Exberliner Issue 138, May 2015

What’s on
ART
Michel Majerus, Albert Oehlen, Laura Owens
– best students, best teachers, best school
Taking its title from a
piece by Majerus, this
show raises questions
about artists and the context
in which they work.
Bringing together three
old friends 13 years after
Majerus’ death, curators
Fredi Fischli and Niels Olsen
show the differences
and similarities between
their work – whether or
not Majerus, Oehlen and Owens can even be seen as part
of the same school of art is another question. Working
across different generations, locations and mediums,
these artists contradict and complement each other at
the same time. JBE May 1-Mar 15, Michel Majerus
Estate, Knaackstr. 12, Prenzlauer Berg, U-Bhf Senefelderplatz,
every first Saturday of the month, 11-18
Peter Rose, Erik Bünger and Katarina
Zdjelar – Rediscovery 4
Rediscovery started in
2014 as an exhibition
series examining crossgenerational,
post-modern
art. In its fourth segment,
different positions
of video and performance
are linked to a common
theme: language. The
starting point is American
artist Peter Rose, whose
1980s video works could still be considered groundbreaking
today. Bünger’s performance examines the
fascination with speaking in tongues, while Zdjelar’s video
piece explores equality and cultural integration through
the crude Birmingham vernacular. FM May 22-Jun 20,
Autocenter – Space for Contemporary Art, Leipziger Str.
56, Mitte, U-Bhf Spittelmarkt, Thu-Sat 16-19
Philipp Fürhofer — In Light Of The Hidden
Lying in a hospital bed
in Berlin and looking at
an X-ray of his own chest
cavity was the genesis
for Fürhofer to create
his groundbreaking new
works. The paradox of
seeing his insides displayed
on paper inspired
these multi-layered objects.
Half paintings, half
lightboxes, the organic shapes allow the viewer to spiral
into a dream world. Best know for his award-wining opera
sets, Fürhofer guides the viewer with his ethereal visual
poetry into lands unseen by the naked eye. PR May
1-Jun 27, Galerie Judin, Potsdamer Str. 83, Schöneberg,
U-Bhf Kurfürstenstr., Tue-Sat 11-18
Roman Signer – Kitfox Experimental
A huge red and yellow
plane hangs from a chain
four metres above the
ground, turning hypnotically,
almost lightly in the
breeze of four mounted
wall fans. Harrowing yet
meditative in scale, it
fits seamlessly into the
almost 20-metre-high
boiler house of Neukölln’s
former Kindl Brewery. Roman Signer’s playful visualisation
of nature at work is simple yet utterly compelling. The installation
is nearing the end of its nine-month run – don’t
miss your chance to see it. PR Through Jun 28, KINDL
– Centre for Contemporary Art, Am Sudhaus 2, Neukölln,
U-Bhf Boddinstr., Thu-Fri 14-18, Sat-Sun 11-18
PHOTOS BY MATTHIAS ASCHAUER
“I want them to think
the material is coming
from space” By JILL BLACKMORE EVANS
Turning boring household objects
into compelling, alien works
of art is Vienna-based artist
FREDERICO VECCHI’s specialty.
Originally from Italy, Vecchi has been living
and working in Austria for the past few years.
Painting has always been his focus, but recently,
working as an assistant to the Austrian artist
Erwin Wurm, Vecchi has turned his talents more
towards sculpture – as well as a unique, performative
type of composition which mixes street art
with collage. Ten years after living in Berlin, he
will finally be showing his art here in a solo show
at Mitte’s brand-new Art Von Frei Gallery, running
through June 25.
How do you think your work has changed
in the last few years? It’s better [laughs]. It
becomes better and better… No, basically, I’m
a painter. But in the last year, due to my work
experience, I started to make sculptures and a
collage series. I go to those empty shops, you
know, where posters are attached to the front.
When people take the posters off, because they
are illegal, you just see these little corners of
paper with tape on them. I took that material
and I made the collages out of it. I started to do
this last year. It’s my most performative work,
because I do it live on the street.
What about the sculptures
in the show? The sculptures are
observations about everyday life. I
took really simple shopping bags,
plastic bags, and I modified them
with tape and filled them with
liquid plaster. And then I painted
them again, in order to hide the
FEDERICO VECCHI
Through June 25
| Art Von Frei,
Brunnenstr. 187,
Mitte, U-Bhf
Rosenthaler Platz,
Tue-Sat 12-19
plaster. I don’t want people to wonder what it’s
about, I just want to disorientate them. I want
them to think the material is coming from space,
or from a really exotic place. They all have kind
of zoomorphic, anthropomorphic shapes.
A plastic bag seems so unnatural, not part
of the environment, but then your sculptures
look very organic… Were you thinking
about this contrast? I always wanted to
make sculptures, and my latest work experience
allowed me to work with plaster, with wood,
with other materials, with clay… I always like to
work with my hands. So I was in my studio, and
I just looked around for materials I could use.
And I saw the recycling bins. I started to take
out old shopping bags, old bottles, and I started
to fill them with plaster. It was the most natural
thing. It was instinctive. I like when people
stand in front of my sculptures and say, “Which
material is this?” I just want to let people forget
about the material. I want to let them come into
this colourful world, you know? It’s just about
going into this world which I create.
What about your collage work – in that
case, do you want people to know what’s
behind the piece? The technique is always
important. Especially for the collages. If you look
at the collage you think, “Yeah, okay, it’s colour
composition,” but you have to understand that
I’m not adding anything, I just use what
I’ve found. I showed the collages to
some people and they were like, “Okay,
it’s good...” But when I showed them the
video of me doing it, they were like, “Oh,
wow! You do it there?” The video which
shows the process of doing the collage
is kind of part of the work itself. It’s
between street art and performance. ■
44 • MAY 2015