The publication of The Against, the book that documents the process, development and results of the homonymous exhibitions that simultaneously took place last Spring at multiple sites in New York. The book not only displays the uncontrollable compulsion of graffiti bombing by 21 artists from different parts of the US, Canada and Mexico. This remarkable book focuses on those who are the exceptional graffiti bombers in the last decade. The objective was to take all of these artists, bring them together in one place, and see how they collaborate as a shared experience in New York, being the mecca of graffiti bombing. The main theme, the subject of the book, is the very work of these masters working together. In the realm of graffiti, it’s very hard to get the very top artists all the time, because some of them are either incarcerated, or they won’t relate to galleries’ projects. But the ones selected are the top bombers we could get now. Rooming together and sharing styles and techniques was a unique, collaborative experience for those involved; a graffiti bombing League; a gathering of talents; the dream team of graffiti. The book shows their singularities and differences in a remarkable display of strength and imagination, shapes, and colors. The Martinez Gallery Books has published several books on graffiti, focusing on different themes, social and health issues, and a variety of topics related to our daily life. As the evolution of graffiti from the 90s to now has shown, you have to be more well-versed in art now, even as a bomber. We can say that the world of graffiti is ever-growing, and that, in this changing context, would be an ideal opportunity to discuss and assess what bombing is today in comparison. This book offers that opportunity and opens up the field to different alternatives and trends within graffiti culture.
Catalogue from Patti Smith’s exhibition and poetry reading on the occasion of Arthur Rimbaud’s 123rd birthday (October 20, 1854) at the Galerie Veith Turske on October 20, 1977. The book contains images of Smith’s paintings and drawings as well as photographs and poetry, in English and German.
Playing with Ludwig / Jouer avec Ludwig Nikolaus Gansterer & Klaus Speidel Published by Éditions Dilecta, 2022
Book launch
21 January 2023 from 4pm
Galerie Crone Berlin Fasanenstrasse 29 10719 Berlin
How do colours relate to memory? How does language relate to the world (and vice versa)? Can the invisible, such as thoughts, atmospheres or pain, be grasped through art? Artist Nikolaus Gansterer and philosopher Klaus Speidel discuss these and similar questions in their new book Playing with Ludwig / Jouer avec Ludwig, published by Éditions Dilecta and Centre d’art contemporain Les Tanneries. Taking Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations as their starting point, Gansterer and Speidel have developed various works and formats, talking, drawing, assembling or doing all at the same time. Rather than just presenting results, the book documents the joint working process in numerous transcripts, which also reflect the genesis of the book itself.
In the context of Nikolaus Gansterer’s exhibition Strange Wor(l)ds at Galerie Crone Berlin, Fasanenstrasse 29, a book presentation in collaboration with Motto Books will take place on Saturday, 21 January 2023. The afternoon begins at 4 pm with a dialogue between Nikolaus Gansterer, Klaus Speidel and the drawing expert Jan-Philipp Frühsorge. Afterwards, Gansterer and Speidel invite you to the first Berlin Language Game Lab, in which they will work with drawings and objects based on a remark by Ludwig Wittgenstein, resulting in an installation that takes up the methodology developed in the book.
Galerie Crone, Motto Books and Éditions Dilecta cordially invite you to attend.
Playing with Ludwig opens with a conversation between the authors and the book’s designer Grégoire Romanet, where the first graphic ideas are discussed. It ends with the dialogue How to close a book, which prepares the final series of images. Exhibition photographs and works from the first exhibition documenting the research project Figures de pensée at the Centre d’art contemporain Les Tanneries have been annotated, continued or completed in drawings. Different styles and methodologies, which unfold in the chapters of the book, correspond to different methods and themes in Wittgenstein’s work. Two additional precise essays by Eric Degoute, director of Les Tanneries, and Roger Malbert, curator and drawing expert, elaborate on the dynamic relationship between thinking and drawing and reading as a form of friendship. In the series Philosophical Deviations, Nikolaus Gansterer draws on various paragraphs of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, exploring various forms and procedures. Gansterer explains: “It’s important to say that none of these drawings are illustrations. I try to record how the text operates within me, how it influences my ways of thinking and feeling and then to take this movement as a springboard for drawing. It’s not so much about what is being said, but how it moves a reader.” At the centre of the book stand the paragraphs of the Philosophical Investigations themselves, to which the various works and conversations in the book refer, annotated in writing and drawing by Klaus Speidel. Memories of Colour, Just imagine a Rod and Now as One Thing, Now as Another are based on collections of hues, rods, and boxes (respectively). As Speidel, who obtained a PhD in philosophy from Sorbonne University, explains: “In our joint work, I am also interested in exploring the limits of philosophical abstraction. If we fail in our attempt at artistic concretization, this failure can in itself convey new insights in the sense of what Wittgenstein called ‚going against the frontiers of language’. I believe that art production enables philosophical insights.” This interference between philosophy and art can be experienced concretely in the titular series Playing with Ludwig. In this performative experimental arrangement, two or more people sit opposite each other. Starting from a text, a new language game unfolds with drawings and objects.
