INTERVIEW: NINA FISCHER AND MAROAN EL SANI

from the top: (1) Spirits Closing Their Eyes, Production stills, Galerie Eigen+Art, Leipzig 2014 © fischer/el sani and VG Bildkunst.

Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani have been doing collaborative art works since 1995. While photographic and cinematic projects dominate their oeuvre, Nina and Maroan often travel to far destinations around the globe, investigating in the particular mood of the country. It is 'transitory places' that they seek to explore and to portray in their very own artistic language. The large three channel video installation "Spirits Closing Their Eyes" is the central (and the most recent) work in their currently solo show at Galerie Eigen+Art in Leipzig. Along several former photographic projects and videos, this piece portraits various Japanese inhabitants just after the nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima in 2011 and speaks both, a touching and a highly disturbing language. Far from being a classical documentary, this film creates an uncomfortable tension that causes the curiosity of how Nina Fischer and Maroan el Sani approach their projects. In an interview with artfridge, they talked about their experiences of the post-traumatic state in Japan, about resignation and politics, and about the aesthetic of their work.

INTERVIEW: ERNST MARKUS STEIN AND FRITZ BORNSTÜCK

all images: installation views, BATMAN ELEKTRONIK, Galerie Mikael Andersen Berlin, Curated by Fritz Bornstück & Ernst Markus Stein, photos and courtesy Galerie Mikael Andersen

How does technology influence our lives? How does a super hero of the 21st century look like? Is there still space for humanity and sexuality? The artists and curators Ernst Markus Stein and Fritz Bornstück invited 31 contemporary artists to discuss these questions along their artistic practice and strategies. “Batman Elektronik”, the current exhibition at Galerie Mikael Andersen Berlin, tells stories about the post-internet generation from various angles and pleads for a well grounded handling in technology. We met Fritz and Markus to learn about their motivation and how the exhibition concept originated.

Anna-Lena Werner: Fritz and Markus – you are the curators of the current group show “Batman Elektronik”. How did the exhibition’s title come about?

Ernst Markus Stein: The title and the logo come from a shop in Neukölln, where you could buy computers or get them repaired. They moved into a larger place, so the old store was vacant for months. We know the shop owner and asked him, if we could arrange a show in the empty space, but he refused. Instead, he made an exhibition two weeks later with his own sculptures made of electronic waste and we relocated to Galerie Mikael Andersen.

NICE. NOT NICE.

both works by David Shrigley at BQ Berlin (09. - 10. 2013) courtesy BQ Berlin // photos by artfridge

Just type the three words "neon sign art" into the google image search field. You will be presented an infinite gallery of ironic, poetic, theoretical, romantic, senseless or meaningful slogans. Everybody likes them. Including me. Berlin officially declared its love for neon signs when Maurizio Nannuccis red glowing work "ALL ART HAS BEEN CONTEMPORARY" was installed 2004 above the neo-classical columns of Altes Museum. Also Robert Montgomery's beautiful public poetry project, such as “The People You Love Become Ghosts Inside of You and Like This You Keep Them Alive”, adorned Berlin's cityscape for quite some time. At the latest during the opening of Joseph Kosuth's neon public-language retrospective INSOMNIA: ASSORTED, ILLUMINATED, FIXED last year at Galerie Sprüth Magers, the abundance of glowing letters and the insignificance of glowing statements exceeded their own limit. Too many wise words, too many quotes, too much twitter-length bill-board philosophy. 

INTERVIEW: CANDAŞ ŞIŞMAN

I/P/O-cle (2013), Photo By: Yunus Dˆlen, work © Candas Sisman

Mine Kaplangi: You are an artist working with paint, as well as with light, sound and digital systems. How do you evaluate the significance of new technologies in contemporary art?

Candaş Şişman: Digital technologies have created many new opportunities for art as they helped develop works that are based on interactivity and experience. Now the observers are not exclusively observing as they do in classic art; they get to become a part of the process and even change the work itself. Technically speaking, this was primarily allowed by technology. Also, digital technologies have allowed bridging different genres and methods. By increasing the possibility of interlinking different genres these technologies provide us with unlimited combination options. The artist’s role today is to figure out the artistic language in which these elements will be brought together. Since digital technologies are advancing rapidly, they also allow art to regenerate itself.

Personally, instead of stimulating one sense of the observer I try to address several senses. Depending on the work these senses are sound, touch, sight and smell. To manipulate all of these senses at the same time is very interesting to me. Trying to achieve this, I find classic art to be incompetent and find technology that helps me tie together different techniques to be useful. One of the most important reasons why I use technology in my works is because they allow me to combine different elements in terms of language and method, and also that they allow me to create works that are based on experiencing them.

