Rory Pilgrim: MAXIMUM CRISIS/MAXIMUM CALM / Jeremiah Day, Fred Dewey, Wolfgang Heuer: “Common, mutual, shared action is pivotal …”

Rory Pilgrim:
MAXIMUM CRISIS/MAXIMUM CALM

We are pleased to announce the LP release of MAXIMUM CRISIS/MAXIMUM CALM in the context of the solo exhibition by Rory Pilgrim at Badischer Kunstverein (opened February 6, currently closed). The LP is based on the soundtrack of the 50 minute film The Undercurrent, a central work in the exhibition. Produced in collaboration with ten young climate activists from Boise, Idaho, the film is a powerful statement about the era of climate crisis that explores how people are coping with this global issue on intimate and personal levels. 

While musical composition has long been a core aspect of Pilgrim’s practice, MAXIMUM CRISIS/MAXIMUM CALM—featuring the singers Declan Rowe John and Ezra Hampikian—is the first vinyl release of the artist’s music. Interweaving spoken reflections and songs including The Towel, 3 Waters and Regenerate the Engine, the LP also features additional songs and spoken material made in parallel to the film. With arrangements also composed by Pilgrim for the Up North Session Orchestra the record culminates with a special speech given by youth climate activist Liam Neupert entitled Today and Forever. 

All songs and music were written, arranged, and produced by Rory Pilgrim. As part of the release, the song The Towel sung by Declan Rowe John is now available on YouTube. The LP MAXIMUM CRISIS/MAXIMUM CALM (AE35) is now published in the vinyl-series of the Kunstverein and can be ordered from the Badischer Kunstverein or Apparent Extent.

Produced by: Anja Casser/Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe and Volker Zander/Apparent Extent, Cologne. Supported by: MING Studios, Mondriaan Fonds and andriesse eyck galerie.

Jeremiah Day, Fred Dewey, Wolfgang Heuer:
“Common, mutual, shared action is pivotal …”

Jeremiah Day’s solo exhibition If It’s For The People, It Needs To Be Beautiful, She Said is on view at Badischer Kunstverein, but currently closed to the public. On April 20, together with Fred Dewey and Wolfgang Heuer, Jeremiah Day published a letter addressed to the European council, colleagues, and friends, which calls for concrete and substantive solidarity on behalf of Europe during the Corona crisis. The letter builds on What Was The European Union?, a series of public forums that discussed the roots of postwar European federalism in the resistance movements of the World War II. 

“Open letter to the European Council, and our friends and colleagues, 

We write to address the future of solidarity in Europe, and so the future of Europe itself. On April 9th and April 23rd, a patchwork approach to the massive health crisis and its effect on national budgets was agreed by the Euro-Group and European Council. The meaning of the plan remains basically unclear. The leaders of Europe have pledged to preserve the well-being of all Europeans in the face of this crisis. Without bold steps renewing Europe’s founding premises, there is a likelihood that economic crisis, with only patchwork solutions, will lead to a much more serious, even fatal European political crisis. This impending crisis in Europe is hardly just of economies or health conditions, but of the European concept itself. (…).” 

The full text is available on our Website.

Under the condition of the global pandemic and its social, political, and economical consequences a seminar of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (exhibition design and scenography, Constanze Fischbeck, Thomas Rustemeyer, Andrej Mirčev) is held in cooperation with Jeremiah Day and Badischer Kunstverein. Between One’s Front Door and the Street or Gathering in Public Space is revisiting the artworks in Day’s exhibition at Badischer Kunstverein under the current hygienic conditions as a collection of situations in public spaces that increase our awareness of the vulnerabilities and strengths of protest movements. This dialog will be seen as the starting point for a series of studies and speculations leading to new art projects.  

For more information on the exhibitions, further collaborations, and our digital program, please visit us on our Website.