//
Wie sind Farben mit Erinnerungen verknüpft? Wie verhält sich Sprache zur Welt (und umgekehrt)? Lässt sich Unsichtbares wie Gedanken, Atmosphären oder Schmerz künstlerisch fassen? Diese und ähnliche Fragen diskutieren der Künstler Nikolaus Gansterer und der Philosoph Klaus Speidel im neu erschienen Buch Playing with Ludwig / Jouer avec Ludwig, publiziert von Éditions Dilecta und Centre d’art Les Tanneries. Ausgehend von Ludwig Wittgensteins Philosophische Untersuchungen, auf die sie sprachlich, zeichnend und performativ reagieren, haben Gansterer und Speidel verschiedene Arbeiten und Formate entwickelt. Anstatt nur Ergebnisse zu präsentieren, dokumentiert das Buch in zahlreichen Transkripten auch den gemeinsamen Arbeitsprozess, bis hin zur Entstehung des Buches selbst.
Im Rahmen von Nikolaus Gansterers Ausstellung Strange Wor(l)ds in der Galerie Crone Berlin, Fasanenstrasse 29 die zahlreiche Werke aus dem Buchkorpus und auch viele neue Werke zeigt, findet dabei am Samstag, 21.1.2023 eine Buchpräsentation in Zusammenarbeit mit Motto Books statt. Der Nachmittag beginnt ab 16 Uhr mit einem Gespräch zwischen Nikolaus Gansterer, Klaus Speidel und dem Zeichnungsexperten Jan-Philipp Frühsorge. Danach laden Gansterer und Speidel zum ersten Berliner Language Game Lab ein, bei dem sie ausgehend von einer Bemerkung Ludwig Wittgensteins mit Zeichnungen und Objekten arbeiten, so dass am Ende entsprechend der Methodologie von Playing with Ludwig eine Installation entsteht.
Dazu laden Galerie Crone, Motto Books und Éditions Dilecta herzlich ein.
Zu Beginn von Playing with Ludwig / Jouer avec Ludwig steht ein Gespräch der Autoren mit Grégoire Romanet, dem Designer des Buches. Am Ende steht der Dialog How to close a book, der die letzte Bildstrecke vorbereitet. Ausstellungsphotographien und Werke der ersten großen Projektausstellung Figures de pensée im Centre d’art Contemporain Les Tanneries werden zeichnerisch kommentiert, fortgeführt oder komplettiert. Die unterschiedlichen Stile und Methoden der Werke entsprechen dabei verschiedenen Themen und Methoden, die sich in den Kapiteln des Buches entfalten. Zwei Essays, einer von Eric Degoutte, Direktor von Les Tanneries, ein anderer von Roger Malbert, Kurator und Zeichnungsexperte runden das Buch ab und diskutieren einerseits die Beziehung zwischen Denken und Zeichnen und andererseits das Lesen als Freundschaft. In Philosophical Deviations reagiert Nikolaus Gansterer zeichnend auf verschiedene Paragraphen von Wittgensteins Philosophical Investigations (Philosophische Untersuchungen). Gansterer erklärt: “Keine dieser Zeichnungen sind Illustrationen. Ich versuche festzuhalten, wie der Text in mir wirkt, wie er mein Denken und Fühlen beeinflusst und dann diese Bewegung als Sprungbrett für das Zeichnen zu nutzen. Es geht nicht so sehr darum, was gesagt wird, sondern wie es den Leser bewegt.” Im Zentrum des Buches stehen die Paragraphen der Philosophischen Untersuchungen selbst, auf die sich die verschiedenen Arbeiten und Gespräche des Buches beziehen. Klaus Speidel hat sie schreibend und zeichnend annotiert. Die Kapitel Memories of Colour, Just imagine a Rod und Now as One Thing, Now as Another basieren auf Sammlungen von Farbtönen, Stäbe und Kisten. Speidel, der an der Sorbonne in Philosphie promoviert hat, erklärt: “Mich interessiert bei unserer gemeinsamen Arbeit auch das Ausloten von Grenzen philosophischer Abstraktion. Wenn wir beim Versuch einer künstlerischen Konkretisierung scheitern, kann das im Sinne eines ‚Anlaufens gegen die Grenze der Sprache‘, wie Wittgenstein es nennt, neue Erkenntnisse vermitteln. Ich glaube, dass Kunstproduktion philosophische Erkenntnisse ermöglicht.“ Diese Interferenz zwischen Philosophie und Kunst wird in der titelgebenden Serie Playing with Ludwig konkret erfahrbar. Bei dieser performativen Versuchsanordnung sitzen zwei oder mehr Menschen einander gegenüber. Ausgehend von einem Text entspinnt sich ein neues Sprachspiel mit Zeichnungen und Objekten.
