dundee U.K., Brighton U.K., Dublin, Madrid, etc. Andjelkovic exhibited her artwork at 7 Solo Exhibitions and at more than 70 international architectural, fine arts, and photography exhibitions, including group exhibitions at Pall Mall Gallery in London, Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, MAAT Museum in Lisbon, International Biennial of Illustration ”Golden Pen” in Belgrade, Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, TU Delft in the Netherlands, the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade, the National Museum in Belgrade, Prodajna Galerija “Beograd” (Kosancicev venac, Belgrade), Gallery Singidunum in Belgrade, Stepenište in Art Education Center ”Šumatovačka”, Gallery of the Central Military Club, Suluj Gallery, Pavillion Cvijeta Zuzoric of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia, and Mala Gallery of the Association of Fine Artists of Applied Arts and Designers of Serbia. Katarina is a recipient of EDRA’S 2022 AMBASSADOR FUND AWARDS [California, U.S., Awarded in South Carolina], THE ULUS 2021 Spring Exhibition Award “INVISIBLE PORTRAIT” [awarded by Association of Fine Artists of Serbia], and won numerous awards for her architecture design and urban design competitions.
About The Museum of the City of Belgrade, Princess Ljubica’s Residence
The Museum of the City of Belgrade, Princess Ljubica’s Residence, 8 Kneza Sime Markovića Street in Belgrade, is one of the few preserved buildings from the time of the first reign of Prince Miloš Obrenović. Princess Ljubica’s residence was built in 1830. After restoration and reconstruction, the building became part of the Museum of the City of Belgrade in 1980, and in September of the same year, the permanent museum exhibition “Interiors of Belgrade houses of the 19th century” was opened. The display consists of a representative selection of fine and applied art objects from the collections of the Museum of the City of Belgrade. The objects were created during the 19th century as a product of Western European and domestic craft-art and industrial production. Today, the lower level of the building regularly hosts art exhibitions.
Katarina Andjelkovic with her artwork, Princess Ljubica’s Residence in Belgrade, November 2023.Annual Exhibition of The Painting and Graphic Section of ULUPUDS, Princess Ljubica’s Residence in Belgrade, November 2023.
Exhibition opening: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, at 19h.
Eating is a constant in the living world. But much more than a simple natural need, sharing a meal takes on an undeniable symbolic and philosophical dimension that several unvisual artists have invested. We will meet these artists, all related to ENDA (National Art School of Paris), who revisit this universal act of nourishing themselves by placing themselves at odds with the commercial system of art.
When the only purpose of art is to integrate into a commercial system and to please the public, it necessarily loses its essence. Food coupled with unvisual art is a break with this dynamic. The constant commodification of art amplifies the harmful effects of neoliberalism and the requirements to correspond to a certain aesthetic, in total opposition to the foundations of unvisual art.
This is why food is an important source of inspiration for several unvisual artists who integrate it into a social project, making it possible to unite rather than divide and even to push to commit, all essential functions of art. The concept of anarchist bakery or solidarity canteens flourishing in France recalls the concept of the Conflict Kitchen, a food truck created in Pittsburg that only offers cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict. In addition to the meals distributed, debates on films addressing geopolitical problems, always animate the surroundings of the food truck.
Another More Ethical Model?
Alexandre Gurita, artist and theoretical founder of “invisual art,” also sees the exploration of food uses as a way to reinvent the traditional economic models of the art market by proposing alternative production circuits. These “invisual” practices are ecological par excellence: “There is no production of works of art in toxic materials, which travel around the world several times to be exhibited. These projects are also democratic!”
Ethics is what the unvisual art, putting food at the center, tends towards. Quentin Derouet sees his quest form eaning as a fundamental milestone in the expression of his art. Living near a garden-forest is a way to meet his ideals. His complete immersion in this inspiring nature is a great lever of inspiration: “Ethics is something very important to me. Reducing art to its material characteristics is meaningless while paying attention to others and nature is fundamental for me. In my garden-forest, I leave room for all species. I am experimenting by proposing rose crops from new varieties.”
An adept of naturalness, he has put food at the heart of his art, which he invests in every way, and in an unusual way, he sees creativity as a huge interdisciplinary field of experimentation by making thyme alcohol as well as honey with his parents. He had even set up chicken installations that he cooked with spotlights during festive meals. His artistic approach is, therefore, marked by the desire to create social ties and to reactivate utopias while questioning the conventional aspects of art. Always with a collective perspective, Quentin has recently re-adapted the Croque fruits project with his accomplice Vincent Bourdet, the design and sale of an artisanal fruit bar of dates and almonds, created in Marseille during the Second World War in the free zone.
The artists could then work and continue their artistic practice. A solidarity based company, provider of “beautiful values,” which is, at the origin, the creation of the Itkine brothers. A project supported by Reine Caulet, the last survivor to have participated, and which had given back a glimmer of saving hope in times of war.
Back to the Essence of Art
As for Flavien Paget, after following a traditional path in art school, he, too, decided to put himself on the sidelines of the classical system. Art having lost its essence; he proclaims himself a communal artist advocating a return to the sources and the local. Like Quentin, he makes a point of honor to choose local, natural and quality products. He wants to awaken conscience and make his art move outside the walls of the museum.
Having met several cheese makers around the world, he learned the work of cheese in Scotland. He explores pairings, special refinements from Munster to Picon, creates quirky sweets with cheddar and chocolate where the taste and ethics of food are paramount. He resorts to other dishes such as burger and pizza.
