BERLIN: MARTIN KIPPENBERGER SEHR GUT, VERY GOOD

all works by Martin Kippenberger at the exhibition "Sehr gut, Very good" (23.02 - 18.08.2013), all images by artfridge, courtesy Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Today, on the 25th of Februrary 2013, Martin Kippenberger would have turned 60. On this occasion the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin dedicated the large retrospective "Sehr gut, very good" to one of Germany's most talented enfant terrible. Most of his friends are sure, that he would never have believed, how successful and academically accepted he became after his early death in the age of 44. He would have laughed, they say.

DÜSSELDORF: BODY LIGHT

all the images by artfridge, exhibition "Body Light" at Venus & Apoll (22 – 24 February 2013)

Right now, there is a lot going in Düsseldorf. It is the Rundgang-week, the annual exhibition of the long-standing, Tony-Cragg-led Düsseldorf Art Academy, which attracts thousands of art fans every Februrary. On top of that, there are several other exhibitions around Düsseldorf. The show BODY LIGHT, for example, displays works of 16 contemporary artists as a guest show at Venus & Apoll. At this temporary project space of JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION, the group show assembles solely video works of up-and-coming artists, who use the moving image as the dominant medium of their artistic practice and to interact with the overarching theme of corporeality. 

The works experiment with the individual bodily experience or the interaction with another body, whether in the private, public or social context. The body's texture is central not only concerning the moving image, but also regarding the physical possibilities of the body as a projection surface on its own. Running parallel to this year's Rundgang, the exhibition project, which was initiated by artists Melike Kara and Isabella Fürnkäs, provides an extended presentation and discussion platform, which invites to a very exciting engagement with young and current video art – unfortunately only for this weekend.

BONN: VIDEONALE 14

from the top: (1) Bigert & Bergström "Musen" (2012) film-still; (2) Christian Jankowski "Casting Jesus" (2011) video excerpt; (3-4) Tanja Deman "Abode of Vacancy" (2011) film-still and full video; (5-6) Frances Scholz "Episodes of Starlite I-V" (2011-12) film-stills; (7) Jasper van den Brink & Yasmijn Karhof "Vessel" (2012) video excerpt, all photos by artfridge, courtesy Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn; all videos courtesy the artists and their galleries

There is a problem about every show containing video-based artworks: the time-frame. Leaving an exhibition with the knowledge that it would simply have been impossible to see all films and videos in full length is depressing. Thats why these time-determined shows ask for a very quick selection - decisions need to be made. Whenever a picture language fascinates within a couple of seconds, one sits down and engages in a new story, a new aesthetic. This was a particularly big challenge at the current show of the Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn. Choosing out of 2100 submissions, the jury selected 41 up-and coming and established positions for their video art festival. 

BONN: KENNETH ANGER

Both images © artfridge.de

After taking a walk through the Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn, I went to the auditorium where the American video artist and 86-year old avant-garde pioneer talked to film critic Daniel Kothenschulte and presented his newest works "Aircraft 1-3". 

Having a thing of the evil, satanism and bad boys in general, Kenneth Anger revolutionised film-art, when his black-and-white homoerotic horror-porn "Fireworks" premiered in California in 1947. Among Anger's most famous video works are "Lucifer Rising", "Scorpio Rising" or "Invocation of my Demon Brother" and he is the author of the famous gossip book Hollywood Babylon. 

COLOGNE: UNIQUE PATTERNS

from the top: (1) installation view, (2-3) sculptures by Philip Seibel, (4) installation view, (5-7) photographs by Johanna von Monkiewitsch, (8) installation view, (9-10) Andri Bischoff, (11) installation view; images by artfridge and Chaplini Gallery

Since decades, people have tried to demonstrate a uniqueness in their style, however knowing that their appearance is always shaped by trends. We are cut from the same cloth - its the small details that elevate a style to be unique. But how does this work for contemporary art? The current group show at Chaplini Gallery in Cologne approaches questions on the ambivalent relationship of uniqueness and repetition, by exhibiting three young positions, whose works explicitly manipulate repetitive patterns into a unique art piece with only a small artistic intervention. 

THREE DEE / TWO DEE

all images courtesy and copyright Victoria Stusiak (threedeetwodee.tumblr.com)

London photo blog Three Dee / Two Dee by Victoria Stusiak
threedeetwodee.tumblr.com

vastusiak.tumblr.com

ARTIST WATCH: OLIVER PARZER

All photos by Oliver Parzer, belonging to the series 'Surrounded by nothing but our own imagination', courtesy and copyright Oliver Parzer

The 1985-born German photographer Oliver Parzer couldn't have chosen a better title for his silent and scenic Berlin documentation 'surrounded by nothing but our own imagination'. After spending some years in Melbourne, where he studied photography, Parzer returned to Germany and now captures his delicate impressions of the capital. I love to look at his work.

