Inner, Outer, Paintings, Friends. Lukas Panek, Palais Books

Posted in painting, photography on July 24th, 2023
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Lukas Panek’s Inner, Outer, Paintings, Friends is an archive, a collection of everyday photographs, moments of intimacy, anonymous images from the internet, and the artist’s own work sessions. Through this exploration, which constitutes his playground, he documents the variety of representations in today’s online culture. Registers intermingle and create ambiguous narratives.In the process, familiar forms of narrative are deliberately undermined and the reader is immersed and drawn into the flow of images.
Inner, Outer, Paintings, Friends thus gathers more than 500 images and presents in its second part the paintings of Lukas Panek. Selected from this flow, they are both extracts of a global experience common to all, and a reflection of a personal world. This book plunges us into the abundant, vibrant and playful work of this young Berlin artist, a graduate of the Dusseldörf school, and offers us an extremely current vision of contemporary photography.

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La résistance des bijoux – Contre les géographies coloniales. Ariella Aïsha Azoulay. Ròt-Bò-Krik

Posted in geography, politics, writing on July 24th, 2023
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À la mort de son père, Juif d’Oran naturalisé français puis israélien, Ariella Azoulay découvre dans un document que sa grand-mère portait le prénom Aïcha. En deux récits mêlant autobiographie et théorie politique, l’autrice serpente entre les catalogues de bijoux, les photos trouvées et les collections d’objets pillés, pour déployer par fragments l’histoire de sa famille et mettre en parallèle les colonialismes français en Algérie et sioniste en Palestine. Entre ces projets impériaux, elle saisit bien des continuités, à commencer par la volonté obstinée de détruire l’enchevêtrement séculaire des mondes juifs, arabes et berbères, un entrelacs qu’elle revendique pour mieux le restaurer.

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Ariella Aïsha Azoulay est écrivaine, chercheuse, cinéaste expérimentale et commissaire d’archives anticoloniales. Née en 1962 dans la colonie sioniste de Palestine, elle est professeure à l’université Brown où elle enseigne la théorie politique, la résistance aux formations impériales et les imaginaires anticoloniaux réclamant le retour, la restitution et le tikkoun olam, la réparation du monde. Autrice d’une dizaine de livres parus dans de nombreux pays, elle a publié entre autres Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism (Verso, 2019) et From Palestine to Israel: A Photographic Record of Destruction and State Formation (Pluto Press, 2011). Inédit, La Résistance des bijoux est son premier livre traduit en français.

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SMOKE BREATHER. Marius Presterud.

Posted in Exhibition catalogue, photography, writing on July 21st, 2023
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Is your business secured in the case of ecological collapse?
Or are you unsure?

Oslo Apiary & Aviary is a provider of dark-ecological tools, goods and services. We work in the overlap between art and ecosystemic change, specializing in urban husbandry, feeding birds, growing worms, keeping bees, tending trees.

A consistent activity throughout our work is the inspection of how the domains ‘urbanity-nature’ and ‘private-public’ are expressed and separated: By caring for plants, birds and insects in the city, we question what types of life belong where. By subjugating ourselves to urban husbandry, we revitalize mutually dependent modes of being. Our entanglement allows for moments of enlivenment in a time of atomizing individuation. We are in this together! Through our embedded practice we try to get a sense of the city’s ontology – how the post-sustainable city is constituted and can, or can’t, be reconstituted.

Currently, ‘can’t” is in the lead, gothifying our practice. Drawing on strategies traditionally associated with the multi-roled artist, we find ourselves simultaneously planting trees as well as branching out into survivalist prepping: an entrepreneurial doomsday cult for hire, toiling in the ruins of humancentrism.

Marius Presterud (b.1980, Drammen) is a Norwegian artist based in Berlin and Oslo. He works across a variety of media; performance, poetry, sculpture and ecoventions, as well as in the field of mental health. Presterud has toured Europe as a poet, as well as performed and exhibited in established galleries such as Hamburger Bahnhof, Germany, and Kunstnernes Hus and Henie Onstad Art Center, Norway. From 2014-2019, Presterud worked full-time with his art- and research based practice, Oslo Apiary & Aviary. 

Régine Debatty is a curator, art critic and the founder of award-winning blog we-make- money-not-art.com. Since 2004, she has been writing and lecturing internationally about the way artists, hackers and designers use science and technology as a medium for critical discussion.