In his text Notes on Pizza, he reveals more about his innovative vision of art: “The work here lies in the approach. And this is the whole point of my artistic work, my practice being built on the principles of autonomous economy, the intersection of disciplines and distancing from the conventional art market. Hethen has every opportunity to rethink the cards of social norms by proposing a cuisine that is accessible, economic and ecological.
Natural Elements as an Artistic Material
In a completely different register, Sylvain Soussan surprises with his bottling project of the water of Paris by diverting the usual use of drinking water. He puts the cursor on this excessive commodification of art despite taking into account the healthy limits of natural elements. By proposing glass bottles marked with a significant message: Eau au naturel, he questions our perception of the invisible in art, like tap water, transparent, colorless and tasteless, but nevertheless essential to life.
Sylvain has multiplied the mediation supports with water as his leitmotif. He first used mobile fountains in living and working spaces. Then came the cups, glasses, bottles, then the watering cans, the cisterns and two water towers on which it is written: Museum of clouds. His art values both recycling and sharing, in a form of circular and solidarity economy.
Collecting water in a glass bottle is a crying call to respect the environment “Ideally, our bottles would arouse a certain attachment, the desire to prolong their fragile existence. The agreement of glass and water is more satisfactory than plastic or metal. Our bottles to be filled on tap encourage us to toast transparency, this form of invisibility where the undetectable flavor of blandness is concentrated,” details Sylvain. The awakened tasting of water is an artistic experience that pushes the drinker to become the own artist of his gustatory pleasure: “This insipid character becomes for the water a guarantee of quality, and faced with this apparent absence of taste, the palate can linger on other taste sensations. The texture, the viscosity, the temperature can take over”—true poetry of water.
Act Imminently
He invites us to become an actor in his own life, also placing himself in opposition to the purely mercantile art world, which would only be a world of great fortunes planetary and a stack of egos to satisfy: the artist’s ego, the collector’s ego, the ego from the art entrepreneur. He announces that the unvisual art remains an effective way to bring about change. Due to its rarity and its diversions, it surprises: “Everything remains to be done for the actors of the unvisual art because they play a score where no one knows their role, since this art invests territories where it is not expected. That’s what makes it difficult and interesting.”
Art should no longer only awaken consciences. He must react and move the lines, he argues: “It would be necessary for each person to consider himself as an artist of his own life and thus acquire a form of autonomy in terms of taste, standards, needs. Art can aestheticize scraps and make desirable projects that are now devalued. It helps us to adopt less aggressive behaviors towards Earth’s resources. Our conceptions of aesthetics need to be reviewed, we would need less gloss, less plastic…” An ecological and social emergency that he expresses in several artistic projects.
The Reunifying Food
Ricardo Mbarkho was the founder of the Tabbouleh Day in 2001. With Alexander Gurita, straight out of fine arts school, he wanted to revolutionize art. The tabbouleh was a way for him to claim it. This tabbouleh day is an extension of these post-war paintings that seek to fight, to raise awareness, and to question what does good and evil. All this to better destabilize the power. This day honors this authentic meeting all over the world. Passionate, he tells us that this event has evolved a lot over the years. A change in perception as his awareness of the importance of bringing together rather than dividing has intensified.
Initially, it was when he realized during a trip to France that the Lebanese tabbouleh recipe was not respected, in the supermarkets, that he wanted to create this day as a sign of national pride. Ricardo then gradually changes his mind: “In 2001, I carry values of belonging to Lebanon. You should know that the dish is presented, mediatized, and taught by Lebanese institutions. Seeing this insolence towards the traditional recipe revolted me. I was touched by this cultural appropriation. Now, that’s totally the opposite of what I’m presenting. In 22 years, I have changed my perception. Today, I’m not talking about a national day anymore! It is an encounter with the other, which allows me a detachment from my environment. Why submit to the wishes of the kings of war who divided the borders? I am a citizen of the world!”
The tabbouleh can be both a tool of community violence but above all it is “like a food for everyone that connects people in the sense of humanizing”. The idea of a shared day makes it possible to centralize the energies of the tabbouleurs of the world. An informal party that takes place on the first Saturday of July, but not only. According to Ricardo, it is a moment to think about our freedom and our authentic being while taking up in his own way the terms monopolized by power.
A Collective Approach to Art, a Factor of Change
For the lazy artist, unvisual art is a fusion of art and life that operates to the end, and which, therefore, re-inscribes art in life: “The ambition of the lazy artist is to change the world but with a little humility. What I can say is that the art of laziness is not a solitary art. It is a question of operating a contamination by laziness and of involving as many people as possible in this practice. It is an approach intrinsically destined to be collective, but I cannot decide for them what others will do with it.”
She summarizes in this way the collective impact of this art, which can lift mountains, because it takes fully into account our lifestyles, such as food or our relationship to work: “Approaching the unvisual practices of various artists through food, is, I believe, one of the best ways to do because it is to discover these practices through the prism of everyday life and what is essential to our lives and not by a somewhat artificial aestheticizing approach. Food concentrates all the topics: economic, environmental, health topics and as an artist, I could not ignore such an important topic.” Recently, for health reasons, she has also questioned her own eating habits. After having distributed a sample of the lazy artist’s diary in a paper micro-edition at the start of the new school year, she is currently working on a cookbook format that she did not choose at random. Much more shareable than an exhibition catalog, the unvisual artists’ cookbook speaks to everyone and highlights the artists’ practices without sacralizing them, with lightness and derision.