oliverparzer.com

LONDON: KRIS MARTIN

Kris Martin, White Cube Mason's Yard, London, 18 January - 16 March 2013; Images from the top: Kris Martin, "Lost Wax II"; "Lost Wax XIV"; "Untitled"; "Untitled" installation view; all works done in 2013 © Kris Martin, Photo: Ben Westoby, Courtesy White Cube 

With a solo show by 1972-born Belgian artist Kris Martin, White Cube Gallery starts the new year at Mason's Yard in London. As far as I'm concerned, I was a bit prejudiced, before visiting his current exhibition. Classifying his work into particular categories, such as the bigger, the better; flashiness and straining after effects; over-aestheticised high-gloss objects fetishised to pure goods for sale – I simply pigeon-holed Kris Martin, when I recalled his huge and half-inflated hot-air balloon, his golden oversized and shiny globe stand, his collages with advertisements of luxury watches, or a highly-polished Christian cross. However, the conceptual sculptor currently proves quite impressively that I was entirely wrong.

INTERVIEW WITH RALF DEREICH

Located a quiet backyard of Berlin’s hectic Neukölln neighbourhood, Ralf Dereich’s studio lies in the middle of Turkish fruit stores, one-euro-shops and hidden mosques. His working space seems settled, even though every wall displays a colourful and large painting-in-process. Also Ralf appears settled: He speaks reflective, self-critical and just as self-confident about his artistic practice. While shades of green and pink, indicated penises and breast brighten up his paintings, he considers concentration and an individual language just as important to him, as the search of an indefinite ‘something’. During a cosy coffee break, Ralf Dereich tells me about his escape from the art-alienated Rhineland-Palatinate to Berlin, about subconscious and aware working processes, and about the turning point, when he considers a painting to be cool. Click here or on the image to read the interview in English and/or German language.

PARADOX OF TEHRAN

From the top: (1) Skyline of Teheran, photo by Daria Kirsanova; (2) Sara Asefi, Installation view ‘Out Of Time, at Azad Gallery; (3) Elnaz Khoobroo, Installation view of ‘Out of Time’, Azad Gallery; (4) Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar, ‘Tulips Rise from the Blood of the Nation’s Youth’, 2008; all three images © the Artists, courtesy Azad Gallery, Tehran, Iran; (5) Installation View ‘Extraterrestrial’, Group exhibition at Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran; (6) Nazgol Ansarinia, ‘Subtractions/Refractions’, 2012. Installation views at Aun Gallery, courtesy Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran

The common knowledge about Iran’s current situation includes mostly negative headlines. We hear about the abuse of human rights, nuclear weapons, war. But there is much more to this country. One of the exciting things about Iran is Tehran’s contemporary art scene – a little bubble of relative freedom, a closed community in a huge chaotic metropolis of 12 million people. There are numerous contemporary art galleries in Tehran and new ones keep on opening. I will introduce four spaces, which are those with the most exciting exhibition program. 

BERLIN: RETURN OF THE OBJECT

From the top: 2x 'Sad Eis' sculpture by Sarah Ortmeyer, 'Garden Painting' by Frederik Vaerselv, 2x 'Solid Objects' by Sanna Marander, curtain 'Ce n'est pas une brioche' by Carl Palm, video work by Priscila Fernandes

Back in the 90s, art theorist Hal Foster wrote his book on The Return of the Real, referring to Jaques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory on the untouchable, unimaginable, immaterial order of the 'Real'. At Invaliden1 current group show The Return of the Object, curator Stefanie Hessler returns to the very touchable, the fetish of the object, investigating in a new philosophical trend: Speculative Realism. This movement doubts pretty much all older philosophies and the belief in science. It returns to a purely self-sustainable material order and denies all hierarchies between objects and subjects. 

Hessler's exhibition juxtaposes five contemporary positions demonstrating different handlings of materiality in (art)-objects. Subliminal and humorous, Sarah Ortmeyer's sculptures 'SAD EIS' manipulate our common object-based triggers of happiness, by replacing the expected pastel-colours of two huge ice-cream sculptures with black, white and grey. Frederik Vaerselv 'Garden Painting', on the other hand, projects the object's self-sustainability and the artist's withdrawal on a wooden panel, which he left outside of his studio where berries and birds left their traces on the object's surface. These two art pieces seem to demonstrate most clearly, how Stefanie Hessler wants to explore material fetishism. 

Another nice installation has been done by Sanna Marander, who placed colourful small objects on the floor, which appear quite random and play with the idea of a collection - its beginning, its evolving and its place of display. The place of display also has an importance in Carl Palm's curtain piece 'Ce n'est pas une brioche', which originally functioned as a room seperator for group shows. A little more complicate and perhaps a little too complex in its approach, is Priscila Fernandes origami video piece, which intends to evoke desires for the non-existing object.