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RAIN MACHINE

Nils Blau & Raphaël Fischer-Dieskau

24 Oct–12 Jan 25

Opening: 23. Oct 24

**closed from 23.12.2024-01.01.2025**

A machine hums, engines rattle in a steady rhythm, and rain falls—now slow, now swift. Sometimes its drips drum loudly, then fade to a barely perceptible whisper. Electronics crackle with life, falter, then continue their work, reliable as ever. Nils Blau and Raphaël Fischer-Dieskau intertwine the sensual experiences of fresh rain on the skin and the pattering sound of droplets with the steady, mechanical operation of a machine, creating an artificially generated natural phenomenon.

Humanity’s attempts to control the weather date back to the dawn of history—once characterized by ritualistic, localised practices, industrialised society has moved away from those endeavours and towards their technological counterparts.

Rain Machine mimics natural events, drawing attention to the significance of weather phenomena for our daily lives. Blau and Fischer-Dieskau emphasise rain as a sensory experience, reminding us of the fragility that lies at the heart of our climate.

 

Photo: Eric Tschernow
Photo: Eric Tschernow
Photo: Eric Tschernow
Photo: Eric Tschernow
Photo: Eric Tschernow

Accompanying programme

About the artist

Raphaël Fischer-Dieskau is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the interplay between humans and machines, as well as the connection between technology and emotion. His works aim to elicit multisensory reactions from its viewers. Fischer-Dieskau studied ArtScience at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague and Violoncello in Berlin and Paris. He then studied Fine Arts alongside Nils Blau in Karsten Konrad’s class at the Berlin University of the Arts. In one of his many works, Fischer-Dieskau recreated an artificial sun, whose light transmits comments from social media influencers via LRAD speakers, whispering them into the audience’s ears. Visitors could ‘bathe’ in compliments. The newly exhibited Rain Machine also offers an artistic interpretation of a natural phenomenon for visitors to experience. Fischer-Dieskau lives and works in Berlin.

Nils Blau studied Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts and continues to live and work in Berlin. His artistic practice explores the relationships between nature and artificial structures. Blau creates interactive, sculptural installations made of ceramics, whose surfaces initially simulate naturalness. At the same time, his works create a feeling of alienation, leaving an impression of artificiality. Blau invites viewers to perceive nature on different levels and draws attention to its impermanence. His works provide a platform for reflecting on the illusion and construction of ‘naturalness’. Together with Raphaël Fischer-Dieskau, Blau developed and exhibited a first version of the Rain Machine. In the Galerie im Turm, the artists present a spatially immersive, interactive evolution of this work.

Team

Curator: Melina Gentner

Assistant: Viktoria Weber

Head of production: Carolina Redondo

Gallery invigilators: Daniela Schoepe & Josef Stöhr

Illustrations in collaboration with Dani Hasrouni

 

The curator would like to thank the team of Galerie im Turm and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien for their support, namely: Dani Hasrouni, Frances Breden, Viktoria Weber, Sofía Pfister, Stéphane Bauer and the team of invigilators.

Galerie im Turm is a facility of the municipality department of Friedrichshain Kreuzberg.