INTERVIEW: TOBIAS CZUDEJ

from the top:  Magali Reus, Parking (Jogs), 2013 / Gabriele Beveridge, See through you, 2013 / Installation view Comrades Of Time / Bas Van Den Hurk, Untitled, 2013 / courtesy the artists, photos by Cell Project Space

From creepy hotel rooms to spectacular one-day-shows: London-based curator Tobias Czudej continuously re-invents strategies to present art, to experiment and to doubt traditional display concepts – until the exhibition itself turns into an art form. With his project CHEWDAY'S, which refers to the way people pronounce Tobias surname, he recently curated the show "Comrades of Time Comrades of Time", which is still on display at Cell Project Space in London Hackney. While it is not only a striking assemblage of up-and-coming artists, the show demonstrates an unconventional approach towards spatial performance. Senses are challenged, yet the visual appearance remains minimalist. I spoke to Tobias about his motivation to do exhibitions, his view on contemporary art and about Comrades of time.

ISTANBUL: EXHIBITIONS AT ARTER

MINE KAPLANGI

from the top: (1) Aslı Çavuşoğlu, "The Stones Talk", 2013, Installation view, Photo: Mustafa Nurdoğdu; (2) Aslı Çavuşoğlu "The Stones Talk", 2013, Photo: Hadiye Cangökçe; (3) Fatma Bucak, "And then God blessed them", 2013 video still; (4) Fatma Bucak, "Suggested place for you to see it", 2013, Video still; (5) Fatma Bucak, "Blessed are you who come – Solida Fundamenta", 2012 / courtesy Arter Istanbul and the artists

During a very tiring Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair it was a relief that Sakıp Sabancı Museum invited Anish Kapoor to do his first solo exhibition in Turkey at the same time. But while Kapoor’s show manages to close a few gaps in Istanbul’s contemporary art scene, three exhibitions at the institutional art space ARTER and its newly opened subsidiary BAHANE (which means ‘excuse’ in Turkish), are going for a whole new beginning – a redefinition of contemporary art in Istabul. Planned for a duration of two months for a start, BAHANE is directed by İlkay Baliç and İz Öztat as an art space that is located in an old apartment, combining exhibitions with a library, video screenings and reading sessions. ARTER currently has a different exhibition on each of its three floors, including solo shows by Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Fatma Bucak and the established artist Sarkis.

INTERVIEW: KATHARINA BAUCKHAGE

from the top: editions by Laura Paperina, Norbert Schwontowski and Elin Hansdottir, photo by Graeme Vaughan / artberlin.de; edition by Louise Bourgeois, photo by Yvonne Amankwa / artflash.de; portrait Katharina Bauckhage, photo by Julia Baier

In the market of selling art online, some have made an attempt to go big in the past years; most of them failed. Although society seems to be comfortable with buying every imaginable product via the Internet, the online art sales are still only growing slowly. This brings up the question how online art sales might develop in the future. Is it a necessary step towards a democratic distribution of art by opening up the market to any potential buyer, or is it just another way to satisfy society’s greediness for consumption – to leave the haptic, creative and creational nature of art and thus, its aura behind? I posed these questions to Katharina Bauckhage, who is the founder of artflash and a former organisation member of Documenta 11 and 12. Her Berlin-based project Artflash is an elaborately selected online shop for art editions, which, according to Bauckhage, aims to diminish barriers that young collectors might be confronted with. Every second week the site presents two limited and signed editions, usually varying in a moderate price range from 100 to 1.000 Euros and quickly selling out during the ‘flash sales’. Showcasing editions from up-and-coming artists, such as Jon Measures and Antje Dorn, to the established ones like Louise Bourgeois, Raymond Pettibon or Jörg Immendorff, artflash wants to establish a democratic approach between the art world and its consumers.

ACCUMULATION, DISPLACEMENT, DELETION, REARRANGEMENT AND INSISTENCE

from the top: (1) installation view Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry, (2)  Richard Parry, (3)  installation view Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry,  (4) Nástio Mosquito and Richard Parry // All images courtesy of narrative gallery // Photography Angus Leadley Brown

Even today, Post-Colonialism is a difficult and often a sensitive topic to discuss. But luckily the comprehension of a problem is the first step towards reconciliation. Questioning the exposure to this cultural and political debate, the group exhibition "Accumulation, Displacement, Deletion, Rearrangement and Insistence" at Narrative Gallery in London introduces works by the artists Nástio Mosquito, Carlos Noronha Feio and Richard Parry, who propose a rather self-ironic but nonetheless very aesthetic handling of post-colonial-theory. The circuitous title is an excerpt of a quote by Edward Said from his book 'Orientalism' (1978), which reads in full length: "Far from being merely additive or cumulative, the growth of knowledge is a process of selective accumulation, displacement, deletion, rearrangement, and insistence within what has been called a research consensus." Said was a prominent figure – in fact, one of the founders – of post-colonial theory, as 'Orientalism' criticised the Western view on the Orient as an irrational, mysterious and alien depiction.