Norwegian Sculptor’s Association 2023
Exhibition documentation courtesy of NBF and Kunstdok
Goth Beekeeping camera and editing by Lene Johansen
Grave Talk recording by Marius Presterud
editing by Rebekka Handeland
Press photo by Siv Dolmen
Catalogue design by Elena Feijoo

Mousse #84 (Cover 1). Various. Mousse Magazine

Posted in Uncategorized on July 20th, 2023
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Mousse #84 – Summer 2023

Opinions
ON JARGON
Pablo Larios

A HYPOTHESIS OF RESISTANCE—PART FOUR: A LECTURE ON UNDETECTABILITY
Cally Spooner

Survey
MRINALINI MUKHERJEE
(A) Overgrowth
Noopur Desai, Emilia Terracciano, Murtaza Vali
(B) Less a Thing Than the Trace of a Movement
Skye Arundhati Thomas

Monograph
PENG ZUQIANG
Touch, Gaze, Motion, Memory: On Two Recent Video Works by Peng Zuqiang
Travis Jeppesen

Fiction
YOUR LOVE IS NOT GOOD
Johanna Hedva

Monograph
LEE LOZANO
Lee Lozano’s Tools and the “Self as Center”
Amelia Jones

Visual
ANGHARAD WILLIAMS
Cars, 2022
Angharad Williams, Maurizio Cattelan

Books
Gabrielle Goliath

Tidbits
Graham Little by Max Feldman
Onyeka Igwe by KJ Abudu
Shaun Motsi by Olamiju Fajemisin
Sydney Schrader by Gloria Hasnay
Rahima Gambo by Sindi-Leigh McBride
Ştefan Bertalan by Krzysztof Kościuczuk

Thinkers
SARA AHMED: ARCHIVING UNHAPPINESS
Ana Teixeira Pinto

Criticism
I’M WITH FANTASY
Kerstin Stakemeier

Reprint
REINCARNATION AND BIOLOGY: A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ETIOLOGY OF BIRTHMARKS AND BIRTH DEFECTS
Ian Stevenson
Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Curators
A STUTTERING INSTITUTION
Kabelo Malatsie

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Critical Fictions. Hannah Godfrey. ARP Books

Posted in queer, writing on July 19th, 2023
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In her bold departure from conventional art criticism, Hannah Godfrey looks to the work of five contemporary queer visual artists, with attention to, and affection for, the wit, subversion, and many complexities of each of their practices. Shifting through written forms as experiential coves, Critical Fictions is a collection of inventive responses that are delicately linked, and devoted to their subjects.

Alongside the five artists—Derek Dunlop, Kristin Nelson, Hagere Selam shimby Zegeye-Gebrehiwot, Andrea Oliver Roberts, and Logan MacDonald—Godfrey shares a keen interest in intricacies of queer power, the body, and abstraction. Her varied approach to criticism embraces stories, poetry, essays, and other textual formations as means of wayfaring through the work of art. In these pages the reader will find not only celebrations of the depth, beauty, and acuity of the artworks discussed, but explorations of the imaginative thoroughfares they open up.

“It’s with a unique, caring voice that Godfrey speaks about, to, and with the artists in this collection. Even if the reader is familiar with an artist’s practice, the writing, in both its abstract and critical forms, offers the time and space so desperately needed to cover the complicated and intimate relationship of a critic engaging with artwork. Critical Fictions is a special, caring, and necessary book where art criticism is written, challenged, turned on its head and back again, interlacing the varying concepts of the featured artists’ practices like thread in a loom. Only when the reader reaches the end does it become apparent the threads have become a tapestry—a rare and beautiful process that will stay with you into the real world.” —Lauren Lavery, Editor of Peripheral Review

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IWAKAN Volume 06 – The Masculinity Issue. Andromeda, Jeremy Benkemoun, Lana Kageyama, Yuri Abo (Eds.). Creative Studio REING

Posted in Gender, graphic design, Japan, magazines, photography, Uncategorized, writing on July 18th, 2023
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IWAKAN Volume 06: 

Masculinity — or perhaps our mistaken understanding of it — as an ideology has entrenched itself so deeply into every system that runs our society. These unequivocally male-dominated systems stare at us on a daily basis, represented by the patriarchy and misogyny we witness regularly in acts like men buying women drinks at the dinner table; reaffirming their unwavering presence and unforgiving rules. While some may find it easy to accept the system, others struggle to comply. We are those people who struggle. Those people who are tired of these outdated norms for masculinity, who are tired of it being understood solely through the lens of violence and dominance, and who are tired of the emptiness that comes from humans constantly being reduced to caricatures of themselves and forced to participate in this ludicrous system called patriarchy. Masculinity does not belong solely to those who have a penis, it is something that should be accessible to all. That is why, we want to find a new understanding of it, one that is fresh, revitalized, rich, inclusive, and diverse. It is time that masculinity changes, it is time that masculinity is liberated.