Audrey Poussines is a web journalist passionate about culture, ecology, and social issues. She is captivated by all forms of expression and enjoys writing about urban and modern art, food, and music.
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The 100.gallery project invites everyone to create and own a unique artwork. Words, sentences, numbers and characters are transformed into abstract images in a 10 x 10 colour-coded grid. When added to the gallery, two versions of each artwork are produced — a file for web and a vector file for print.
The grid allows for many trillions1 of artwork variations, which means that the 100.gallery has the potential to become one of the largest collection of artworks ever produced.
Our future intention is to showcase a selection of artworks in physical form within galleries around the world.
Dangerous Liaisons section featuring AMAA Collaborative Architecture Office for Research and Development. It’s Kind of a Circular Story is in exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, showcasing The Laboratory of the Future. Photo by Andrea Avezzù, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
The 18th International Architecture Exhibition, titled The Laboratory of the Future, takes place in Venice until Sunday, November 26, 2023. The exhibition is held at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera.
The event is curated by Lesley Lokko and organized by La Biennale di Venezia. La Biennale di Venezia is taking significant steps towards combating climate change by promoting a more sustainable model for designing, installing, and operating all its events. In 2022, La Biennale achieved certifications for all the events held that year. This achievement was made possible by meticulously collecting data on the causes of CO2 emissions generated by the events and adopting consequent measures. The entire process of achieving carbon neutrality, conducted in compliance with international standard PAS2060, was certified by R.I.N.A.
The mobility of visitors is the most significant factor in the carbon footprint of all events. To address this issue, La Biennale launched a communication campaign in 2023 to raise awareness among the attendees. The 18th International Architecture Exhibition is the first major exhibition to test the process of achieving carbon neutrality and reflect on the themes of decolonization and decarbonization.
The International Exhibition has the power to act as an agent for change.
Lesley Lokko views architecture exhibitions as both a moment and a process. Although they share the structure and format of art exhibitions, architecture exhibitions differ from art in critical, often overlooked ways. In addition to the desire to tell a story, questions of production, resources, and representation play a central role in bringing an architecture exhibition to life but are seldom acknowledged or discussed. Right from the beginning, it was evident that the primary focus of The Laboratory of the Future would be ‘change.’
The Laboratory of the Future is an exhibition in six parts. It includes 89 participants, over half from Africa or the African Diaspora.
The Laboratory of the Future exhibition showcases the best and brightest architects, urbanists, designers, landscape architects, engineers, and academics from Africa and the Diaspora. The exhibition is divided into two main parts: the Central Pavilion in the Giardini and the Arsenale complex.
The Central Pavilion in the Giardini features 16 architectural practices representing a distilled force majeure of African and Diasporic architectural production. Visitors to this part of the exhibition can see the strengths and capabilities of these practices and how they are pushing the boundaries of architectural design.
The exhibition then moves to the Arsenale complex, where participants from the Dangerous Liaisons section and Curator’s Special Projects gather. Dangerous Liaisons is a section of the exhibition that explores the links between architecture and technology. At the same time, Curator’s Special Projects is a category that showcases the work of young and emerging architects.
Dangerous Liaisons section featuring AMAA Collaborative Architecture Office for Research and Development. It’s Kind of a Circular Story is in exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, showcasing The Laboratory of the Future. Photo by Andrea Avezzù, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
Dangerous Liaisons section featuring ZAO / standard architecture. Co-Living Courtyard 共生院 is in exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, showcasing The laboratory of the Future. Photo by Marco Zorzanello, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
Throughout both venues, visitors will find young African and Diasporan practitioners, the Guests from the Future, engaging directly with this exhibition’s twin themes, decolonization and decarbonization. Their work provides a glimpse of future practices and ways of seeing and being in the world.
The Curator has thoughtfully opted to refer to participants as ‘practitioners’ rather than architects, urbanists, designers, landscape architects, engineers, or academics. This choice is because Africa’s diverse and intricate conditions and a rapidly changing world necessitate a distinct and more comprehensive understanding of the term ‘architect.’ This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to witness the work of some of the most talented architects and designers from Africa and the Diaspora and to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the field of architecture today. Among ‘practitioners’ from Africa and the Diaspora, there are a total of 64 countries participating in the Biennale Architecture, each organizing their exhibitions across the historic Pavilions at the Giardini, Arsenale, and the city center of Venice.
Pavilion of South Africa.The Structure of a People. 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Laboratory of the Future. Photo by Marco Zorzanello, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
Pavilion of Brazil. Terra [Earth]. 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The Laboratory of the Future. Photo by Matteo de Mayda, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia.
Pavilion of Germany. Open for Maintenance – Wegen Umbau geöffnet. 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, The laboratory of the Future. Photo by Matteo de Mayda, 2023. Courtesy: La Biennale di Venezia
Arcual is delighted to announce its collaboration with Art Basel and Zurich Art Weekend in 2023, bringing together art and collectors through innovative initiatives and engaging activities. At Art Basel in Basel (12-18 June 2023), Arcual will have a booth in the Collector’s Lounge with unique artwork commissioned by artist Phoebe Cummings. Furthermore, Arcual will otherwise participate in several events and panels with leading voices from the art world, discussing collecting and power dynamics and celebrating art and culture at Zurich Art Weekend.
Phoebe Cummings, Detail from ‘Flora’ (clay), 2020. @ Art Basel, Basel.
