installing...
ART FORUM BERLIN
HALLE 23A / STAND 24
September 25. - 30. 2002
Sparwasser HQ in collaboration
with
LISE HARLEV, COLONEL & KARL HOLMQVIST
Sparwasser HQ is a non-profit platform for artist-curated
projects. Collaborative and discursive research is our first priority.
Sparwasser HQ develops continually changing thoughts on exhibition
practice, building up a laboratory of ideas for art workers and
their audience, and establishing a network between people.
At ART FORUM BERLIN, Sparwasser HQ transfers the focus from the
purely visual to the production of dialogue. We work with inclusive
and democratic strategies, involving the public in discussion
on themes of migration, nationality, and autonomous art production.
Sparwasser HQ benefits from the contact with an international
audience provided by ART FORUM BERLIN; the art fair is an opportunity
for the development of new works, collaborations, and thoughts.
It is our goal to maintain and expand, both through our newsletter
and our website, the network of people and institutions connected
to Sparwasser HQ that has developed over the past two years.
Sparwasser HQ has invited three
artists to collaborate with us at ART FORUM BERLIN:
LISE HARLEV, COLONEL & KARL HOLMQVIST
lise harlev and the discursive table...the days
before
LISE HARLEV's contribution, "Everything for the first time," consists of twelve posters. HARLEV combines the aesthetics of public posters with subjective statements. Quotes such as "Living abroad often causes you to feel a little left out" and "The fact that you don't run into people from your past when you are abroad can be a relief" reflect the ambiguity of living abroad. HARLEV participated recently in Manifesta 4 and in BIG Torino 2002.
COLONEL's work focuses on mental and physical "mobility," a term the artist himself embodies by adopting multiple identities in his works (for example, a professional tourist and a "funny sociologist"). In his "Moving exhibitions," COLONEL infiltrates the given context in a guerilla-like way, creating his works from interactions with his surroundings. His participation at ART FORUM BERLIN includes a performance on September 25th. Earlier video performance projects will be screened throughout the fair. COLONEL's series "Visual statistics" will also be exhibited. "Visual statistics" uses samples from daily newspapers to examine the iconography of the media. By extracting images from their former context, COLONEL reflects the global power of the visual. COLONEL's site or discourse specific interventions have regularly figured as media infiltration, most recently in brief episodes or social performances shown on DR2, a Danish public television channel.
Against the backdrop of contemporary migration within Europe, both HARLEV and COLONEL investigate different ways of dealing with national and cultural identities and power structures. By undermining the stability of identity, their works render visible certain social and cultural dynamics that might otherwise be unobserved.
KARL HOLMQVIST contributes to current art discourse through both his performances and his writings. Quotes such as "NO to competition and divisions. YES to more for all," point to the problem of exclusivity in commercial galleries. HOLMQVIST's position aligns with Sparwasser HQ's inclusive practice: giving more people more space. HOLMQVIST compares Sparwasser HQ to an organic structure; the artist-run gallery is analogous to the plant he places in the art fair stand, growing naturally, not following rules or premises.
Sparwasser HQ has invited three artists to collaborate with us
at ART FORUM BERLIN: LISE HARLEV, COLONEL & KARL HOLMQVIST.
Sparwasser HQ's project and the actions of the participating artists
will evolve from a discursive table, which includes a reference
library created in collaboration with KARL HOLMQVIST. At the discursive
table, we present a program of topics, and invite the public to
enter into dialogue with artists linked to the Sparwasser HQ network.
By creating a space for artists and visitors to express and exchange
ideas, we aim to continue and extend Sparwasser HQ's work in new
surroundings of ART FORUM BERLIN.
The artists are supported by: DCA, Danish Contemporary Art Foundation; IASPIS, International Artists´ Studio Program, Sweden; NIFCA, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art.
new logo and homepage design for Sparwasser HQ, launced September 25. 2002
Johannes Koblenz
Sog - visuelle Kommunikation
Schwedter Str. 34A
D-10435 Berlin
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t. +49 (0)30 44 039 334
f. +49 (0)30 44 039 332
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mailto:info@sog-berlin.de
http://www.sog-berlin.de