Helen Marten: Parrot Problems
Farhad Fozouni: Aftershock Poetry
The Incalculability of the Behavior of Complex and Open Systems: James Benning, Lutz Dammbeck
September 6–November 2, 2014
Opening: September 5, 18–21h
Press preview: September 5, 11h
Fridericianum
Friedrichsplatz 18
34117 Kassel
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 11–18h,
Thursday 11–20h
T +49 561 707 27 20
info [at] fridericianum.org
Helen Marten
Parrot Problems
Frozen at full speed in vibration between two and three dimensions, the objects and images by artist Helen Marten proliferate with models and motifs, which define the physical and linguistic limits of everyday life. In acts of jigsaw and camouflage, the recognizable is often shifted into a sense of immediate fuzziness. Both delicate and programmatic, the relationship between image and concept is therefore dependent on a sense of unfolding logic. Through this emulation and repetition of ubiquitous gestures, expressions and objects the resultant differences between mimicry and metaphor are made productive: as Parrot Problems. Whether composed of leaves, glazed ceramic, cast aluminium, coins or timber, Marten’s assemblages distill the customary order of things to arrange it afresh.
For Parrot Problems, her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, Helen Marten has created numerous new works.
Curated by Susanne Pfeffer
Farhad Fozouni
Aftershock Poetry
A three-dimensional poem of fear rapels from the ceiling. Persian-Arabic vocalization symbols and architectural vocabulary meld into sharp-edged ornaments on small wooden blocks. A digital drawing shows the artist attached to the brutal cycle of an apparatus; text boxes attest to his plight, while his plaintive cries resound from loudspeakers.
Farhad Fozouni writes aftershock poetry in words, images, sculpture, light and sound, playing with the hidden subtexts of forms, fonts and materials. His works embody moments of shock, which we sense without being able to grasp them. Forming a matrix of ambivalent feelings, they poetically protest against cognitive capitalism. In Farhad Fozouni’s first institutional solo show, emotional conglomerates made up of fear, love, pain and longing populate the Fridericianum tower.
Curated by Nina Tabassomi
The Incalculability of the Behavior of Complex and Open Systems
James Benning, Lutz Dammbeck
System theory, cybernetics, the artistic avant-garde of the 1960s, LSD, counterculture and the military-industrial complex—Lutz Dammbeck’s film Das Netz (2004) tells the history of the rise of the computer and the Internet. In the process, he reveals the interlinkages of science, art, the military and industry—in all their complexity and consequence. Dammbeck shows just how deeply surveillance and control are bound up with the evolution of the technological society.
A solitary, bare timber cabin in the midst of the densely wooded ridges of a mountain chain. Four seasons. Four shots. No focus. James Benning’s Stemple Pass (2012) shows how freedom, autonomy and a concentration on the essentials can be realised in the remote solitude of wilderness.
In the person and case of mathematician Theodore John Kaczynski, who later came to be known as the “Unabomber,” Benning and Dammbeck find a starting point for embarking on critical reflections on technological change, militancy and the relationship of humans and nature.
Curated by Susanne Pfeffer
Press contact
Carolin Wuerthner
T +49 561 707 27 89 / press [at] fridericianum.org
