2 June 2013

BERLIN. STATUS [2]

By Anna-Lena Werner
BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien sarah schoenfeld_void_lichtung_BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ featured on artfridge _ courtesy the artist courtesy BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien
from the top: Sculpture by Jennis Cheng Tien Li ; Drawings by Philip Loersch ; Photograph by Sarah Schönfeld ; Soundobject Nik Nowak ; Photograph by Julius von Bismarck ; Installation by Mariechen Danz ; Object by Robert Seidel ; Table with objects Emma Waltraud Howes ; installation view; all images by artfridge, courtesy the artists, their galleries and Künstlerhaus Bethanien

They keep on repeating it: Berlin has more than 300.000 registered artist. While some Berliners like do adorn themselves with this creative spirit and some artists are close to desperation, it should be easy for a curator to pick 100 relevant contemporary positions. Last year BERLIN.STATUS [1] was a huge success, showing 50 Berlin-based artists. But the second part, currently on display at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, cannot convince as much as the first exhibition. BERLIN. STATUS [2] is not only a show by Berlin-based artists, its also a show about Berlin - about urbanism, rebellion and politics. And whenever an exhibition in Berlin is said to be about Berlin, it gets really boring. 

Berlin is loud and so is the exhibit. Nik Nowak presents a bull-horn object on wheels, (which only sounds during the midday hours due to the battery of the old ipod that he used) and two video works are dedicated to THE Berlin topic: electronic music. MARCELLVS L. adds some high culture to the upstairs room and has four simple loudspeakers whir the sounds of piano waves. Other positions do a runner into nature, such as Sarah Schönfeld's peaceful photograph "Lichtung" of a clearance in a dark forest, or as Julius von Bismark with a great photograph from his acclaimed series "Unfall am Mittelpunkt Deutschlands". In the video "MauMau" by Uros Djurovic two men find rest in an old fashioned card game.

One of the most appealing objects, both aesthetically and contextually, has been done by Emma Waltraud Howes, who presents a black table full of cut-out words, sentences and little stones. And since Berlin is not only cool, but also very criminal, it felt like a performance when I watched two of the employees from Bethanien trying to figure out if someone had stolen a word. While digital works have a strong presence, there are only few sculptures and paintings. Out of these, two plain and minimalist works were striking: A light sculpture by Jennis Cheng Tien Li, who neatly placed dozens of red slides in a display case, and a black painting by Daniel Lergon, who is known for his painterly experiments with the visualisation of light, radiation and infrared.

If there should be a center piece, I wouldn't choose it to be the minimalist plexiglass-pipe "Drift and Loft" by Natalia Stachon, which is placed right at the entrance of the show, but rather the red tiny ball by David Adamo. You may call yourself an attentive visitor, when you were able to recognize the object. Adamo turns the exhibit back into a chaotic puzzle picture, where his little bronzed M&M ball is the hidden object that you have to find. And finally, Adamo's piece represents the good sides of Berlin: fun, modest and, at least attempted, unpretentious.


BERLIN.STATUS [2]
24.05 - 16.06 2013
with works by: David Adamo, Song-Ming Ang, Julius von Bismarck, Thomas Chapman, Lise Chevalier, Mariechen Danz, Simon Denny, Uros Djurovic, Peter Dobroschke, Aleksandra Domanovic, Antje Engelmann, Larissa Fassler, Thilo Frank, Max Frisinger, Wolfgang Ganter, Stefanie Gutheil, Claas Gutsche, Emma Waltraud Howes, Michelle Jezierski, John Kleckner, Christoph Knäbich, Nuri Koerfer, Clemens Krauss, MARCELLVS L., Cyrill Lachauer, Oliver Laric, Daniel Lergon,Jennis Cheng Tien Li, Philip Loersch, Song Lu, Nik Nowak, Tim Plamper, Sophia Pompéry, Gabriel Rossell Santillán, Moritz Schleime, Dennis Scholl, Bettina Scholz, Sarah Schönfeld, Robert Seidel, Pola Sieverding, Natalia Stachon, Tim Stapel, Despina Stokou, Henning Strassburger, Asli Sungu, Reijiro Wada, Johannes Weiss, Clemens Wilhelm, Jordan Wolfson, Michael Wutz, Hui Zhang

KÜNSTLERHAUS BETHANIEN
Kottbusser Straße 10
10999 Berlin
Opening hours: Tue – Sun: 14 – 19h


"Drift and Loft" by Natalia Stachon _ BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ featured on artfridge BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien BERLIN.STATUS 2 _ Berlin Status 2 _ Künstlerhaus Bethanien _ 05.2013 _ Photos by artfridge, Courtesy Künstlerhaus Bethanien
from the top: Plexiglass pipe by Natalia Stachon ; Photographs by Johannes Weiß ; Painting by Song Lu ; installation view ; Red ball by David Adamo ; Video by Uros Djurovic ; Painting by Daniel Lergon ; Sound installation by MARCELLVS L. ; Prints by Cyrill Lachauer ; Videos by Peter Dobroschke ;  all images by artfridge, courtesy the artists, their galleries and Künstlerhaus Bethanien