Arcual will unveil its latest feature, which opens up new possibilities for artists, galleries, and collectors to connect with an artwork throughout its lifecycle. The Digital Dossier feature will be launched ahead of Arcual’s participation in Zurich Art Weekend and Art Basel in Basel, continuing its commitment to placing artists at the centre of the art ecosystem. This new feature will be brought to life through the commission of a unique sculptural artwork by British artist Phoebe Cummings, for their booth in the Collectors Lounge of Art Basel.
Arcual’s Digital Dossier can contain the digital Certificate of Authenticity (CoA), Resale Terms, as well as other supporting documentation relating to an artwork, such as sketches, designs, and photographs showing the artist’s creative process, shipping and installation guidelines, condition reports, exhibition certificates, and more. The Digital Dossier furthers understanding of the artist and the artwork, simultaneously enhancing its value and authenticity for collectors, both now and in the future. Collectors will be able to utilise this feature to keep all of the documentation relating to the artwork in one secure space.
Says Bernadine Bröcker Wieder:“Art is all about storytelling. Arcual’s new Digital Dossier feature strengthens the connection between an artist and their artwork by enabling them to attach documents and images to enhance its story. These may include sketches, designs, even a photograph in the studio showing their creative process. These attachments follow the artwork on its journey from one owner to the next. Further attachable documentation can outline how artists would like for their work to be exhibited, stored, and moved. We have seen a real desire from collectors for deeper engagement with the artworks they purchase, from the very beginning of the process. This new functionality fundamentally enhances the experience of owning and authentifying of an artwork, adding value for the future in a way that’s easy to access and secure.”
Arcual at Art Basel
An official partner for Art Basel in Basel, Arcual will showcase a unique, large-scale sculptural artwork by the artist Phoebe Cummings, commissioned for its booth in the Collectors Lounge, which will be on display throughout the fair. Cummings is known for her ephemeral sculptures that reflect on nature’s beauty and life cycle, created from raw, unfired clay. She will complete the sculpture on site, enabling visitors to experience first-hand the artist’s creative process. Surrounded by mirrors and brought to life through immersive lighting, the artwork will bring an engaging, interactive element to the space and highlight the connectedness between an artist, collector, and the artwork.
The work, which was consigned and purchased through Arcual’s blockchain, will have a sustainable life cycle. It will demonstrate the potential of the Digital Dossier, which Cummings will utilise for the first time.
Phoebe Cummings, artist says: “I am increasingly interested in how we collect the ephemeral, and how collections can encompass different forms of artistic practice that may not result in a permanent object. I have expanded the way I record each work, moving beyond photography and film as the primary method, to include writing as well as other sensory information such as humidity, offering new possibilities in terms of how a work may be re-performed in the future. The Digital Dossier is an interesting feature which enables artists to amplify the storytelling around their artworks, to set out how it has come to be, and to outline how it might best be presented in the world.”
Phoebe Cummings, Detail from ‘Flora’ (clay), 2020. @ Art Basel, Basel.
Arcual will also participate in a variety of talks and events around the fair, with Arcual CEO Bernadine Brocker Wieder joining the Conversations series panel Blockchain, Ownership andCopyright, on Saturday 17th June, 3-4 pm CET. The panel will discuss blockchain as a decentralising and redistributive technology, exploring how works are authenticated, who the copyright belongs to and whether transactions really remain forever on the blockchain, as well as the potential of this rapidly developing field to empower artists, galleries and buyers in equal measure. Alongside Bernadine Bröcker Wieder, the panel will feature Amelie Ebbinghaus (Art Loss Register), Primavera di Filipi (artist and writer) and Sarah Friend (artist), with Brian Droitcour as moderator. The Conversations series is free to attend and open to the public, without a fair ticket and will also be broadcast online. Arcual will also host Arcual Reflections, a series of intimate talks at their booth which will bring together artists, curators, collectors, and tech experts, which will be livestreamed. The details of these events will be released on the Arcual website, ahead of the fair. Arcual will also be working with several galleries at Art Basel, who will be consigning works for sale.
Maja Hoffmann, Founder of LUMA Foundation, says: “Arcual’s mission from the very start has been to offer pioneering technologies that give artists greater ownership, participation, and transparency in their careers, as well as to provide both institutions and galleries the tools to best nurture them. Arcual’s Digital Dossier feature empowers artists, enables a greater connection with their work and places them in the centre, which aligns with the central mission of the LUMAFoundation.”
Arcual at Zurich Art Weekend
Ahead of Art Basel, Arcual is an official partner for Zurich Art Weekend. Arcual hosted a panel discussion with speakers including leading auctioneer, art dealer, and collector, Simon de Pury, alongside art tech expert and advisor, Nina Roehrs, and artist Gretchen Andrew, moderated by Arcual CEO Bernadine Bröcker Wieder on 9th June: How Technology is impacting Power Dynamics in the Art World. The talk explored power structures between artists and galleries, trends and opportunities, how previously marginalised members of the art eco-system who are now being empowered by tech, and more.
Arcual was built with the backing and expertise of the LUMA Foundation, MCH Group (the parent company of Art Basel) and BCG X and launched in 2022. Arcual offers a suite of digital tools and integrations to assist galleries in ensuring verified transactions, digital authenticity, royalty sharing, and secure international payments. Arcual’s first application ‘Salesroom’ offers smart contract terms for physical, primary market artworks, which are registered securely on the blockchain.
