Modart » Exhibition

Silence is a lie

Elise — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 10:57:34 +0000

“When the truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” Yevgeny Yetuschenko

It is impossible to mention Yetuschenko without connecting him directly to various movements of the 60s. Ideologies of hope, revolution and utopia – ideas which could not be implemented consistently but they still remained in collective memory.

50 years later we discover that many manifestations, maybe rather based in spontaneous actions than in theory, are developed, achieving real results. We cannot assure their longterm success, but we can reaffirm that they have demonstrated their powerful strength of transformation in a short period of time.

We can position Urban Art or the Post Graffiti within this new manifestations – a movement that maybe did not define a clear ideology from its very start but grounded itself powerfully within society over the years and developed its very own style.

If we consider that art has been characterized as an expression of transgression and provocation from the beginning, than it might be right to think that now it is Urban Art that is fulfilling this role of rebellion, not longer as a subgroup but like a fresh and spontaneous collective.

Silence is a lie is an exhibition about this movement that rethinks and questions actual parameters of art without even intending to do so. A movement that breaks the silence imposed by the conformance of the majority, offering its truth about reality through the art.

Exhibition runs until the 30th of September.
77 Landsburger Allee
Berlin 10249
Open Friday to Sunday 15h-19h

The Solution Is Irrelevant – 44Flavours

Janina Hübner — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 12:35:01 +0000

The Solution Is Irrelevant, The Solution Is Irrelevant, the title of the upcoming exhibition curated by 44flavours and Clemens Behr, is meant to evoke not only an approach to creativity and the act of creating, but also a life philosophy. For the duration of the vernissage, the Epicentro Artspace will be transformed into a multimedia, interdisciplinary laboratory, where performance and video art, design, music, spoken word, sound treatment, sculpture, painting, and installations will interact simultaneously without a screenplay or a preset agenda.

The Solution Is Irrelevant (Teaser) from 44flavours on Vimeo.

On board for the experiment: the 44flavours art collective, installation artist Clemens Behr, film directors Pol Ponsarnau and Yves Kasten, musicians Robot Koch, Sneaky, Lars Kirchbach, and spoken word artist RQM. The entire “performance” will be documented on video and will be screened at Epicentro art daily; presented in the form of video installations alongside other finished artifacts The Solution Is Irrelevant

—

23.08.2012
The Solution

23.08.2012
The Solution Is Irrelevant

Opening:
Donnerstag 23. August, 19 Uhr

Running time:
24. August – 06. September 2012

Opening hours: Di–Sa 12-18h
Place: Epicentro art
Karl Marx Allee 82-84
10243 Berlin
Eintritt: FREI

transformoney 2.0

Elise — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:20:13 +0000

Transformoney 2.0 Exhibition with banknote- and moneypaintings, objects, and drawings from Dadara’s Art as Money and Exchanghibition Bank project. Also the first showing in public of the Transformoney Tree model, which will grow to become a big tree in the Nevada desert during the Burning Man Festival.

You can help this tree grow by bringing a customized banknote to the opening. Interaction with the Transformoney Tree could help us with the shift from a fragile mono-money-culture to a diversified world of many alternative currencies, providing tools for exchange of various forms of value as a necessary alternative for our current debt-based-system, which is focusing on infinite economic growth on a finite planet.

Are the roots of this tree the roots of all evil or the roots of all happiness? Hopefully they’ll become the roots of a new consciousness!
Money has become almost a part of our Nature, so it’s difficult to realize that for a big part of their history humans have lived without Money, and maybe this will be the case again in the future. But even long after Money will be gone, Nature will still be there and we might still be able to pick things of real value from trees. The coolest banknote will win a limited edition banknote print – these prints will be introduced for the first time at the opening! And last but not least there will also be the introduction of a special coin.