Features

The Masculinity Issue 06 違和感瞬間 男 14 Producing Sex: Images of Masculinity in the Gay Porn Industry/François Sagat 24 A Space for Men’s Confessions 32 Exploring Gender: What Can Masculinity Contribute to Being Non-binary?/Amity Miyabi 36 An Unwavering Heart Reaching for the Light/Sennosuke Kataoka 48 Imagining New Masculinities Through Music: an Interview with NoSo, Ichi Takashi, and Aisho Nakajima 52 PEOPLE VOICE OPINION Let the people speak! 60 The Unspoken Tenderness/Nelson Hor 66 Our Career Choices: A Message For the Future From a Parenting Adviser and an Obstetrician-Gynaecologist/Keito Kawanishi, Singh Ikebukuro 74 STUDY OUR ISSUE: Is “Masculinity” a Good Enough Excuse for Violence?/Noriko Yamaguchi 78 Pity for Men: the Agonies and Contradictions of Unpopular Boys./Kai Nishii 90 The Glass House of Adonis/Andromeda 92 Exploring The House of Gay Art: The Captivating Photographs of Junichi Enya/Mika Kobayashi 96 Is Coffee Masculine? A Conversation About Coffee and Masculinity/Keita Nakamura, Yuki Shibata, Mako 108 Redefining “Realness”: Exploring the Implications and Possibilities of “Male Genital” Prosthetics/Prosthesisman.Stp.Japan 112 Disobedience, Deconstruction, and Desire: Re-Defining Bodies Through Clothing and Art/Bárbara Sánchez-Kane 122 Decoding Performance and the Body Through the Works of Kento Terada and Sota Kodera/Mika Kobayashi 128 The Exquisite Corpse of Likeness/Yuki Kasaï-Paré 137 Recognising ‘Domination’: The Beginning of Resistance/Hanae Takahashi 138 Vol.4 IWAKAN OPEN ART CONTEST 141 Radically Moderate/Nonoka Sasaki 142 A Diary of Secret Dialogues/Mitsu Tachibana 144 My Incomplete Beauty Handbook/Yuri Abo 146 Asian Gaze/Yo Katami from loneliness books 148 Let’s Talk About Politics/Ana 150 Stopped Making Sense/Noemi Minami 152 Recommendations from Contributors Cover Design: 福岡南央子

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Cults and Culture Talk / Alex Head @ Motto Berlin. Thursday, 13 July 2023.

Posted in Motto Berlin event, politics, Theory, writing on July 7th, 2023
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Dear friends,

We are happy to invite you to Cults and Culture on Thursday, July 13th from 7:00 PM, a talk by Alex Head in which the author will discuss his book Ricochet – Cultural Epigenetics and the Philosophy of Change (Ljå Forlag, Oslo, 2021).

Reflecting on discoveries and debates that have occurred in the two years since its publication, artist Alex Head will read from current works in progress to highlight specific aspects within his ambitious book 
Ricochet to discuss the architecture of power.


It is now well documented that cults have been used to disseminate disinformation. For example the extremist cults of MAGA, The Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who’s recruitment pipeline has been funded by Big Oil and crypto libertarians in an attempt to overthrow the United States and 
crash their and the world’s economy.


But what about the arts more widely, is there a form of culture that is transparent about its ideology, particularly in today’s hyper-accelerate media vortex? Are all cultural institutions not also in some way cultish? The cult of patriarchy being just one obvious example that transcends both religious and cultural institutions.


Focussing on specific evidence of how cults have been used to spread disinformation and other historical data the artist will discuss the central motif to his work Ricochet, – the Sacred Date Palm Tree – as a expression of the anti-rhizome. Are we, the unwitting public being continuously gaslit by Sacred Date Palm tree’s in the form of neoclassical architecture? And if so, what can we do to review and 
refocus personal and political objectives as users navigate the web architecture of the app?

