Dear friends, 

We are pleased to share with you Motto’s April 2023 Music Mix, published on the occasion of the exhibition “STEPPUBLISHER” organized by Ho King Man, at Motto Berlin.

Listen to the Watt Chapter 1 mix here

Listen to the Watt Chapter 2 mix here

Listen to the Watt Chapter 3 mix here

One space, One structure, A set of regulations.

Temporary City is an exhibition that starts from the basis: the artist. No theme or curator is involved. During the course of one week fifteen artists worked in the Atelierhof Kreuzberg and challenged, negotiated and discussed their practices in order to use these as a base to develop an exhibition. Their works were presented on an architectural structure, an ‘obstacle’ designed for the show. The result of this process could be seen during the exhibition Temporary City Berlin 2009.

Artists: Anton Cotteleer, Ilke De Vries, Yoko Enoki, Paul Hendrikse, Anouk Kruithof, Nicolas Leus, Katrin Plavcak, Olivier Schrauwen, Nele Tas, Iris Van Dongen, Stijn Van Dorpe, Ada Van Hoorebeke, Tamara Van San, Sarah Westphal, Nada Sebestyén.

Texts, Introduction: Nele Tas; Exhibition Diary: Christophe Van Gerrewey; No Such Things as a Plan: Andreas Müller; St Curatus at the Crossroads: Christoph Tannert.

Order here

Dear friends,

Please join us for the opening of

9 WINDOWS
« STATE OF THE ART »
by Mike Hentz

Presentation of WORKS 8 publication, OSTINANKA silkscreen edition, a lecture performance, and concert by Mike Hentz and Misha Ognianer.

Sunday 4 December
from 5 pm

MOTTO BERLIN
Skalitzer Str. 68 (im Hinterhof)
10997 Berlin

Exhibition
5.12.22 – 28.1.23

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.

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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.

Open here

Image by Adriana Preda.

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.

Looking forward to seeing you!

Lisa Jo, KAYA (Kerstin Brätsch & Debo Eilers), Lukas Quietzsch, Pádraig Timoney

Opening Sunday 16 May 2021, 3-7pm

at The Downer – Skalitzer Straße 68, 10997 Berlin

The exhibition will be on view from 16 May until 26 June 2021

Vitrine installation at Motto Books courtyard & passage

4 photographs