Opening on the 23rd of June between 16.00 and 19.00
Exhibition lasts till the 4th of August.
Famous is open wed-sat from 11-18. Address: Weteringschans 83, Amsterdam. Phone: 020-4235423. Email:info@famous.nl

The Exchanghibition Bank will pop up as well, giving you a chance to acquire the new 011000010111001001110100 and 2.0 banknotes, which will be issued during the opening.

And come early so you won’t miss the opening performance!

Urban Art EFX 2012

Elise — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 11:59:24 +0000

Urban Art EFX – international exhibition of urban artists at CBK Amsterdam.

Urban Stylistix presents a three week international exhibition including a series of cultural activities: URBAN ART EFX. Fifteen internationally renowned artists from the Netherlands, various European cities, Mexico, Brazil and Hong Kong will exhibit at CBK Amsterdam from June 21st to July 15th 2012. The exhibition opening will take place at CBK Amsterdam June 21st, 19:00.

The exhibition themed “from urban to contemporary” showcases an eclectic variety of artwork. These range from paintings, sculptures, installations, photography to video art, created by key-players of the contemporary Urban Art movement. It highlights a snap-shot of their current artistic development as well as the story behind an up-and-coming artist generation, whose roots lay in the Graffiti and Street-art culture.

Urban Art EFX includes diverse cultural activities that will attract a broad range of visitors including: two art workshops for young people, an outdoor poster exhibition, several live mural paintings, an event of live canvas painting following an art auction for a social cause, a club night that will feature: video art installations, a photo exhibition and light-painting.

Furthermore Urban Art EFX will include an urban art & gallery city tour, a separate event with artist’s presentation and podium discussion about his work and urban art as well as a family day including several guided exhibition tours of the gallery.

Nowadays young contemporary / urban art has achieved worldwide acceptance and it is publicized as an up-and-coming art form. It is recognised as multicultural, open-minded, tolerant and metropolitan type of art. Urban Art EFX makes this art-form more accessible to a broad range of visitors through a comprehensive, professional and exciting exhibition.

Exhibition opening: 21.06.2012, 19:00, free entrance
Location: CBK Amsterdam, Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71, 1093 KS Amsterdam
Curator: Markus Hinger

Programme:
21.06. – 19:00 – 23:00 @ CBK Amsterdam – Exhibition opening
19.06. & 20.06. – 11 – 15 @ CBK Amsterdam – Urban Art Workshops
22.06. – 19 @ Amsterdam Oost – “Living Walls” open air exhibition
22./23./24.06. – 11 – 17 @ Amsterdam East – Live mural paintings All participating artists will paint concept walls close-by the exhibition space and demonstrate their artistic skills and techniques.
23.06. – 11 – 17 @ CBK Amsterdam – Family day & guided expo tours Guided exhibition tours (13:00 & 15:00) accompanied by exhibiting artists, coffee and cake corner, workshops for kids.
23.06. – 14 – 17 @ MacBike Shop Amsterdam central-station – Urban Art City & Gallery Tours A comprehensive bike tour is lead by a renown Amsterdam Street artist, introducing basic knowledge and recent trends about urban art forms and unveiling hidden artwork in the streets and galleries.
23.06. – 22 – 03 @ Club Canvas – Audio-visual party night, photography exhibition, CFYE light-painting workshop House, Tech House, Techno by well-known Amsterdam DJs & VJs Photography exhibition “Traces” by Arden de Raaij, Eavan Aiken, Olivier Philippe Location: Club Canvas, Volkskrantgebouw, Wibautstraat 150, 1091GR Amsterdam
24.06. – 15.07. 11 – 17 @ CBK Amsterdam – Exhibition The exhibition can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday
14.07 :14 – 17 @ CBK Amsterdam – Artist presentation & discussion Artist collective Graphic Surgery from Amsterdam will give a presentation and insight view in their work and will be available for questions of the public.
Artists
Urban Art EFX presents an eclectic selection of 15 local and international artists coming from the Netherlands, various European cities, Mexico, Brazils and Hong Kong. The artwork on display will be paintings on canvas, sculptures, installations, photography and video art: Ata “Toast” Bozaci (Switzerland) – Besok (Netherlands) – Binho (Brazil) – Bonzai (United Kingdom) – Ceet (Hong Kong) – Graphic Surgery (Netherlands) – Hendrik “ECB” Beykirch (Germany) Juice (Netherlands) – Kid:GHE (Mexico) – Morcky (Netherlands) – Morten Andersen (Denmark) – Mr. Wany (Italy) – Rosa Menkman (Netherlands) Ruediger Glatz (Germany) -Wayne Horse (Netherlands)