Arcual’s customisable, collaborative technology designs a new infrastructure to empower everyone – artists, galleries, collectors, and more – to grow their practices, inspire new opportunities, and solve long-standing challenges in the art eco-system.
Phoebe Cummings
Phoebe Cummingsis an artist based in the UK, creating temporary sculptures and environments from raw clay. The density of labour and skill invested in making sits in direct opposition to the brief existence of the work. There is an inherent instability that simultaneously untethers clay from the fixed, enduring potential of ceramics. The works change as they drip, dry, shrink and crack, and the clay is ultimately broken down and recycled, in different locations and periods of time, as an unending material performance.
Cummings has undertaken numerous residencies in the UK, Greenland and U.S, including six months as Ceramics artist-in residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2010 and a fellowship at Camden Arts Centre 2012/13). She continues to show internationally, with recent exhibitions including Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland, Thomas Dane Gallery, Naples and Galerist, Istanbul. She was the winner of the British Ceramics Biennial 2011, and the BBC Woman’s Hour Craft Prize 2017. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Brighton in 2019 and continues to work as a Researcher at the Ceramics Research Centre-UK, University of Westminster.
Art Basel
Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and Contemporary Art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms and a number of new initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report and Intersections: The Art Basel Podcast. Art Basel’s Global Media Partner is The Financial Times. For further information, please visit artbasel.com.
Zurich Art Weekend
Zurich Art Weekend highlights the quality and diversity of the city’s art scene by offering unique insights into the curated program of highly qualitative and exceptional events organised in collaboration with the participating art venues. Free of charge, the events and initiatives of Zurich Art Weekend continue the pursuit of actively engaging with an audience interested in the arts on a national and international scale. At the core of the international art calendar, Zurich Art Weekend anticipates the preview days of Art Basel as per tradition.
Zurich Art Weekend nourishes and develops links between all entities and players which form its thriving ecosystem, opening it to the public to best serve the knowledge of artistic creation, alongside artists, curators, museum directors and collectors. With the institutions, galleries, offspaces, publishers collections, foundations and universities, the program in June emphasises the latest trends and experiential formats that distinguish the field. Zurich Art Weekend champions more democratic access to the arts, opening the city’s art scene to regional, national and international cultural exchanges.
The Neue Nationalgalerie, designed by the famous Bauhaus architect Mies van der Rohe, symbolizes modernism and has become an icon.
By Christiane Wagner
The Neue Nationalgalerie underwent renovation by David Chipperfield Architects from 2015 to 2021. Their work on the refurbishment earned them the European Architectural Heritage Intervention Award in Barcelona.
Every two years, a group of European architectural players gives the European Architectural Heritage Intervention Award to outstanding projects in architectural heritage. According to the jury’s statement, the Neue Nationalgalerie building was restored to its original state through a meticulous intervention that made it look like nothing had ever happened. The structural changes were carried out with great attention to detail, resulting in an impressive statement showcasing the highest level of architecture, heritage, and intervention.
The project was conducted under strict monument protection guidelines, focusing on refurbishing and reusing the original components and materials. New building materials were only used in exceptional cases. The building also underwent modernization in areas such as air conditioning, electronics, and security to meet the demands of a museum in the 21st century.
The Neue Nationalgalerie showcases Mies van der Rohe’s architecture and is known for its open hall and a flat roof that appears to be floating. The spacious showrooms highlight the importance of urban functionality and technological innovation. Mies van der Rohe believed in creating functional forms using glass, steel, and stones to provide an ordered sequence of geometric space. Modern architectural styles change over time, but the aesthetic experience remains integral to cultural heritage. These architectural forms promote coexistence with technology, preserving culture while embracing innovations in architectural design.
Its minimalistic design and glass enclosure set the perfect tone for the collection. The main hall or glass pavilion serves as the venue for temporary exhibitions, while the lower level houses the permanent exhibition. Alongside historical accounts, the exhibit also features artwork from the museum’s collection that visually connects with the building’s architecture.
The collection at Neue Nationalgalerie features a stunning range of paintings and sculptures, spanning from classical modernism to the 1980s. The collection’s focal point is German Expressionism, with key works by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Otto Dix, and Max Beckmann. Some pieces take us into the world of Surrealism by artists such as Dalí, Miró, and Picasso, as well as works by Klee and Kandinsky that showcase the teachings of the world-renowned art and design school, Bauhaus. Additionally, large canvases featuring colorful and abstract works by American painters Barnett Newman, Frank Stella, and Ellsworth Kelly mark the beginning of a new era in art.
The Neue Nationalgalerie is located near Potsdamer Platz on the Reichpietschufer. Potsdamer Straße 50, Berlin-Tiergarten.
Spanish architect won the Exterior Spaces category for El Tanque Garden of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the Built Heritage category was won by David Chipperfield for the Renovation of the iconic Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
El Tanque Garden of Santa Cruz de Tenerife won the Exterior Spaces category in the AHI European Awards for Intervention in Architectural Heritage. Designed by the Spanish architect Fernando Menis, this is the ecological restoration of a former industrial area, which has endowed the Cabo Llanos neighborhood with its first green public space. Around a former refinery tank, repurposed as a cultural space since 1997, and listed since 2014, this banana trees orchard recalls the agricultural landscape prior to industrialization, staging the city as a place of coexistence of different eras, cultures and sensibilities that have been shaping its identity.
“El Tanque Gardenworks with ecology and heritage to offer a creative, cultural and socially inclusive public space. It demonstrates sensitivity on all scales, including the reuse of industrial waste for the design of furniture and lighting”. Itis complete in terms of sustainability, social benefits and in relation to local identity and landscape design” – stated the Jury.
