Zinny/Maidagan: Keine Flagge in der Sonne (No Flag in the Sun)

In their exhibition at the daadgalerie, the two former fellows Dolores Zinny and Juan Maidagan are presenting works they have created since moving to Berlin in the early 2000s. Zinny/Maidagan’s installations, drawings, and sculptural objects are collaborative endeavors; in a poetic and frequently abstract manner, they examine the conditions under which space is utilized as a public and collective resource. The work Zeit in Zahlen/Numbers, which was developed especially for the daadgalerie and was originally conceived for the exterior facade of the building on Oranienstrasse, speaks to the significance of passing time in a state of crisis and social isolation. How does uncertainty about the conditions of community change the perception of public space and our everyday environment? What effect does being confronted with the time after our own existence have on our relationship to the now and our consciousness of the present?

After it became clear that Zinny/Maidagan’s planned intervention could not be implemented, among other things because the pandemic situation limited opportunities for dialogue and exchange with other residents in the building, a presentation in the exhibition space was developed; this new presentation communicates the idea behind the project and places it in relation to the duo’s previous works. The title of the exhibition—Keine Flagge in der Sonne/No Flag in the Sun—derives from the title of a work created by Zinny/Maidagan in 2003 for The Showroom in London, a new version of which is now being shown at the daadgalerie. The work Verbleite Nähte (Leaded Seams) was first presented at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in 2010, then in a new version entitled Costuras Emplomadas at the Cartagena Biennial in Columbia in 2014; this version is having its second showing here at the daadgalerie. UCI Library Unit One, Arch William Pereira, 1965 and Thirteen Studies of Horizon’s Line (both created in 2013 for the exhibition Cabo Nombre/Cape Name at the CAC Gallery in Irvine, California), and fragments of the installation developed for the exhibition Such a Good Cover at the daadgalerie’s former location on Kurfürstenstrasse in 2003 illustrate the artistic strategies and materials that are repeatedly employed in the works of Zinny/Maidagan. Viewed in the context of the current global political situation, their artworks and projects show how the passage of time does not necessarily change or democratize how we act or think. At the same time, Zinny/Maidagan’s works trust in the potential of the future and make the flag seem like a symbol of possible renewal and plurality.

Dolores Zinny and Juan Maidagan currently live and work between Berlin and Baltimore, where Zinny has been the program director for the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) since 2021. The artist duo has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows around the world.

The exhibition at the daadgalerie was conceived and curated by Melanie Roumiguière.

DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program
The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program is one of the most renowned residency programs for international artists and cultural practitioners in the fields of visual arts, film, literature, and music & sound. Each year, it awards residencies in Berlin to around twenty outstanding cultural producers. The residency enables the chosen fellows to focus on their creative thinking, actions, and research pursuits without being obliged to produce. Encounters with other artists and cultural producers stimulate transdisciplinary cooperation and initiate reciprocal learning processes.