Nine years of Party Arty

Elise — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:07:45 +0000

This year marks the 9th year anniversary of the Berlin based event Party Arty. Run by the self proclaimed art dictator Jan Kage, the event has become one of the strongest and longest standing references for events that pull together an extreme melting pot of different artistic mediums, cultures, crowds and styles. The birthday event featured an impressive exhibition featuring 53 artists and collectives shown in the hospital-turned-cultural-centre the Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien. As well as the 38th edition of the party in the former factory club Ritter Butzke with DJ’s, spoken word, live painting and installations. The following is an interview with the big man himself; Jan Kage.

Modart: This year is the 9th anniversary of Party Arty. What was the original idea and why did you start the event?
JK: Like the motto says it’s a “night of vibes from different tribes”. I come from a Hip Hop background and I was kind of bored with a subculture where everybody thinks they are a rebel when in fact they have more rules than their own parents. As luck had it I was on a tour bus with some people from D.I.T.C, it was Party Arty the rapper. And I thought that was a great name, so I was like fuck, I like that name and I want to make a party with all of the arts involved!

Two or three months later we started in a little club called Lovelite. I always had two floors, one for so called black music and one for so called electro. Two worlds that would not generally meet back in those days. I didn’t show street art and graffiti until Party Arty Vol 5 or 6. I didn’t want to meet expectations that a guy from the hip hop world would show that.

We always had spoken word, it wasn’t just a poetry slam. It could be short stories, could be poetry, whatever, just spoken word. That’s how it got off. It was fun and I decided to do another one, but I didn’t really have a plan to take it this far.

After four years Lovelite decided to close down. So I went to Club 103 and this changed the rules of the game. I needed a bigger name for the dance floor; I had to pay higher wages. Before everybody got the same no matter how famous or unfamous you were. Everybody got 100 Euro, a socialist payment, because art is not a democracy it’s a dictatorship. I’m a dictator and everybody is created equal in my dictatorship. I’m a good dictator, but my arrogant taste of course decides if you’re in it or not. Then we were in 103 and after a few years they decided to close down and in the end I ended up in Ritter Butzke, where I have been for two years now.

M: One of the main elements of Party Arty is the mix of different genres from the spoken word to the electro, hip hop and visual artists from completely different fields. What is the biggest difficulty in putting on an event like that?
JK: For an exhibition like this the biggest challenge is to make sense in the hanging. You have people that are completely different, how do you hang them on one wall, or in this case on forty walls? What you can do is go through colour shades or forms that correspond. And then it is really interesting because then you can open up a communication between works that wouldn’t communicate because normally they wouldn’t be in the same location in the first place. But now you have something swinging between them that opens up this conversation.

Also, like we said this whole eclecticism is bound to my person. Who I like, I invite artistically and personally. I don’t want to work with assholes just because they are good at what they do. We gotta show my person in it too, show that there is someone behind it that invited all of them.

M: Over the nine years that you have been doing the event what have been the changes in what is happening in Berlin?
JK: In Berlin? Cats like you moved in. It got way more international with a lot of people that don’t speak German and have their own little American, Australian, Canadian, communities. That changed a little bit, at first everyone was like “Youhou we’re international, we’re like a metropolis now”. But now all the Turkish and German cats are really like “ah another American, hip and broke and can’t speak the language…walking the street with a can of beer in his hand…”.