Playing with Ludwig / Jouer avec Ludwig Authors: Nikolaus Gansterer, Klaus Speidel, Eric Degoute, Roger Malbert Publisher: Éditions Dilecta, Paris Year: 2022 Pages: 160 Dimensions: 21 x 28 cm Language: bilingual English / French Graphic Design: Gregoire Romanet ISBN: 978-2-37372-165-2
This book is an anomalous and layered object. It is split into chapters, following the way the Matrice exhibition was developed and completed over many months of work. Some key phases in the construction of the project in fact took place in the period prior to its opening, in a form that straddles the private dimension of an artist’s work and the public dimension of the exhibition. As also discussed in the critical text, Jacopo moved his studio to the spaces of the Fondazione Carispezia in the months preceding its opening. Here, within a triangular, uterine structure, the physical ‘matrix’ of the exhibition to be precise, he produced most of the works that would then be exhibited. And indeed many things took place inside it. The catalogue thus attempts to account for all of this. The colour photographs were taken by photographer Andrea Rossetti to document the two moments in which the project came into being. The first is made up of the so-called ‘invisible exhibition’: in order to understand the genesis of Matrice, we in fact need to understand how the exhibition is the final result of the ‘real’ exhibition that no one but the artist and very few others had the pleasure of seeing. All the works in this closed space, built in the very heart of the Foundation space, were in fact displayed on the walls, yet destined never to be seen by any visitor and then to be brutally dismembered. As the photos show, the works displayed are covered with a series of sheets to prevent them from being seen during Jacopo’s performance a few days prior to the opening. Only the photographs installed horizontally above the sculptures are partially visible. In the centre of the room, on the other hand, we can still see the tools used in the creation of the works, and the musical instruments that would later be played during the performance. The second moment taken by Rossetti consists of the actual Matrice exhibition itself, which the public could then view during its opening months. Andrea is one of the world’s leading exponents of that fine art which is the documentation of artworks and especially of contemporary art exhibitions. It is indeed an approach that requires great sensitivity and critical outlook. It is a translation process in which a – fruitful – betrayal of the material to be translated is and always will be necessary. A loving and respectful betrayal which was indeed requested by Benassi when he brought Rossetti on board for this task. The two sections of the catalogue must therefore be seen as a true collaboration between the two, in the wake of the many already developed by Jacopo with other artists in the fields of performance and sound research. The black-and-white photographs in the book were instead all taken by Jacopo Benassi or devised, prepared and coordinated by him. They recount the most performative and moving moments of the exhibition and its making, and are very much integrated with Andrea Rossetti’s work, adopting the same brutality with which Jacopo intervened in the Foundation exhibition space.
“The coalition emerges out of your recognition that it’s fucked up for you, in the same way that we’ve already recognized that it’s fucked up for us. I don’t need your help. I just need you to recognize that this shit is killing you, too, however much more softly, you stupid motherfucker, you know?” ― Fred Moten
Please join us this Saturday, September 10, for an evening of outdoors readings/performances to mark the closing of Dark Advances: ‘Affect Aliens’ & Revolutionary Despair—an installation featuring works by Spiros Kokkonis, Candice Nembhard (okcandice), Kari Rosenfeld, Lou Lou Sainsbury and Kwamé Sorrell.
