MANOLO BAUTISTA’s creative work is based on the almost unlimited technological possibilities in the field of digital image processing and animation, as well as computer-aided construction of three-dimensional objects. For Bautista, intense use of digital intervention represents the lynchpin of a multi-perspective working method that demonstrates idiosyncratic aesthetics which characteristically de-contextualise whatever is portrayed. Bautista’s works lead the viewer through weird scenarios dissociated from reality into transitory spaces and narrative places where the uncanny is a constant presence, along with humour and fine irony, and where even what actually exists appears to be dominated by the caprices of the infinite virtual world. Recently, Manolo Bautista’s prime focus has been on interaction between architectonic spaces, or rather their simulation, and video projections; he employs complex virtually animated structures for this purpose.

Manolo Bautista currently holds a fellowship from the Iniciarte Programme, Seville and is a guest at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in the context of our International Studio Programme.

Manolo Bautista – "Simulator"
23rd October – 8th November 2009, Studio 2
Opening: Thursday, 22nd October 2009, as from 7 pm

ROSSELLA BISCOTTI’s artistic oeuvre encompasses videos, photographs and occasionally sculptures. Her works continue to develop over a long period of time; generally, their final media form is video. They often illuminate history and stories about people who were never in the public eye, but can become a source of reflection on individual or collective identity and memory, and their portrayal in Biscotti’s works. In Biscotti’s art, the starting point of a work is always a social or political event, possibly one in the distant past, which the artist encounters e.g. in the form of documentation or a newspaper snippet and subsequently investigates meticulously. Biscotti employs her works to transpose these found documents, as fragments of an individual history, into reflections about identity, our relation to reality, and the depiction of memory. The subtle interplay between concealed or multiple identities, fiction and reality, and the overlapping layers of time constitutes the characteristic attraction of Biscotti’s videos and installations.

Rossella Biscotti holds a fellowship from the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence in the context of our International Studio Programme. In addition, the artist is supported by a maintenance grant from the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwunst, Amsterdam.

Rossella Biscotti – "A short story about memory, pentothal and dreams."
23rd October – 8th November 2009, Studio 3
Opening: Thursday, 22nd October 2009, as from 7 pm

BE #16 – "NANNY"
If one were to gauge the distance we have come from the vision of society that prevailed in the Swinging Sixties, the evolution of the nanny’s job profile could be used as a case in point: here the enchan-
ting Julie Andrews who, as a witty soubrette in Disney’s all-time classic Mary Poppins, teaches children how to fly; there the stern-faced Jo Frost who, as a Supernanny in the eponymous reality TV show, reads the riot act to a bunch of mutinous brats. Brave new world, replete with techno-
logical crutches and run by an army of advisors, trainers, experts, per-
sonal assistants, coaching gurus, and dog whisperers of all sorts.
It certainly looks like we no longer get our act together without some serious trouble shooting. The same appears to be true for our appre-
ciation of art. How else do you explain the farcical multiplication of pedagogical offers and measures, the often penetrating presence of which effectively impedes the individual perception of the artwork?
The contribution by the art critic THIBAUT DE RUYTER analyses this peculiar development, asking the legitimate question as to who is making a fool of whom here.
But what about the artists? Could it not be argued that they, too, belong to a professional category in constant need of assistance? According to ADAM GECZY, the artist resident in particular often resembles “a piece of driftwood floating on an unfamiliar sea”, and has therefore scarcely any other option than to rely entirely on his hosts. The Australian artist and writer, himself a former participant in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien’s International Studio Programme, paints a (self-)ironic portrait, which many an ex-inmate will no doubt subscribe to. For artist emeritus THOMAS BAYRLE, who has been teaching at the Frankfurt Städelschule since the mid-1970s, nannyism is by no means a viable option. With the aplomb of the elder statesman, Bayrle compares his pedagogical mission to that of a “basic manager” who had better not think he has the monopoly on truth. Certainly, Bayrle would have never come up with a pretentious construct such as “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, which even Mary Poppins joyously derided: “If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious!” (Boris Kremer)

A comprehensive ARTISTS SECTION comprises monographic essays on the work of Jungju An (Wolfgang Oelze), Cynthia Girard (Oliver Koerner von Gustorf), Romeo Gongora (Veronika Schöne), Ane Graff (Karin Schulze), Sara Hughes (Christina Végh), Jost Kirsten (Petra Reichensperger), Tomasz Kowalski (Jens Asthoff), Anouk Kruithof (Rebekka Reuter), Pia Lindman (Maren Lübbke-Tidow), Ives Maes (Hajo Schiff), Christodoulos Panayiotou (Valeria Schulte-Fischedick), Björn Perborg (Christiane Opitz), André Sousa (Dominikus Müller)
and Guy Zagursky (Kerstin Stakemeier).
BE #16 is now available at the price of 8,- Euros and can be ordered or purchased at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien office and in the exhibitions. The Künstlerhaus' press office is pleased to hand out free copies for review to representants of the press and media on request.