Der Raum überwindet Zeit und Mensch
Andrea Pichel, Daniel Gustav Cramer, Maxime Jean-Baptiste, Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Ipek Burçak
2 Mar–30 Apr 23
Opening: 1 Mrz 23
The exhibition Der Raum überwindet Zeit und Mensch (Space Overcomes Time and Man) takes its title from the copper relief Der Mensch überwindet Zeit und Raum (1971) by Walter Womacka on the southeast side of the Haus des Reisens (House of Travel), an 18-story GDR building situated in the immediate vicinity of Alexanderplatz. The twenty-four meter wide and five meter high relief is framed by planetary motives such as water, birds and tree branches. In the center are the three heads of a cosmonaut and two people, whose gazes and dynamic gestures point to the upper left corner of the picture, where a flaming sunmoon is depicted.
From Alexanderplatz along Karl-Marx-Allee in the direction of Galerie im Turm, there are further iconographic elements, such as a sculpture of the Soviet satellite Sputnik on the roof of Café Moscow, which refer to the so-called Space Age of the mid-20th century. The title of the relief sums up the human-centered self-regard of that time which was based on a belief in progress and growth – a self-regard that continues to this day.
The artistic works gathered in this exhibition refer directly or indirectly to this historical period in order to unpack hidden stories beyond the dominant narrative and to show their relevance for the present. In this respect, the rearrangement of the title is an attempt to turn the ordering hierarchy of space and time on its head and break with a human-centered vision for the future.
Der Raum überwindet Zeit und Mensch is the first part of the exhibition series Schwindel – conceptions of (extra)terrestrial worlds between reality and fiction.
EVENTS
Walk and Guided Tour
from Haus des Reisens to Galerie im Turm
with Ipek Burçak and Johanna Janßen
March 26 and April 29, 2023, 4–6 pm
Workshops in simple language
on and on with the F3_kollektiv
April 5, 2023, 3–5 pm
Screening and Artist Talk
Robotron – A Tech Opera (2018–2022)
by and with Nadja Buttendorf
April 27, 2023, 7–9 pm
About the artists
IPEK BURÇAK lives and works in Berlin.
Ipek Burçak works with video, sculpture, new media and performance. Burçak’s practice explores the interconnections between human and non-human beings, social/public space, and neurodiversity. In her installations, she seeks an aesthetic that breaks with slick digital imagery.
Ipek Burcak is co-founder, together with Eren İleri, of the Vienna (Austria) and Berlin-based publishing house Well Gedacht Publishing, which produces publications in collaboration with artists from diasporic communities. She was a participant in the Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt 2022.
DANIEL GUSTAV CRAMER lives and works in Berlin.
Daniel Gustav Cramer’s artistic work develops as ongoing collections that describe the human condition. The constellations of photographs, texts, and sculptures that emerge interrogate individual experiences of time and collective language and image formation, as well as contingent narrative forms.
Daniel Gustav Cramer’s recent solo exhibitions include Portraits (2021) at Vera Cortes, Lisbon (Portugal) and Two Works (2020) at the Musée d’Aurillac (France). His work has also been presented at MANIFESTA 14 in Prishtina (Kosovo) and at dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel.
AUDREY JEAN-BAPTISTE AND MAXIME JEAN-BAPTISTE live and work between Burgundy (France), Brussels (Belgium) and French Guiana.
The artistic practice of the siblings Audrey Jean-Baptiste and Maxime Jean-Baptiste focuses on various forms and manifestations of trauma caused by Western colonization. To this end, they seek out representations of individual memories and collective histories in archives and use reenactment methods to renegotiate them.
Their collaborative film Listen to the Beat of Our Images (2021) has won multiple awards and was screened at CPH:DOX (Denmark), Hotdocs (Canada), ISFF Clermont-Ferrand (France) and Sundance Film Festival (USA), among others. It was also nominated for the French film award César 2023 in the category Best Short Documentary.
ANDREA PICHL lives and works in Berlin.
Andrea Pichl’s artistic practice ranges from sculptures in public space to expansive installations and colored pencil drawings. In these works, she often takes up references to post-war modern architecture and GDR urban development or deals with interiors, such as those of the Stasi headquarters.
Pichl’s recent solo exhibitions include her presentations at Schwartzsche Villa (2022) and at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst (2019). This year, she plans to install a permanent sculpture in front of the Kunsthalle Rostock. The exhibition Worin unsere Stärke besteht. Fünfzig Künstlerinnen aus der DDR, on view at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien from September to October 2022, is Pichl’s most recent curatorial project.
Team
CURATOR: Johanna Janßen
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Carolina Redondo
INSTALLATION TEAM: Carlos Busquets, Santiago Mac-Auliffe
GALLERY SUPERVISION: J. Ferdinand Gieschke and Daniela Schoepe
The curator would like to thank the Team of Galerie im Turm and of Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, who are: Dani Hasrouni, Helen-Sophie Mayr, Leslie Münz, Josef Stöhr, Sofía Pfister, Stéphane Bauer and the team of supervisors.
Image: Ipek Burçak
Funded by the Senate Department for Culture and Community: Multi-Sector Funding, Exhibition Fund Municipal Galleries and Fund Exhibition Fees for Visual Artists.
Galerie im Turm is an institution of the district authority Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