Dark Advances: ‘Affect Aliens’ and Revolutionary Despair tunes into the hum, tremble, or murmur by which everything now rises to the surface. Not a human song, but the perlocutionary utterance of what Stefano Harney and Fred Moten speak of when they write of the movement of the earth against the world—an underground, black rhythm, chant or riot, that one “can’t join from the outside.” What does it want? Nothing, except perhaps to unground the ground—to reveal “the hole in the ontological project,” as R.A. Judy has it—by unearthing the bones that fire our great toxic machinery.
Dark Advances devotes its breath to this cosmic piece of anti-music, and to practices aimed at its amplification. To those ‘affect aliens’ who, faced with the ways of the world, promote neither the promise of utopia, nor despondent resignation, but the world’s collapsing: ‘unworlding’, or what one might describe as the ambivalent third way of revolutionary despair.
Please note: Lou Lou Sainsbury’s new video work descending notes and sound piece The Law of Desire is Fascist made with Kari Rosenfeld and commissioned by Gasworks London will be showing on the day. Visit the basement between 6-9 pm.
Motto Berlin Salitzer Str. 68 (im Hinterhof) 10997 Berlin
Lou Lou Sainsbury, descending notes, 2022. With Raffia Li and Ada M. Patterson. HD Video, 17:45 min.
*** Spiros Kokkonis was born in Athens, Greece, where he currently lives and works. He’s co-founder of the artist-run space Grace/ Athens. Operating in a very specific context—politically, socially, and culturally—the artist creates images both influenced by and dealing with aspects of contemporary life. Spiros’ work has been exhibited at Athens Conservatoire, Parko Eleftherias, Art Space Pythagoreion, Saigon Athens, SHED London, Grace / Athens and Onassis Cultural Centre.
okcandice (one word, all lowercase) is a writer, artist-curator, poet and musician based between Birmingham, England and Berlin, Germany. Their multi-disciplinary practice is explained as «i’m working on it», dealing with grief, love, queer identities, oration in Black cultures and archival materials. okcandice is a co-founding member of the collective poet & prophetess and founder of the queer film series ALL FRUITS RIPE. They host the experimental broadcast Bedtime Stories on Cashmere radio and work as a freelance curator, (song)writer and creative producer.
Kari Rosenfeld (b. Houston, TX) is an artist currently based in Berlin, Germany. Kari’s work is focused on ontology, political and social affect, religious and mythological narratives, image, genre, and attachment. They have degrees in American Studies and Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated from Dutch Art Institute Masters of Art Praxis in 2021. They were a co-founder and Artist in Residence at the Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Science—Alexandria where they facilitated courses in theory and visual media.
Lou Lou Sainsbury is a trans artist based in Margate, UK & Rotterdam, NL, working in live performance, video, writing, installation and textiles. She identifies as a time traveller, making things that unwrite histories of living beings into mythopoeic dreamscapes, informed by queer and ecological activisms.Recent performances and group exhibitions include: Whitstable Biennale (2022), Centre for Contemporary Arts Prague (2021); Yaby and La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Nottingham Contemporary; Tate Modern, London; Yaby, Madrid (all 2019); and Flat Time House, London (2018).
Kwamé Sorrell (b. 1990) is an artist, poet, researcher and writer. Kwamé is co-founder of BlackMass Publishing, an independent press focusing on re/de/contextualizing black and African social vernacular through image and text. He lives and works under the sun. His work is rooted in language and form, as a way to explore the gap between art and tradition, music and sound, space and time; constantly in transition. (this bio is subject to change)
Curator and Editorial Advisor: Amit Kumar Jain Translation: Kadamboor Neeraj
Stranded in Najibabad (Uttar Pradesh) during the lockdown, Ahmadzai like others was uncertain about what the future held, and if she would be able to visit Kabul to be with her husband. It was during this time, confined in her barsati (terrace) studio room at her parents home that Ahmadzai delved into a practice of writing letters to her husband, revealing to him in a one-sided communication her anxieties, daily routine, loss of loved ones and their marriage.
