BERLIN: MATTHEW DAVIS

It was a warm summer evening refreshed by a couple of raindrops, when I was going to visit British artist Matthew Davis in his studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg last year. After having spent five years in Freiburg, where the artist worked with the German painter Artur Stoll, he decided to move to Berlin a couple of years ago where he now works in a two-room studio that was occupied by five large-scale paintings at the time I visited him.

BERLIN: MARTIN KIPPENBERGER SEHR GUT, VERY GOOD

all works by Martin Kippenberger at the exhibition "Sehr gut, Very good" (23.02 - 18.08.2013), all images by artfridge, courtesy Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Today, on the 25th of Februrary 2013, Martin Kippenberger would have turned 60. On this occasion the Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin dedicated the large retrospective "Sehr gut, very good" to one of Germany's most talented enfant terrible. Most of his friends are sure, that he would never have believed, how successful and academically accepted he became after his early death in the age of 44. He would have laughed, they say.

DÜSSELDORF: BODY LIGHT

all the images by artfridge, exhibition "Body Light" at Venus & Apoll (22 – 24 February 2013)

Right now, there is a lot going in Düsseldorf. It is the Rundgang-week, the annual exhibition of the long-standing, Tony-Cragg-led Düsseldorf Art Academy, which attracts thousands of art fans every Februrary. On top of that, there are several other exhibitions around Düsseldorf. The show BODY LIGHT, for example, displays works of 16 contemporary artists as a guest show at Venus & Apoll. At this temporary project space of JULIA STOSCHEK COLLECTION, the group show assembles solely video works of up-and-coming artists, who use the moving image as the dominant medium of their artistic practice and to interact with the overarching theme of corporeality. 

The works experiment with the individual bodily experience or the interaction with another body, whether in the private, public or social context. The body's texture is central not only concerning the moving image, but also regarding the physical possibilities of the body as a projection surface on its own. Running parallel to this year's Rundgang, the exhibition project, which was initiated by artists Melike Kara and Isabella Fürnkäs, provides an extended presentation and discussion platform, which invites to a very exciting engagement with young and current video art – unfortunately only for this weekend.

BONN: VIDEONALE 14

from the top: (1) Bigert & Bergström "Musen" (2012) film-still; (2) Christian Jankowski "Casting Jesus" (2011) video excerpt; (3-4) Tanja Deman "Abode of Vacancy" (2011) film-still and full video; (5-6) Frances Scholz "Episodes of Starlite I-V" (2011-12) film-stills; (7) Jasper van den Brink & Yasmijn Karhof "Vessel" (2012) video excerpt, all photos by artfridge, courtesy Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn; all videos courtesy the artists and their galleries

There is a problem about every show containing video-based artworks: the time-frame. Leaving an exhibition with the knowledge that it would simply have been impossible to see all films and videos in full length is depressing. Thats why these time-determined shows ask for a very quick selection - decisions need to be made. Whenever a picture language fascinates within a couple of seconds, one sits down and engages in a new story, a new aesthetic. This was a particularly big challenge at the current show of the Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn. Choosing out of 2100 submissions, the jury selected 41 up-and coming and established positions for their video art festival. 

BONN: KENNETH ANGER

Both images © artfridge.de

After taking a walk through the Videonale 14 at Kunstmuseum Bonn, I went to the auditorium where the American video artist and 86-year old avant-garde pioneer talked to film critic Daniel Kothenschulte and presented his newest works "Aircraft 1-3". 

Having a thing of the evil, satanism and bad boys in general, Kenneth Anger revolutionised film-art, when his black-and-white homoerotic horror-porn "Fireworks" premiered in California in 1947. Among Anger's most famous video works are "Lucifer Rising", "Scorpio Rising" or "Invocation of my Demon Brother" and he is the author of the famous gossip book Hollywood Babylon. 

COLOGNE: UNIQUE PATTERNS

from the top: (1) installation view, (2-3) sculptures by Philip Seibel, (4) installation view, (5-7) photographs by Johanna von Monkiewitsch, (8) installation view, (9-10) Andri Bischoff, (11) installation view; images by artfridge and Chaplini Gallery

Since decades, people have tried to demonstrate a uniqueness in their style, however knowing that their appearance is always shaped by trends. We are cut from the same cloth - its the small details that elevate a style to be unique. But how does this work for contemporary art? The current group show at Chaplini Gallery in Cologne approaches questions on the ambivalent relationship of uniqueness and repetition, by exhibiting three young positions, whose works explicitly manipulate repetitive patterns into a unique art piece with only a small artistic intervention. 

THREE DEE / TWO DEE

all images courtesy and copyright Victoria Stusiak (threedeetwodee.tumblr.com)

London photo blog Three Dee / Two Dee by Victoria Stusiak
threedeetwodee.tumblr.com

vastusiak.tumblr.com

ARTIST WATCH: OLIVER PARZER

All photos by Oliver Parzer, belonging to the series 'Surrounded by nothing but our own imagination', courtesy and copyright Oliver Parzer

The 1985-born German photographer Oliver Parzer couldn't have chosen a better title for his silent and scenic Berlin documentation 'surrounded by nothing but our own imagination'. After spending some years in Melbourne, where he studied photography, Parzer returned to Germany and now captures his delicate impressions of the capital. I love to look at his work.

oliverparzer.com