The Award in the category of Built Heritage went to the rehabilitation of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, carried out by the office of David Chipperfield, the last Pritzker winner. In the Urban Planning category, the Jury has awarded the Regeneration of the Gràcia neighborhoods in Barcelona, by the firm Jornet Llop Pastor Arquitectes, together with the Urban Planning Department of the Barcelona City Council. Finally, in the Dissemination category, the Prize has been awarded to the documentary “La vie en kit”, by the Belgian architect and filmmaker Elodie Degavre.
In addition, the non-profit Asociación Amigos del Espacio Cultural El Tanque has been a finalist in the Dissemination category for its incessant activism over 25 years to rescue, defend and protect El Tanque as an element of the industrial and cultural heritage of the Canary Islands.
The Award is a biennial initiative of the Barcelona platform AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention; the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Cataluña COAC (Architects Association of Catalonia ); Barcelona City Council; and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. In its sixth edition, a total of 241 projects have been entered by architecture firms from 28 European countries, the highest figure ever achieved.
The Cultural Space El Tanque in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a former refinery deposit, used as a cultural space since 1997:
The El Tanque Cultural Space of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the former tank 69, a huge container long used for the refining and storage of crude oil that was part of the CEPSA refinery, the first built in Spain around 1930. It is a 20 m high cylindrical piece with a 50 m diameter that represents one of the last vestiges of an industry that, in the last half century, has been part of the urban geography of the Tenerife island.
The adaptive reuse as a cultural space carried out in 1997 preserved its original appearance thanks to a minimal architectural intervention based on recycling. Thus, an old ferry bridge abandoned in the city’s port was upcycled for the access; the entrance door to the space and the interior ramp were built with large metal sheets retrieved from other dismantled containers; and the skylights were made with empty CEPSA barrels adapted to their new use.
The El Garden Tanque is the ecological restoration of a post-industrial area in Santa Cruz de Tenerife:
Coinciding with the preparation of the 25th anniversary in 2022 of this singular cultural space, the non-profit Asociación Amigos del Tanque and the Government of the Canary Islands promoted planting a garden that would cover its surroundings, to produce the first green public space in the neighborhood of Cabo Llanos.
The perimeter of El Tanque has been covered with banana trees as a way of remembering the agricultural activity that existed in this area before the CEPSA refinery was located here in the 1930s. As time passes by the exuberant subtropical vegetation colonizes the industrial relic, framing its fascinating presence while restoring the memory of the agricultural past to build a sense of cultural continuity and belonging.
The new garden respects the original layout and stone wall of the site, while the base of a dismantled adjoining tank is now the perimeter of a new semi-circular plaza. The exterior of the Tank and its elements have been rehabilitated and integrated into the general redesign concept that combines industrial heritage and nature.
Menis’s landscape design seeks to create a highly biodiverse garden based on native flora with more than 700 trees and shrubs, as well as aromatic plantes areas. There are mostly banana trees as a way to recall the banana plantations that grew on the site before it was converted to industrial use.
“Our research work has confirmed that this area was agricultural. There used to be banana and tomatoes, as well as coast plants such as tabaibas, cardones, verodes, etc., all of them native plants of the Canary Islands, which require little watering, are resilient and durable. By looking back into the agricultural history of Santa Cruz, we decided that the area around El Tanque should be planted again with banana trees. And, the tomatoes have simply sprouted, since there must have been vines over 90 years old, incredible survivors of an entire industrial era, which, after having prepared and watered the land, have grown again because the earth, the soil, can recall, although sometimes we forget it”, explains the architect Fernando Menis.
Following the same line of re-use and recycling that he already applied in the rehabilitation of the El Tanque Cultural Space, the architect designs the outdoor lighting and furniture of the Garden with waste. Thus, divers’ oxygen bottles were recovered from the garbage and adapted to be used as lamps. And, since one of the main users of the garden are children, the lamps resemble the Minions, the cartoon characters who are heavy banana consumers. Care for the environmental impact is also perceived in the orientation of the lamp so that it avoids light pollution, as well as in the watering of the greenery, which is supplied with recycled water.
What used to be contaminated and underused land, although part of a protected heritage compound, is now a lush garden that will only improve as biodiversity recovers, offering a public space for social cohesion, reconnection with nature and the cultural heritage of Tenerife.
“In short, it is an action with multiple implications since we have got now an accessible plaza, which is also a new green public space, a first one in the Cabo Llanos neighborhood, the agricultural history of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is evoked and, at the same time, biodiversity is recovered. It is an action that can be an example to ecologically recover other spaces in the city and on the island”, emphasizes Dulce Xerach, a lawyer and president of the Association Los Amigos del Tanque.
Address: C/Adán Martín Menis s/n 38003 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Completion: 2022
M2 site: 5.714,55 m2 (2.210 m2 garden)
M2: 2.563,75m2 (environment 1.989,63 m2+ tank 574,12m2)
Cost: 480.086,74 €
Architect: Fernando Menis
Client: Consejería de Educación, Universidades, Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de las Islas Canarias, Dirección General de Patrimonio Cultural (The Government of the Canary Islands)
Initiative: Association Amigos del Espacio Cultural El Tanque
Consultants: Ruperto S. Hernández González (Technical Architect and Director of building works); Prisma Ingenieros SLP (Building services engineer); Interjardín SL (Gardening); Cristina Saavedra (Logo Graphic Design)
Companies: Señalizaciones VillarPlantas (asphalt); Interjardín S.L (soil and plants); Zumtobel (lighting); Refinería Cepsa (elements for recycled furniture); Eco Steel (locksmith); Hernández de la Guardia (paint); Fachadas Dimurol S.L (painter)
Construction companies: UTE Señalizaciones Villar S.A and Interjardín S.L.
