20.03. – 10.04.2011
Forum Kunst & Architektur Essen

Antoine Berghs (Maastricht, NL), Wolfgang Bittner (Den Haag, NL /Aus), DOS Crew (Ruhrgebiet / NL), Eachone & Anyone (Essen, D), Gigo Propaganda (Essen, D), Cristina Lucas (Madrid, ES), Mozes & Taps (International), Nils Müller (Bochum / Köln, D), Nektar Carla (Essen / Hamburg, D), Paulien Oltheten (Amsterdam, NL), Andrew Sroka (New York, USA), Victor Szabo (Essen, D), (Unknown Artist) (Unknown)

Sunday 20.03. 12h Vernissage

Critical Mess – the exhibition is on display from March 20th, to April 10th,, 2011 at Forum Kunst & Architektur and accompanies the equally called dance-performance in Grillo Theatre, Essen. Under the common denominator “experts of deviant behaviour” Critical Mess reflects Graffiti from Nordrhein-Westfalen and international video art onto each other and addresses re/presentation of sub/culture in exhibition spaces.

Critical Mess shows the radical, partly romantic as well as conceptual practices of graffiti artists. These are directly compared to approaches of contemporary artists who work with other media and in different surrounding: A confrontation of scribbling, ephemerality, destruction, personal risk and artistic activism in private and public spaces.

On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue designed by Kerstin Emonds will be published. The exhibition is curated by Gabor Doleviczenyi,
Lene ter Haar and Robert Kaltenhäuser.

Artistic interventions in public space between Forum and Theater

26.03. Premiere “Critical Mess” & 30.03. 19.30h Performance / Grillo Theater
01.04. 19h Lectures: A perspective of things – Graffiti. / Forum
Kunst & Architektur
04.04. 19h Discussion: We leave our marks. Graffiti, significance and impact. / Grillo Theater
10.04. 12h Finissage & Performance / Forum Kunst & Architektur

Forum Kunst / Architektur
Kopstadtplatz 12 D – 45127 Essen
Di – Fr 12-19h / Sa, So 12-17h

Magic / Oliver Räke – David Radon – Jens Besser – ECB Hendrik Beikirch – Nils Müller – Collin van der Sluijs – Victor Szabo – MyMo – Vektor Gruppe West – Daniel Tagno

Demolition sites. Wasteland. Cocaine or whatever. Feel the angst and the romanticism of just another nightshift in this landscape of the soul. Dents in wire fences tell stories of those who climbed them before we did. From spraypaint on the skin of subway trains to photography on aluminium – the hands of boom play in the church of dirt. But never talk to strangers because ART IS JUST A FOUR LETTER WORD.

Compiled by Robert Kaltenhäuser.

Vernissage will take place on 18. 02. 2011 um 19h at strasserauf headquarters, Ronsdorfer Str.74, Halle 14, 40322 Düsseldorf.

In 1984 he founded the artist group Les Frères Ripoulin, which attracted attention by pasting up their paintings on advertising billboards. Popular imagery and the media inspired OX’s work at that time, and New York gallerist Tony Shafrazi exhibited their work in January 1985.After 2 years of wild pastings and exhibitions the crew split, with OX then devoting himself to painting on canvas.In 1993 he began pasting up works on paper in the street, while continuing to exhibit in galleries.By the dawn of 2000, his work in urban areas had grown to become his preferred way of expression. Initial displays were primarily intended to show his painting to the greatest extent, but over time the urban space has become increasingly important in dictating graphical choices.After a variable exposure time in the street, the posters are destroyed by takeover.The staging photo shows the moment when the piece creates tension with its environment.OX’s recent ephemeral interventions in public space are minimalist and mimetic compositions, using commercial imagery in an ironic way, and his current work stems from the notion of aesthetic shock.