Actually what has happened in the last 9 years and that is not all due to Party Arty is that Hip Hop turned pretty electro and electro got more of a snare drum to it. These worlds got a little closer. So I was maybe on the early tip of the zeitgeist.

Also Urban Arts had a big hype and some cats like Banksy and Blu were respected by the academic world. The street artists I know no longer want to have the label of “street artist” any more because they felt like the hype is over. The more serious ones like Various and Gould have gone to art school and they still do their urban interventions and they still do their beautiful collages and prints in the street but the whole thing changed.

M: Would you ever do a Party Arty in another city?
JK: We did! We did one in Hamburg, the Party Arty Hanseaty. We did one in the south of Germany near Munich, and we did one in Rostock when the G8 summit was there. I’d love to do more of that but logistically it’s quite a bit of work since we are no longer as small and experimental anymore. We have international artist in the Party Arty army, something like 8 or nine nations are represented, and all kind of ethnic groups. In that sense it is international. But we would love to do it in other cities, especially New York, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Brussels of course, I love Brussels, maybe Zurich, Milano, Moscow, and Beijing, no fuck Beijing do it in Shanghai…

M: And what do you predict is the future for you and the event?
JK: I don’t know. I mean I’ve been doing this for nine years now and it doesn’t look like I want to stop. It’s still fun. It’s a huge production to get ten musicians on stage and give them a good sound; you really need to have a good technique. It’s much more than just having a DJ there which would be way less effort and way more profitable. Party Arty is not always profitable but it’s a huge playground for artists to explore other sides of what they do. That is really satisfying and the reason why I do it.

Exhbition closes June 17th!
Mariannenplatz 2
10997 Berlin / Germany

Carlos Mare @ Skalitzers

Elise — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 07:48:37 +0000

Physical Graffiti – Art of the B-boy Dance

Opening Saturday 9th June 2012, 19HR
Artist Talk Tuesday 12th June, 18HR

Skalitzers Contemporary Art presents the first solo exhibition in Berlin by renowned New York-based artist, Carlos Mare, aka Mare139.
Focusing on the movement and rhythm of contemporary forms of abstract expression, Mare explores the physical graffiti of the Bboy dance.

“The B-Boy is the physical Graffiti artist, he is the lyrical and kinetic scratch, he is the break beat manifest, the most modern of all dancers.” – Mare139

Exhibition 13th – 30th June 2012

Skalitzers Contemporary Art
Skalitzer Strasse 43
10997 Berlin – Kreuzberg
U1 Gorlitzer Bahnhof

SIT @ C.A.V.E Gallery

Elise — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:09:36 +0000

C.A.V.E. Gallery presents:
Solo Show – Main Gallery: “Haiiro” – New works by: SIT (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

And in Gallery II: “Comfort and Chaos” – New works by: EATCHO (Portland, Oregon)

Shows runs ’til June 23, 2012

C.A.V.E. Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Dutch artist SIT.
The show will feature a captivating new series titled “Haiiro”, which continues the artist’s examination of humanity’s obsession with beauty and success. SIT’s US debut exhibition was hosted at C.A.V.E. Gallery in April of 2011. His artwork has been exhibited in cities around the world including Hong Kong, New York, Amsterdam, Berlin and Barcelona.

The work of Dutch artist SIT is inevitably characterized by a feeling of discomfort: He demonstrates artificial characters, human beings and animals that remind us of the banality of everyday life, of our obsession with appearance, look and materialism. These characters are the victims of our visual and fast society, the technology of the visible – where human vanity stands in the way of a truly ethical life.

By using black and white, SIT creates sober and melancholic images, as if man – while endlessly believing in progression – has lost something on the way. But on the other hand he displays a maximum of effects: the fabrics, textures and costumes look sensual and seductive, the settings are theatrical and grotesque. This ambiguity – between the temptation of beauty and our constant urge to abuse her – is the driving force behind SIT’s work.