Fernando Menis (1951, Tenerife). Witha professional career spanning more than 40 years, Menis’s architectural production includes works of various scales and typologies, as well as long-term research projects. An expert in designing concert halls and auditoriums, he is internationally recognized and awarded for conceiving an innovative variable acoustics system for the CKK Jordanki Concert Hall (2015, Poland). Among the projects completed, alone and in co-authorship: the Church of the Holy Redeemer of Las Chumberas (2022), El Tanque Cultural Space Public Garden (2022), CKK “Jordanki” Concert and Conventions Hall, in Poland (2015) , Plaza Bürchen in Switzerland (2015), Insular Athletics Stadium (2007), Magma Arte & Congresos (2007), Floating pool in the Spree River of Berlin (2004) and the Presidency of the Canary Islands Government in Tenerife (2000). Among the ongoing projects, the following stand out: the Rehabilitation of the Viera y Clavijo Cultural Park, the Masterplan in Boa Vista, the Pájara Conventions and Concert Hall in Fuerteventura, the Rehabilitation of the Cultural Center in La Guanche, the Rehabilitation of the Teobaldo Power Performative Arts Hall in La Orotava. Distinguished on 10 occasions with the Canary Islands Architecture Prize, Menis also won: the Prize for the Best Cultural Building in Poland 2015 from the National Council of Architects of Poland; the CEMEX Award for Universal Accessibility 2016; the 2016 Taipei Design Award to the Best Public Building Award; the Stone Award at the VIII International Stone Architecture Award 2005; and the Prize of the V Spanish Biennial of Architecture 1998, among others. Architect Doctor from the Polytechnic of Valencia, his works have been shown in several editions of the Venice Biennale, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at the Aedes Berlin gallery and the GA gallery in Tokyo. His project Iglesia del Santísimo Redentor is part of the permanent collection of the MoMA Museum of Modern Art in New York.
HackelBury is pleased to present Gerlinde, a solo exhibition of new work by Royal Academician Ian McKeever. This new body of work, his most personal to date, is the portrait of a woman, a love letter to his wife. Drawing on abandoned drawings and his archive of photographs which capture everyday objects in a domestic setting, his black and white photographs are filled with light and shadow, providing evocative glimpses of the human presence which merge with silhouetted objects and structures from their home.
McKeever’s emphasis on an abstract language fosters ambiguity. His interest is in pushing the conventional notion of photography as a literal, figurative representative of reality away and establishing a visual language providing only transitory glimpses of reality. This invites the viewer to focus on the compositional elements such as the quality of light and balance of shadow, the drawn line and assembled object, the ‘aura’ of the edge between gouache and photograph, the silhouetted form and the gestural mark.
McKeever is intrigued as to ‘where the image begins and finishes’ and the glimpse of a fleeting moment in which nothing is fixed. His work explores meeting point between the ‘truth’ of photography and the language of painting. The gap between the photograph’s instant reality and the slow incremental process of mark-making in painting.
In some of the work, McKeever has photographed objects against strong sunlight to evoke an almost gestural painting imbued with a calligraphic quality reminiscent of Japanese Shoji screens which were traditionally used to provide visual privacy.
The artist’s exploration of the domestic setting could also be said to be as a meditation on such artists as American photographer Charles Sheeler, whose work in the 1930s, after documenting local buildings for architects, took a new direction when he began photographing the interior of his home, drawing out compositions of solids and spaces. Also, in his use of torn or cut papers, McKeever draws on the poetic language of Matisse’s ‘cut-outs’, to explore the balance and boundaries between abstraction and representation, photography and painting, edge and space, and shadow and light. This new body of work has a cinematic quality in which the artist captures the essence of someone’s presence through objects in the space around them. As Marcel Proust wrote,
‘….I am myself again. Pleasure in this respect is like photography. What we take, in the presence of the beloved object, is merely a negative, which we develop later, when we are back at home, and have once again found at our disposal that inner darkroom the entrance to which is barred to us so long as we are with other people’.
In Search for Lost Time, Volume II
No 7, 1995-2023No 3, 1995-2023
About Ian McKeever
Ian McKeever (born 1946) is primarily known as one of the leading British painters of his generation. However, photography has always played an important part in his practise. His early work grew out of a conceptual interest in landscape leading in the mid-1980s to his engaging more fully with the practise of painting. Concurrently over the last twenty years, he has pursued his commitment to photography in such groups of works as Eagduru and Against Architecture. The new Gerlinde series takes further this exploration between photography and its affinity to painting.
In 1989, McKeever received a DAAD scholarship to live and work in Berlin. In 1990 he had a major retrospective at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Since 1971 he has exhibited extensively including major exhibitions at the Kunstverein Braunschweig in 1987, the Porin Taidemuseo in 1997, the Kunsthallen Brandts Klaederfabrik, Odense in 2001 and 2007, the Morat Institute, Freiburg in 2005 and 2007, the New Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen in 2006, the Royal Academy of Arts, London in 2010, the Sønderjyllands Kunstmuseet in 2011 and the Josef Albers Museum, Quadrat Bottrop in 2012. McKeever has taught extensively in Great Britain, Germany, and the USA. He has held several teaching positions including Guest Professor at the Städel Akademie der Kunst in Frankfurt, Senior Lecturer, Slade, University of London and Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton. In 2003 he was elected a Royal Academician. He has also published many texts and essays primarily concerning the nature of painting. Ian McKeever’s work is represented in leading international public Collections, including Tate, British Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; Museum of Fine Art, Budapest; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Glyptotek, Copenhagen; Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Boston Museum of Fine Art and Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut.
