Andrew Hurle makes the technologies of mechanical
and digital image reproduction into both the medium and subject
of his work. This practice has developed from the simple use of
technical reproductive apparatus into an intense observation of
the structures and processes upon which this technology is founded.
Hurle has a preference for already existing graphic material, which
he processes in order to bring out the specific political or social
implications lying behind the material’s visual quality. His
most recent exhibitions investigated the links between ornament
and bank notes, and the materiality of digital pornography in the
field of printing.
The exhibition in Studio 2 gathers together a number of separate
works, all of which display a more or less direct reference to the
English word “excavation”.
The term has two meanings; the first being that of an archaeological
excavation, which brings traces and remains of the past to the light
of the present day – ideally, to the benefit of future generations,
at least if mankind is prepared to learn from history. The new works
shown in the exhibition Excavating by Andrew Hurle represent this
kind of subtle excavation work carried out on the chequered history
of Berlin.
But “excavate” also means “to hollow out”,
and this second interpretation of the word may be used to describe
Andrew Hurle’s own strategy – it is a technique of abstraction
applied to the graphic or printed forms that he has found.
Andrew Hurle: Excavating
Studio 2 – 5th - 29th May 2005 - Wednesday - Sunday, 2 - 7
pm, Opening: Wednesday, 4th May 2005, 7 pm |
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Norbert Bisky’s first big individual
exhibition in Germany will be presented in Studio 1 of the Künstlerhaus,
showing work by an internationally acclaimed artist whose recent
paintings have included a disturbing element. They depict well-proportioned,
sporting, always radiant, blond and blue-eyed boys or young men,
romping in cheerful groups, playing sport and games in settings
which are not precisely defined. Due to the missing context, it
is initially impossible for the viewer to determine whether the
heroic notion of the youth movements and their totalitarian aesthetics
is being celebrated here, or whether the artist is subjecting them
to ambiguous criticism. But in the course of critical analysis,
a subtle painterly argumentation comes to the fore, gradually suppressing
the ideal of the body and replacing this with autonomous self-reflection
on and by painting. Casting into hell and hints of the Baroque develop
into a revocation of the dictatorship of the body and ideology;
the viewer is compelled to come to his own conclusions.
A new phase in Bisky’s work is marked by a sculpture hanging
from the ceiling of Studio 1, which transposes the artist’s
method and language of motifs into three-dimensional space.
Norbert Bisky: Painting
Studio 1 – 5th - 29th May 2005 - Wednesday - Sunday, 2 - 7
pm, Opening: Wednesday, 4th May 2005, 7 pm |
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On Friday, 27th May from 8 p.m., the
event "Open Bethanien" will be taking place within the
context of the Heinrich Böll Foun-
dation's conference "Myth Kreuzberg. The Balance of a Multicultural
Expe-
riment". Co-orga-
niser together with the Künstlerhaus Bethanien GmbH is the
Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien. The Künstlerhaus will be opening
its studios and presenting an exhibition of work - put together
exclusively for this evening - by some artists of the International
Studio Programme (open studios and show of work until 10 p.m.).
Norbert Bisky's comprehensive painting retrospec-
tive in the Studio will also remain open until 10 p.m. on this evening.
Entry to all events is free of charge. On 27th May, ope-
ning hours at the Kunstraum Kreuz-
berg / Bethanien will also be extended: Its group exhibition "Trial
of Power" will remain open until 10 p.m. From 9 p.m., with
open end: "Kanakwood. Salon for Urban Post-Migrant Vibes:
short films, reading, DJs". |
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