Titled Nafas, or the Isolation Diaries, the letters include references from poetry and writings of Rabia Basri, Jalauddin Rumi Balkhi, Bedil Shanaz, Jaun Elia, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Ghalib, T.S.Elliot, Virginia Woolf, Hermann Hesse, Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, each having their own impact on Ahmadzai’s life and her thought process as a contemporary artist.
These letters highlight the concerns of a woman, who is unable to come to terms with her life in flux- one with its roots in a country where religious isolation, propaganda and intolerance have become a norm, and the uncertainty of life and political instability in the other. The series, as well as an earlier series titled Lihaaf, comments on the state of the marginalized societies, such as Muslim women, where many such voices are never heard or spoken of.
*
Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai’s (b. 1988) works are deeply connected to the experiences of women that rarely find a voice and are subdued under societal and political pressures or are bound within religious orthodoxies. Her works, though narrate a personal experience, are inspired by a much larger community of women who have been marginalized in history. Working within a disciplined studio practice and through collaborative community projects such as Lihaaf (Quilt), Arshi has struck a powerful chord with contemporary feminist art theory.
Her prolific art practice finds its foundation in the history of stitching by rafoogars (darners) of Najibabad. Surrounded by a large community of women who share their embroidery over songs, compassion and sisterhood, it was only natural for Arshi to turn to the fabric as her canvas. These exchanges have led to large scrolls as well as smaller works, where she juxtaposes image and text to comment on women and their roles, their sexuality, their freedom and their desires- some in love and some victims to political terrorism. An avid reader of poetry and philosophy, she not only questions patriarchy, but demands that her voice is heard and accepted.
Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Art from the Aligarh Muslim University, 2011 and a Masters in Fine Art from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2013. Her first solo titled Nafas (Isolation Diaries) was held at Blueprint12, New Delhi, 2021. Her group exhibitions include ‘May we meet again’, a collaborative project for Noor Riyadh light festival, Saudi National Museum, 2021; ‘Head in the Clouds’ at Chatterjee & Lal, 2021; ‘Seeds are being sown’ at Shrine Empire Gallery, 2020; The India Art Fair, 2020; ‘Out of your shadow’ by Blueprint12 at Gallery Espace, 2019 and a solo presentation at 1Shanthi Road Gallery in 2019. She is one of the recipients of the Five Million Incidents grant from the Goethe-Institut, New Delhi and the Inlaks Fine Arts Award in 2019.
In the space where the Perú-Chile border meets the Pacific coastline, lies a triangle of approximately 3.7 hectares. Known as the “Triángulo Terrestre”, this piece of land has been causing diplomatic disputes between the two nations since the middle of the 20th century. Despite its relatively small size (equivalent to Parque Kennedy in Lima or Madison Square Park in New York) and having no agricultural, commercial or strategic value the Triángulo Terrestre has been in dispute since the signing of the 1929 treaty between Perú and Chile. The disputed land has acquired a symbolic value employed at different times by the governments of each country for political purposes.
In April 2017, HAWAPI, in partnership with Galería Metropolitana (Chile) took a group of 13 artists (5 Peruvians, 5 Chileans, 1 Bolivian, 1 Israeli and 1 North American) to camp in Santa Rosa—the closest village to the “Triángulo Terrestre”. During four days camping on site, the group generated a series of artistic interventions and actions to contemplate in situ the social, political, economic and physical impact created by this dispute; before moving to Tacna where they staged an exhibition of their work in the independent cultural centre, Laramamango.
We are pleased to invite you to “Mind The Gap”, the three-days-opening of the Cazul101 group show featuring works of Dan Perjovschi, Anca Bucur, artistic duo SABA (Silvia Amancei and Bogdan Armanu), Nicoleta Moise, Adriana Preda, Ioana Gheorghiu and Megan Dominescu.
28 April, at 6pm @ Motto Berlin Skalitzer Str. 68 10997, Berlin
Regularly using the subversive and progressive message in their practice, the artists are invited to reflect on the current political situation due to the high rise of extremist regimes in Europe and build a bridge between past and present, personal and political, highlighting the historical events that endangered the freedom of the individual.
The group show “Mind The Gap” is an alarm signal where image and text communicate to question and eradicate the toxic extremist behaviours experienced by the artists in the geographical space they develop their work.
After the three opening days, on 1st of May, from 7pm, the artist Dan Perjovschi will be present for an artist talk about the synthesis of the last years and the current situation in Europe.
