We are very glad, Friederike Feldmann agreed to teach at this year’s ACSA. Her permanent reflection on her work enforces permanent changes of her artistic practice. Still, her recent focus on aspects of painting as crucial as gesture, texture, surface and representation and the work deriving from that, does not allow to categorize her paintings as abstract, figurative, minimal or representational. It is not her wish to confuse or mislead the viewer; it is rather her aim to get to the bottom of symbols and ways of perception. Friederike was born in 1962 in Bielefeld, she lives and works in Berlin where she is professor at the Kunsthochschule Berlin, Weißensee. Her way of research becomes clearer if you look at her so-called “script pictures”; even though it becomes questionable right away if the terms “script” and “pictures” are that easy to apply. As Birgit Effinger puts it: “The visual rhetoric of this painted lettering hovers between peinture and écriture and cannot be resolved either in the direction of language or in the direction of iconic qualities. The painted words and texts can at most be read as what they are: as camouflage for an authentic writing gesture that has developed an idiosyncratic yet purposefully aimed relationship between the forms of lines and surfaces. In this the individual style of a person’s handwriting presents a contingent means of design that unequivocally compacts and resolves the forms. […] Friederike Feldmann’s written line formations articulate visual assertions in the field of painting.” A wonderful in-situ work of hers will still be on view until August in a group exhibition called “Wall Works” at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin. So you will manage to see….
Jan Kage alias Yaneq is unbelievably many persons in one: rapper, singer, journalist, author (so far quoted from Wikipedia, our frienemy) but - and just as important - he is also conferencier, gallerist, entrepreneur, event host and last but not least radio moderator. I am sure we forgot something. Most important for us to know is, that he knows Berlin from a perspective, nobody else does. We are thrilled to share his art-music-culture-hot-spots and passion to dive into Berlin’s ‘nervous system’. Jan was born in 1973 in Bonn, Germany and is now based in Berlin, where he studied social and cultural sciences. He contributed to various national and international magazines, dailies, radio and TV stations such as: De-bug, Backspin Hip Hop Magazin, die tageszeitung, Berliner Zeitung, SWR, Hessischer Rundfunk, Deutschlandfunk, Radio Fritz or Flux FM where his weekly program „Radio Arty“ is broadcasted. No more listings now; all the other things we have to know about him and his Berlin, we’ll do right on spot!
Week 4 / Lecture (engl.) – Ariane Beyn
Ariane Beyn is head of the Visual Arts at the Berliner Künstlerprogramm at DAAD Berlin - the German Academic Exchange Service. Ariane continuously curates shows and projects with the artists in residence in collaboration with other contemporary art institutions in Berlin. She has published numerous essays on contemporary art and has taught at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. We are very happy to have her with us to discuss the Berlin art scene and the possibilities artist-in-residence-programs offer.
Week 4 / Lecture (engl.) – Alexis Zavialoff
We are very much looking forward to an evening with Alexis Zavialoff, the founder of Motto Distribution. Alexis was born in 1974 in France; now living somewhere between Berlin, Zurich, Lausanne and everywhere. And as many homes Alexis has, as many fields or rather passions he also calls his: photographer, distributer, filmmaker and of course skateboarder…Alex’s Motto Distribution has since its inception in 2007 quickly become the driving force in distributing and retailing small edition artists books, hard to find magazines, back issues and rare copies of other printed matter world wide. We are keen to hear Alexis talking about his practice, the distribution channels and publishing models in today's art and design publishing here at ACSA!