C.A.V.E. Gallery • 1108 Abbot Kinney Blvd Venice CA 90291

Klub7 @ Gestalten Space

Elise — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:31:13 +0000

Easy as Pie
An exhibition by art collective KLUB7

07 | 06 | — 01 | 07 | 2012

Opening: June 7, 18:00 – 21:00

Gestalten is happy to announce “Easy As Pie,” a show by KLUB7. The Berlin-based art collective has made a name for itself with its street art as well as the murals, customizations, and illustrations it creates on various surfaces. Together, the six member artists of KLUB7 have developed a collective trademark style that is a mix of urban, pop, and comic art and that seamlessly melds their diverse backgrounds.

The majority of work shown in “Easy As Pie” is drawn with chalk—on walls as well as the ground. The fact that KLUB7 currently loves to work with chalk can be seen in part as a clever response to an increasingly unfriendly environment on the street with increased surveillance, fines, and city campaigns against tagging, posters, stickers, and stencils.

But, as this striking collection clearly demonstrates, chalk is first and foremost a fitting material for KLUB7’s spontaneous artistic interactions. It is not only easily available, but also permitted for use in public space. This aspect is key as many of the chalk drawings documented here are the result of “jam sessions” with children as well as adults—open events that expand the view of graffiti into an acceptable form of public art.

“Easy as Pie” will also feature a new mural by KLUB7 that will be created with chalk on the walls of Gestalten Space as well as a selection of work by individual members Dani Daphne, Diskorobot, Mike Okay, Kid Cash, Lowskii, and Otto Baum. In addition, KLUB7’s latest series of limited silkscreen prints will be displayed and sold at the show.

KLUB7 was born out of the graffiti scene in eastern Germany over 10 years ago and has undergone an amazing transformation. Since its inception, the collective’s five male and one female members have entered their 30s. As they have matured, each of them has developed an impressive range of artistic activities that have evolved beyond their shared creation of graffiti art without completely renouncing their roots. From the subculture of urban art to legal projects, KLUB7 has progressively and continuously expanded its oeuvre. Their 2009 move to Berlin, a melting pot and a centre for contemporary art, has not only supported their creative growth, but also demanded it.

PARIS ZONE LIBRE

Elise — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:32:01 +0000

OPEN WALLS Itinerant Street Art gallery presents “PARIS ZONE LIBRE” until the 6th of June, 2012.

Opening a series of exhibitions featuring Berlin artists in the French capital, the show presents BR1, SP38, ALIAS, VERMIBUS & TONA. Program includes interior exhibition, murals and various urban interventions.

Frichez Nous la Paix, 22 bis rue Dénoyez, Paris Belleville

NUG @ Skalitzers Contemporary Art

Elise — Sat, 12 May 2012 07:49:16 +0000

Opening Saturday 12th May, 19HR
Exhibition 16 May – 2 June 2012

Skalitzers presents a new solo show by infamous Swedish artist Nug, in participation with the Month of Performance Art.

Taking the energy and abstract expression of writing to new media and contexts, Nug has gained wide recognition in recent years for his graffiti-inspired actions. Nug’s exploration of form, informed by his background as a writer in Sweden, leads him to an artistic territory so pure that it touches upon the very essence of human behaviour – “a total negation of the form and complete rejection of comprehensible behavioural patterns”.

“I’m focusing more on the energy released from performing graffiti, an energy that comes out in irrational lines and moves based upon instinct and feeling.”
(Nug, 2008)

Fine Lines
The tag, also referred to as handstyle, urban calligraphy or ‘writing’, is a personal statement or signature: an expression of identity. The work of many artists starts and ends with the tag. For some the tag represents the basis from which they developed their style into less abstract art forms. For many of these artists tagging is a relevant part of their work, others’ entire message is contained within their tag. Reaching across culture, class and age, the tag is a global art form: a pure form of self expression and style. Originating in Philadelphia in the 1960s and New York in the early 1970s, for decades it has laid the foundation for a number of related art forms which have developed from the streets to galleries worldwide.