Dirk Bell’s paintings and/or drawings are often included in installations that serve as a framework or a comment to the works itself. Words and play on words in big object-like letters – “BUR / NOU / TOP / IAN” , “WORK OUT / BURN OUT“ or “WARTE / ZIMMER – WARTE / IMMER – WARTE / NIMMER” or “DENKEN – ENDE”– guide the spectator through the exhibition or here rather through a “setting”, as if the romantic or surrealistic paintings, drawings or sculptures were asking for a veil that conceals the intimacy they expose. Sensual, fragile drawings have a counterpart in minimalistic word grids, as if the emotional content knew of its untimely imposition. The spectator finds himself having to choose between reflective distance and empathy.
Dirk Bell recently had solo exhibitions at the Pinakothek der Moderne, München, the Modern Institute, Glasgow and the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin as well as at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. He was born in Munich in 1969 and lives in Berlin.
Week 4 / Lecture (engl./ger.) – Andreas Schlaegel
Love in postindustrialist times
Andreas Schlaegel is an artist, critic and writer based in Berlin. Last year he co-curated „The Art of Conversation“ with Paolo Chiasera and Matthew Antezzo at PSM Gallery, currently he teaches at Khio in Oslo and is preparing shows at Kunsternes Hus Oslo and parallel to the Momentum Biennial in Moss. His critical eye and mind observe the Berlin art scene and abroad with the same intensity that his arms and else beat the drums in the infamous artist band The B-Men. Lucky us, he will share his (he)art-beat during a lecture of ours!
Andreas Schlaegel regularly writes for international art magazines such as Flash Art International, Frieze d/e and Spike Art Quartely. You can see more of one of his recent projects at: radicate.eu
Week 4 / Lecture (engl.) – Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen is a Canadian writer and art critic. After her PhD on Walter Benjamin, a DAAD scholarship brought her to Berlin in 1995. Since then, she observes the art scene of the city and elsewhere with critical benevolence and an intense scrutiny of the contemporary theoretical discourse. She has lectured at the Humboldt Universität Berlin, at the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris, at the International Artists Studio Program Stockholm and at Amsterdam's Rijksakademie. In 2009, Jennifer Allen was awarded the Art Cologne Prize for Art Criticism. Jennifer Allen writes for several international art magazines, dailies and websites, e.g. frieze, Mousse, Taz, artforum.com.
Week 4 / Tour (ger.) – Sandra Teitge
Playground Berlin: contemporary art & architecture
Sandra Teitge organizes exhibitions in apartments, on boats, and in cultural spaces and is passionate about food. She is currently co-organizing the Pavilion of Georgia at the 55th Biennale di Venezia as assistant curator/project manager. Most recently, she worked in the artistic office of the 7th Berlin Biennale as curatorial assistant. Sandra writes for various magazines and zines and contributed to the publication Metropolitan Views II, Art Scenes in Berlin 1989-2009. She is one of the initiators of the mobile exhibition series MASA BERLIN and fervently co-runs the food organization Dinner Exchange Berlin.
Sandra Teitge was born in Berlin in 1982. She studied Art & Visual History in Berlin and Media Studies and French at the University of Sussex in Brighton and at the Nouvelle Sorbonne in Paris.