About HackelBury Fine Art
Established in 1998, the London gallery in Launceston Place is committed to nurturing long-term relationships with both artists and clients. It continues to evolve and progress through an expanding program of gallery exhibitions, museum projects and publishing ventures.
The small group of artists with whom HackelBury work, represent a diversity of practice, pushing the boundaries of various media. The work and practice of these artists encompasses the worlds of photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture and performance. Each artist, whether emerging or established, creates work defined by a depth of thought and breadth and consistency of approach.
The Berlin Synthesis Gallery presents UNSTABLE OBJECTS
UNSTABLE OBJECTS | The screenings, a video screening program opening June 1, 2023, at Molt (Berlin) and running through June 20, 2023.
UNSTABLE OBJECTS | Online, an online exhibition on New Art City running through July 6, 2023.
The contemporary visual universe has become an uncanny, quirky, mixed up place: gifs, photoshopping, GAN, remixes, deep fakes and memes have made their way from the depths of the digital world into our everyday lives. Images have become unstable objects, as art historian Valentina Tanni refer to them: “They are made, sent, resent, distorted, manipulated by human and non-human life forms, and the growing and accelerating dissemination of their contents and contexts affects systems of power and changes the way we perceive reality.”
UNSTABLE OBJECTS | The screenings is presented physically at MOLT, a Berlin-based project space, through June and presents video works by Sara Bezovšek, Casey Kauffmann, Valerie Leya and Lorna Mills. Lorna Mills’ “Ways of Something” is a collaborative four-episode remake of John Berger’s influential 1972 documentary Ways of Seeing, which explored the hidden forces of power, wealth and desire at work in traditional notions of art. For “Ways of Something”, Mills crowdsourced over 115 digital and new media artists to produce minute-long videos inspired by every minute of the original documentary, creating a stunning homage that takes the viewer on a tour of art in a post-internet age. Valerie Leya’s “Powers of Cringe: An Essay on Aesthetics of Degradation” explains the cringe aesthetic in internet culture. It attempts an aerial view of cringe, using art historical and post-Marxist frameworks to explain how cringe emerged in today’s technological paradigm. Casey Kauffmann’s “Knowing Others and Wanting to be Known” is a video collage piece created using found videos, after effects and a variety of phone-based applications, addressing the archival nature of the online performance of the self. Sara Bezovšek’s “False Utopia” embraces new remix culture to speculate on the possibility of utopia in our society, extrapolating snippets from the internet with a strong visual awareness.
Bringing together works by Casey Kauffmann, Katherine Mills Rymer, Nicoleta Mures and Romain Thibault, UNSTABLE OBJECTS | Online highlights this new era of images and their power to reflect our fragmented, hybrid, hyper-stimulated selves. Either taken from popular culture or created from scratch, distorted upon themselves or remixed in the primordial swirl of the internet, the works on display stand as a form of critique and celebration. Romain Thibault’s project “Cognitive Distortions” is about automatic thought patterns that cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately and negatively. This phenomenon is explored through the lens of our current image culture. Katherine Mills Rymer’s sister works “Face Like A Cave” and “Hairy Melty” explore ideas of the socialized self, the private self and the paradisiacal online self. Each work seeks to understand internal shame, infinite circularity and digital entanglement. Casey Kauffmann’s “Cursed AF” series of GIFs explore the concept of cursed content, a type of online content and popular subculture that is considered disturbing, unsettling or even frightening. Nicoleta Mures’ collages explore the overwhelming nature of our always-connected society, highlighting the alienation that comes with living in a world where we are always online but never truly present. The artworks are placed in dialogue with a virtual environment architecturally designed by Mohsen Hazrati, to recall the overflowing and breached out stream of the web.
UNSTABLE OBJECTS is curated by Rebecca Manzoni and co-curated by Giorgio Vitale.
On the occasion of the exhibition I Knowpresented with Feral File and featuring works by aaajiao, AES+F, Cibelle Cavalli Bastos, Claudia Hart and Yehwan Song, curator Giorgio Vitale speaks with Lívia Nolasco-Rozsas, scientific associate of Hertz-Lab at ZKM Karlsruhe, and Boris Magrini, head of program and curator at HEK (House of Electronic Arts Basel), about the entanglements of politics and aesthetics, the role of new technologies in regards to social issues, and which problems NFTs have the potential to solve. Read the editorial here.
We are pleased the exhibition was reviewed by Lyndsey Walsh for CLOT Magazine. Walsh describes the exhibition: “I KNOW takes a bold step forward with this call and endeavors to navigate how creativity and aesthetic truths can be used to stop us from following the governance of algorithms and find our own voices to guide us forward.” Read the review here.
Synthesis is a genre-defining cultural institution working with new media. Since its inception in 2017, the gallery has produced over twenty exhibitions of new media art in Berlin and abroad, online and on chain and is dedicated to exhibiting internationally renowned, well-established artists alongside emerging ones.
Art Style | Art & Culture International Magazine 