Although all the artists of this exhibition are concerned with the specific pasts of their own political and art history, the exhibition "The Touch of History" addresses the need to deconstruct the past and critically investigates today's ideological certainties regarding the past.
The choice of exhibits is oriented on the continuing question of what the past signifies for the present in the course of social and international "systemic" changes, and seeks those images in which the past attempts to gain influence over the present. As the material of memory, documentary photos play a prominent role in this context.
The exhibition itself shows works from the fields of painting, drawing and sculpture/object, presented by artists who come from South Korea, Bangladesh, China and Germany. They have selected different historiographical territories for this exploration of "their" history. In five case studies they recapitulate stories within history and investigate inter-textual contexts, thereby questioning chronological order as well as the artistic conventions of their own cultural spheres.

"The Touch of History" presents ceramic sculptures by Yee Sookyung (Korea), oil painting by Huang Min and Huang He (China), drawings/paintings by Murshida Arzu Alpana (Bangladesh) as well as painting/collage by Jan Muche (Germany).

"The Touch of History"
19th February - 14th March 2010, Studio 1
Tuesday - Sunday, 2 - 7 pm
Opening: Thursday, 18th February 2010, 7 pm

Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti's works may be characterised as alienated portrayals of her view of the world. While Ahalouch's earlier works centred primarily on the theme of family, she has recently turned to more universal and rather politically oriented content. She often creates series of pictures in which she merges different stories and so conjures completely new images, her works aiming to visualise the contradictions and structures of dependency that lie behind all our social interaction.
Ahalouch's "The Greatest Show in the World" transforms the exhibition space into the abstracted image of a circus, encompassing murals, painting and installations as well as performance elements. The exhibition is based on Ahalouch's research into the infamous "Salon Kitty", a high-class brothel in Berlin which was frequented by prominent Nazis, local eminence and foreign diplomats from the 1930s onwards, its Jewish "madam" Kitty Schmidt being forced to spy for the Nazis. Ahalouch employs the setting of "Circus Kitty" as a universally valid metaphor for the many harmless and attractive facades that conceal an endlessly complex world full of the lust for power, manipulation and abuse.
Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti holds a fellowship from the Fonds voor beeldende kunsten, vormgeving en bouwkunst, Amsterdam in the context of our International Studio Programme.

On the opening evening, at ca. 8 pm, Ahalouch el Keriasti will present "A Small Show in the Greatest Show in the World", a performance with Dolly Duster as Marlene Dietrich, a burlesque dancer and circus artists.

Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti - "The Greatest Show in the World"
19th February - 7th March 2010, Studio 2
Tuesday - Sunday, 2 - 7 pm
Opening: Thursday, 18th February 2010, 7 pm
Performance ca. 8 pm

Dafni Barbageorgopoulou's full-wall tapestry works and sculptures draw their inspiration from a wealth of different influences ranging from Greek to Mexican and Indonesian art, from geometry to poetry or from handicraft knotting techniques to monumental architecture. Her works are characterised by the powerful fusion of a large number of ideas, disciplines and genres taken from a wide cultural spectrum.
In her current research, Barbageorgopoulou is investigating the link between the narrative structures of dreams and journeys and examining the ways in which these structures are manifest. Thus, most of the individual elements in her works originate from detailed memories of dreams that she has experienced during her travels. The spatial and temporal transitions that take place during a journey correspond to the non-linear, apparently organic growth of the geometric patterns and repeated sequences in her works, which turn the intuitive relations between memory and action into tools of artistic expression. Barbageorgopoulou observes and develops this intuitive art form very consciously.
As Barbageorgopoulou tends to work simultaneously on different works and in different media, the exhibition "Floating Islands", which collects together her recently completed pieces, offers the diversity and wealth of a small group exhibition.

Dafni Barbageorgopoulou holds a fellowship from the Propondis Foundation and the Leon & Aspasia Lemos Charitable Foundation in the context of our International Studio Programme.

Dafni Barbageorgopoulou - "Floating Islands"
19th February - 7th March 2010, Studio 3
Tuesday - Sunday, 2 - 7 pm
Opening: Thursday, 18th February 2010, 7 pm

As always on the occasion of the New Year, we will continue our Open Studios tradition, offering our visitors an insight into artistic production and current projects of Künstlerhaus Bethanien's artists in residence. The following studios will be open to visit on the evening of January 14, 2010: 


Wafae Ahalouch el Keriasti (NL), Dafni Barbageorgopoulou (G), Patrick Bernatchez (Québec), Cedric Bomford (CA), Soo Jung Choi (ROK), Martina Hoogland Ivanow (S), Joba Jonathan (NA), Ane Mette Hol (N), Pernille Koldbech Fich (DK), Michael Kutschbach (AUS), Thomas Lerooy (B)*, Dirceu Maués (BR), Tine Oksbjerg (DK), André Romão (P), Chua Chye Teck (SGP), Guy Zagursky (IL). 


* Thomas Lerooy's studio will host Iris van Dongen presenting:
"girl overkill #2"

Starting from 7 pm, we will also be organising another special sale of (almost) all the numerous publications that have emerged from the Künstlerhaus' publishing activity. (Studio 1)

!! Please take note of Künstlerhaus Bethanien's NEW, EXTENDED OPENING HOURS: starting from 2010, our exhibitions will be open DAILY, except for MONDAYS, from 2 to 7 pm !!

Openings + Open Studios: Thursday, 14th January 2010, from 7 pm, 1st + 2nd floor