Ursula Biemann / Vadim Zakharov and Niklas Nitschke
Ursula Biemann
Egyptian Chemistry—Deep Weather—Sahara Chronicle
2 March–28 April 2013
Vadim Zakharov / Niklas Nitschke
n.b.k. Showroom
5 March–28 April 2013
Opening: Friday, 1 March, 7pm
Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (n.b.k.)
Chausseestraße 128 / 129
10115 Berlin, Germany
Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 12–6pm, Thursday 12–8pm
2 March–28 April 2013
Ursula Biemann
Egyptian Chemistry – Deep Weather – Sahara Chronicle
The exhibition Egyptian Chemistry—Deep Weather—Sahara Chronicle at Neuer Berliner Kunstverein presents a selection of Ursula Biemann’s large-scale projects in spatial staging, focusing on two current works that are shown for the first time in Europe: the single channel projection Deep Weather (2013), which offers insights into the global causes and impacts of climate change, and Egyptian Chemistry (2012), an installation with a water laboratory and a five-channel video that sheds light on the hybrid ecology of Egypt and the role of the Nile in this system. To complement the two new works, Sahara Chronicle (2006–2009) investigates clandestine migration routes within northern Africa, but also the points where labor migration and the overexploitation of resources like uranium and fisheries intersect.
Subtle and profound, Ursula Biemann’s work makes use of existing knowledge, reflecting upon correlations and subjective impressions and combining them with academic findings. Biemann’s artistic approach creates a new way of organizing knowledge and provides a platform for all actors upon which they can leave aside their classical roles as victim and enter into a differentiated dialogue on a par with the beholders. The non-linear narrative structure that characterizes Biemann’s works presents a narrative and visual mosaic of impressions that ultimately compose a complex image. For this reason, her impressive works are not documentaries in the representative sense, but rather coalesce subjective statements of eyewitnesses with academic questions and contrast knowledge from the public media with surprising images and contrary viewpoints from politics, history, culture, and sociology.
Curated by Kathrin Becker.
Biography
Ursula Biemann (b. 1955) is an artist, theorist, and curator. Since 2002 she has been researching at the Institute for Theory at Zurich University for the Arts. Biemann was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Umeå (2008) and the Prix Meret-Oppenheim (2009). Lately her works have been exhibited at Alexandria Contemporary Arts Forum (2012); LENTOS Museum, Linz (2012); Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (2011); Cooper Union, New York (2011) and the 7th Shanghai Biennial (2008), 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), and Liverpool Biennial (2004), among others.
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by the catalog Ursula Biemann: Mission Reports—Künstlerische Praxis im Feld, published by Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, with a preface by Marius Babias, Simon Maurer, and Stella Rollig, and contributions by Ursula Biemann, T. J. Demos, Brian Holmes, and Jörg Huber, in German language, 208 pages with numerous color illustrations.
Program
Thursday, 21 March, 2013, 7pm
Artist talk and video screening with Massimiliano De Serio (artist, Turin), moderated by Kathrin Becker (Head of n.b.k. Video-Forum) and Silke Wittig (n.b.k. Video-Forum).
In cooperation with Artists Film International (AFI), initiated by Whitechapel Gallery, London.
In English.
Tuesday, 16 April, 2013, 7pm
On the Aesthetics and Politics of Ecology
Discussion with Ursula Biemann (artist, Zurich), T. J. Demos (Lecturer Modern and Contemporary Art, University College London), Irit Rogoff (Profesor of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London), moderated by Inke Arns (Director, Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund).
In English.
Sunday, 28 April, 2013, 8pm
Concert with Dangerpony (Berlin)
5 March–28 April 2013
Vadim Zakharov / Niklas Nitschke
n.b.k. Showroom
Since 2009, Vadim Zakharov (b. 1959) and Niklas Nitschke (b. 1971) have worked together under the name OBAMAINBERLIN travelling though the German-Polish border regions, which they explore as a “dead zone” by way of absurd, open-ended acts. The exhibition at the Showroom of Neuer Berliner Kunstverein presents video documentations of actions, photographic works, and artifacts created as part of these artistic explorations.
