Artist Presentations

Exhibition series in cooperation with uqbar project space

From June until October 2007 four artists of the 4th Ars Baltica Triennial of Photographic Art Don’t Worry – Be Curious! present additional works at uqbar project space in Berlin.

Anu Pennanen A Day in the Office
June 2 – June 23, 2007

In her first Berlin show Anu Pennanen presents the video installation A Day in the Office, which was produced for the Liverpool Biennale International 06 and deals with Liverpool’s urban and social development of the last few years. The work focuses on the new office buildings, icons of economic prosperity in Western cities, and the people working in these offices. Pennanen looks at Liverpool’s current real estate expansion from a double perspective: from the exterior and from the interior of the office buildings. On the one hand, she juxtaposes decaying office buildings, which were once at the core of Liverpool trade and commerce, with the new business centers cropping up on formerly derelict streets. In this way, she examines the changing visual and spatial language of Liverpool's built environment. On the other hand, the artist portrays the people who inhabit the offices, bringing their physical presence to bear upon these spaces. By collaborating with Liverpool office workers, the artist steps behind the facades in the city center to show the individual relationships and personal narratives that exist within workers' day-to-day experiences. A Day in the Office examines global phenomena common to the development of modern third-sector service cities.

Alexander Vaindorf Fallrise
June 29 – July 21, 2007

Alexander Vaindorfs installation Fallrise deals with the history of the monument of the Eternal Flame in Belgrade, a 27-meter-high concrete obelisk topped by a bronze fire. A young architect constructed it within nine days in June of 2000, exactly one year after the end of the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia. For some it symbolizes the victory of Slobodan Milosevic over Nato, while others perceive it as commemorating the victims of the bombing. Vandalism commenced soon after Milosevic’s fall: The bronze letters of the inscription, conceived by Mirjana Markovic, the leader of the influential neo-communist Yugoslav Left, and Milosevic’s wife, were removed one after the other until only two commas were left. The spotlights have also been stolen, and the obelisk has been covered with a great deal of graffiti.
Vaindorf’s project comprises a video of 2002 depicting the architect’s view of the historical events and his role during the erection of the monument, letters of response to the architect by teenagers, and a second video from 2006, documenting the reaction of the architect to the letters. The monument of the Eternal Flame and its role in Serbian society serves Vaindorf as an example for reflection on the ambivalent mechanisms of the (re)construction of history. Fallrise explores how the perception of historical events and monuments alters in relation to the changes in social systems and power structures.

Julita Wójcik Making Things More Beautiful
August 24 – September 15, 2007

The point of departure for Julita Wójcik’s actions is a common activity or unspectacular place, whose social coding she questions with irony. She frequently deals with gender-specific clichés in (the Polish) society by performing the role of a housewife and publicly peeling potatoes, working in the garden, or doing handicrafts.
The exhibition Making Things More Beautiful playfully addresses the image of the female (and the female artist) who beautifies the home with care and love, thus – on a small scale – making the world a better place. The video View Maker (2004) shows the artist in an apron dress and a headscarf in front of the grey facade of a typical socialist apartment house, which she seems to decorate with colorful paint according to the instructions of a voice from beyond the camera. The Polish title Wedutystka refers to the city landscapes of the 18th century and defines the neglected apartment building as an urban monument worth a depiction. The subjective approach to architecture also plays a role for the object titled Someone’s Heimat (2006), which hangs in the air like a birdhouse. It is the crocheted model of a house in Gdansk, built by Germans, in which Julita Wójcik lives today. Crocheting attests to patience, effort, and domesticity; Wójcik calls it the activity of a provincial girl. The artist stands by the emotional bonding to her home, but at the same time the title makes clear that the house also serves as a home for others, in the past, in the present, and in the future. Hence, the notion of Heimat is not objective, but rather a subjective construction. Julita Wójcik’s artistic interventions comment on role models and conceptions of value by bringing the marginalized to the fore and – in the wink of an eye – revealing moments of local happiness and provincial beauty.

J&K Talking Babylon. Featuring: Babylon Shuttle Bus – Preparations for a Journey from Ground Zero across the Bible Belt
September 21 – October 13, 2007

J&K’s performative works playfully address systems of belief such as religions, utopias, or pseudoscience as well as prevalent role models and stereotypes, often with the artists themselves in the starring roles. In 2006 J&K began a three-part series devoted to the concept of Babylon. Within the scope of the trilogy, the term Babylon evolves into a kaleidoscopic and multifaceted metaphor that stands for the complexity of modern civilization and its historical development, thereby allowing a closer look at the correlations between civilizing mechanisms, the history of religion and culture, and current global politics.
For the exhibition at uqbar, the artists are taking their mobile sculpture Babylon Shuttle Bus, the starting point of the trilogy, on its first trip to Berlin. The Babylon Shuttle Bus is a motor vehicle, a mouthpiece, and a stage. Guests from various contexts and with diverse concerns will hold speeches on Babylon from the bus’ tower. The first of these Talks on Babylon can be viewed in the exhibition’s video archive. The show focuses on the semi-utopian visualization of the Babylon Shuttle Bus’ trip across America shortly before the presidential election in the autumn of 2008. The tour commences at Ground Zero, an empty space symbolic of a modern-day erection of the Tower of Babel, and crosses the Bible Belt, home to a profusion of protestant-evangelical confessions. Along the way, J&K will be inviting guests of various political, religious, and ethnic backgrounds who will use the bus as a platform and mouthpiece for their version of Babylon. The exhibition in Berlin will be the scene of J&K’s conceptual, strategical, and visionary preparations for this trip. They will plan the route and envision the events, situations, and encounters that could occur along the way. The artists intend to take up notions of the political reality in America, clichés of Christian fundamentalism, and the American dream of a multicultural “Babylonian” community and thus dismantle well-worn patterns of thought.
Two new Talks on Babylon will be performed by the philosopher Boris Buden and the art therapist and Tarot-expert Alexandra Müller-Benz at the 4th Berliner Kunstsalon on September 29 at 6 p.m.

Adress:

uqbar project space
Schwedenstr. 16
D -13357 Berlin
Tel. + 49 (0)30 460 69 107
Thursday – Saturday 2–7 p.m. and by appointment

Partcipants:

Anu Pennanen, Alexander Vaindorf, Julita Wójcik, J&K

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