TIRELESS WORKERS

from the top: Klara Hobza “From Cologne to Bonn” (2011). Courtesy Galerie Soy Capitän // Guido van der Werve, "Nummer dertien, Effugio A: Chamomile, Russia's National Flower or Running to Rachmaninoff" (2010)" // Isabelle Giovacchini “about:blank” (from 2008) // Moritz Frei "Divide et impera" (2011-13) // courtesy the artists // photos by insitu

They say the devil finds work for idle hands. Leisure, unproductiveness and extensive pondering contradict the modern belief in efficiency and optimisation. Only within the sphere of creative productions – specifically literature, music, theatre, film and visual arts – there exists a legitimation of (temporary) faineance for the sake of brilliant results and unique genius. On the other hand, however, the arts originate from a tradition of hard labour and craft, which still influences the appreciation of contemporary artists. "Episode 4: Tireless Workers", the current group show at the relatively new Berlin-based project-space insitu, discusses these clichés and phenomena by showcasing possibilities of approaching the production of art with seemingly senseless and repetitive manual labour.

SHOW COVER HIDE. SHRINE

from the top: (1) Thomas Böing "Ohne Titel", 1988 ; (2) Hermann Abrell "Ohne Titel", 1973 ; (3) Rudolf de Cringis "Painting #99.03" and "Painting #99.04", 1999 ; (4) Thomas Rentmeister "Ohne Titel", 1988 ; (5) installation view Michael Toenges "Ohne Titel", 2001 // courtesy Kolumba Köln; photos by artfridge

How the juxtaposition of contemporary art and art from early Christianity can turn into an experience of both dissonance and harmonious contemplation is regularly shown at Kolumba, the museum of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne. Originally a parish in the medieval centre of Cologne, St. Kolumba was established as the Cologne Diocese Museum in 1853 and bombed into pieces in World War II. The architect Peter Zumthor renewed the building in 2007 and enclosed the remaining fragments and the Gottfried Böhm-chapel “Madonna in the Ruins” (1949) with perforated walls and a plain and minimalist architecture. Sixteen exhibition rooms, each kept in reduced materiality, vary mostly on the incoming daylight. Their seventh exhibition "show cover hide. Shrine", which is praised to be "an exhibition on the aesthetics of the invisible", is the first show that respects the minimalist architecture by reflecting its subtle and meditative opulence.

INTERVIEW: JÜRGEN DEHM

from the top: (1) installation view 'Time To Recollect' at Stadthausgalerie Münster; (2+3) Ruchama Noorda (Civic Virtue) "Babtisterium"; (4) Sil Krol "Hexagonal Platform"; courtesy the artists, photos by artfridge

Münster, a classic mid-sized German student city, started to form in the end of the 8th century. While city planners have been reconstructing the old city-scape and tried to erase the sight of WW2's destruction, history has left its traces. With this in mind, the current group exhibition "Time To Recollect", including the artist collective CIVIC VIRTUE and Sil Krol, discusses questions on the the writing and the perception of history through the example of its location at Stadthausgalerie Münster. The two curators Suzie Hermán and Jürgen Dehm, who are both participating the curatorial scholarship program followup at Schloss Ringenberg, were invited to assemble contemporary German and Dutch positions to put a spotlight on the individual construction of history. We spoke to Jürgen Dehm about the exhibition's approach to history, religion and its relation to the city of Münster.

JOHN BOCK: IM MODDER DER SUMMENMUTATION

from the top: John Bock Unzone/Eierloch, 2012 Foto: Raphael Binder © John Bock, 2013, Courtesy: Anton Kern, NY; Sprüth Magers Berlin, Giò Marconi, Mailand; Sadie Coles HQ, London; Regen Projects, LA; the other five images: John Bock, exhibition views, Photos: Mark Brandenburgh © Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

A mutation is commonly known as a defect in the DNA – a biological mistake. How this term might be interpreted in relation to the current solo exhibition by 1965-born German multi-media-artist John Bock at Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn is up to discussion: "Im Modder der Summenmutation" (In the mud of sum-mutation) is both, a visual and a conceptual mutation.