Join us at Motto Berlin on Thursday, 13th of July for an insightful talk where we will explore the profound themes of Ricochet and run across topics like January 6th, Classical Architecture, White Supremacy, BND Building Berlin, Mental Health, Libertarianism, Bitcoin, Gold Standard, Going Offline, Art, Publishing, Design, Cultural Epigenetics, Memory, Witnessing and Social Media.

Alex Head

Ljå Forlag

550km Past_Present_Future. Marcin Matuszak. MONO DUO TRI / RttCL

Posted in photography, travel on July 6th, 2023
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In mere 100 years from now, the Baltic coastline as we know it will be nothing more than a beautiful memory lost somewhere in history – according to the leading experts studying climate change. The melting glaciers will swallow up Swinoujscie, whilst turning Gdańsk into the modern day Atlantis and Poznan (the author’s hometown in the Western Poland) into a slowly submerging seaside resort town. 

In view of these predictions and out of sheer curiosity, Marcin Matuszak, Poznan-based designer and artist (accompanied by his friend, Tomasz Peukert – music producer who was collecting the field recordings), decided to walk along the entire current Polish seaside, to document the current state of it and to prepare a photo album from the material collected during the journey: “500km”. 

The project of the year-long walk, divided into 12 stages of several days was called “550 km” – as the estimated coastline of the Polish Baltic Sea. After walking the entire length, it turned out to be nearly 607 km from the German to the Russian border.

The project documents the Baltic Sea through four seasons, in the full sun and when it rains, with the wind and against the wind, with stormy horizons and calming sunsets. Against this backdrop, the sand, the shells, the seals, and also the cliffs breaking off with tree roots tell the story of the shifting coastline. 

The material presented, however, is not purely documentary. It is a photo record of a moment. A maximum of a three-second pause. A snapshot that cuts the future from the past.

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Park 2 INN Exhibition opening / Louise Verstraete, Rebecca Quix @ Motto Berlin. July 30, 2023.

Posted in Exhibitions, Motto Berlin event, Motto Berlin store, Motto Books, photography on June 30th, 2023
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Dear Friends,

We are excited to invite you to the opening of Park 2 INN on Saturday, July 1st from 7PMa duo exhibition by Louise Verstraete and Rebecca Quix in the presence of Nissan Sunny 1.4LX and a sound installation by Lukas Katzer.

It has been a while since we have seen each other. How are you doing? I’m sorry to call you so early. Holiday schedules. MidDay sMiles. Days go by so fast. I was eating these curly fries and was thinking of you today. Lunch hour at the fuel station.  The connection got lost. My tires were losing pressure. Are you here already? Here is still there. Soon there. 

The exhibition will be on view from July 1, Monday to Saturday 12 to 8 PM until July 31, 2023. This exhibition has been made possible with the support of Flanders State of the Art.

Louise Verstraete is a multidisciplinary artist working with the medium of textile and the performative power that the medium carries within. Her projects show an interplay between photography, textiles, scenography and performative interventions. Louise holds an MFA in Textile Design from LUCA School of Arts, Belgium and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany.   

Rebecca Quix (BE) currently lives and works in Brussels. She holds an MFA from LUCA School of Arts, Brussels (2022) and studied at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2021). 

Politics of Curatorship book launch / Norient Books @ Motto Berlin. Friday June 29, 2023.

Posted in Motto Berlin event, music, Theory on June 28th, 2023
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Dear Friends,

We are happy you invite you to an open-air summer evening with lectures, readings, and a music performance to launch our newest Norient Book Politics of Curatorship on June 29 at Motto Books Berlin from 19:00 onwards.

In essays, academic texts, photo essays, poems, and short comments by 32 writers, artists, journalists, and scholars from all over the world, this volume attempts to encourage different approaches to increase diversity and equality in curatorship within the cultural industry.  

For our Berlin release party, we have invited the Berlin-based curator and book contributor Andrea Goetzke & the activist and DJ Ari Robey-Lawrence for a panel discussion, the musician Tatiana Heuman aka Qeei to play an exclusive music performance, and the sound artist Lendl Barcelos and Norient founder Thomas Burkhalter (both contributors) for remote readings in the lovely courtyard of Motto Books Berlin. Moderated by Carla J. Maier and Philipp Rhensius.

Expect an engaging evening with critical questions, challenging sounds and refreshing drinks. Co-moderated by Norient Books editor and Sound Studies researcher Carla J. Maier and Norient editor and writer/musician Philipp Rhensius.