Künstler | Wartist

Bryan Adams: Exposed (Dusseldorf)

Private Karl Hinett (© 2011 Bryan Adams)

From 2 February until 22 May 2013, NRW-Forum Düsseldorf presents the photo exhibition Exposed with works by Bryan Adams, mostly known as musician. Many of the some 150 prints shown are glamour portraits of actors and fellow musicians. As maximum disruption to all those immaculate stars, Adams’s portraits of British war invalids are shown, too: a new series of impressive portraits of humans marked by war. Protheses replace the former limbs, monstrous scars refer to pain and injuries. According to Adams, these pictures are his way “to show the legacy of war”.

2 + 2: Phoenix Chemnitz – A Peace Day Exhibition (Chemnitzer Künstlerbund)

On 12 February 2013, the exhibition “2 + 2: Phoenix Chemnitz” will open on the premises of Chemnitzer Künstlerbund (association of Chemnitz’s artists). In this established format, two local and two external artists meet to address a specific subject. This time, the Chemnitz Friedenstag (Chemnitz Peace Day) is this issue: on 5 March 1945, Chemnitz was severly damaged – more than 2,100 people died in this bombing. How can this central event be remembered? What has contemporary art to say on war? Peggy Albrecht (* 1974) and Rose-Marie Güttler (* 1978) are the two local artists in this show, while Jan Bejšovec (* 1975, Konfliktstoff) and Martin Bayer (* 1971, Wartist) from Berlin provide external perspectives. Continue reading

Otto Herrmann: The Damned (E.M.Remarque-Friedenszentrum, Osnabrück)

On 31 Januar 2013, the exhibition “Die Verdammten” (The Damned) with lithographs by Otto Herrmann (1899-1995) will be opened at Erich Maria Remarque-Friedenszentrum (E.M.Remarque Peace Centre) in Osnabrück. The cycle was made in the late 1940s and thus immediately after the Second World War. The artist was inspired by Theodor Plievier’s novel “Stalingrad”. 70years after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, the majority of these works will finally be presented to the public.

Otto Herrmann: Im Schutz der Toten (© Otto & Maria Herrmann Stiftung)

Steve McCurry: In the Flow of Time (Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg)

From 19 January until 16 June 2013, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg shows the exhibition “In the Flow of Time – Photographs from Asia 1980-2011” with pictures by Steve McCurry. Thus, the colourful work by the US photographer (* 1950) will be presented in Germany for the very first time. The exhibition consists of 115 images by the Magnum photographer from countries such as Afghanistan, India, Cambodia, Kuwait, China or Nepal: “I see it was the vibrant colour of Asia that taught me to see and write in light”. While quite many of his photos appear to be arranged, he refuses this method and solely takes photos of moments happening, on which the exhibition’s title is referring to.

Ahmadi Oil Fields, Kuwait, 1991

Camels and oil fire, Kuwait, 1991

Sandwiched between blackened sand and sky, camels search for untainted shrubs and water in the burning oil fields of southern Kuwait. Their desperate foraging reflects the environmental plight of a region ravaged by the gulf war. Canby, Thomas Y. (August 1991)

"The first Gulf War taught us a new lesson in unconventional conflict. Saddam Hussain's army filled the skies of southern Kuwait with black poignant smoke from the burning oil lines. It was a powerful, debilitating symbol. And there was another. McCurry, who was covering the war, saw camels running in terror from the fires. Both images -whether of the fires or of the animals- were powerful representations of the chaos of that time. Central to McCurry's reputation as a journalist is his discipline to wait, and to search, and then to recognize the most telling image. The juxtaposition of the fire and smoke and camels running amok creates an icon of that war." - Phaidon 55

National Geographic, Vol. 180, No. 2, pgs. 2-3, August 1991, The Persian Gulf: After the Storm

Phaidon, 55, Iconic Images, final book_iconic, final print_milan, iconic photographs

As his army retreated from Kuwait, Saddam Hussein ordered the ignition of the oil fields that scatter the country. The effect was an ecological disaster of unimaginable scale. These camels are running from the fires. It is a futile effort: soon they will covered in oil that rails down from the sky.

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Iconic_Book
Untold_book

final print_UrbanArt'12

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Erik Schiemann: The Day is Coming (Sprechsaal, Berlin)

From 11 January to 10 March, Sprechsaal in Berlin presents photos by Erik Schiemann. The artist, born in 1963, is dedicating himself to the people, the traces and atmospheres in locations such as Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Buchenwald and Belzec. His pictures show former inmates and young people, damaged lives and wounded landscapes. A selection of some 30 pictures from a series of 60 black and white photos will be shown: portraits, thoughts and landscapes from the past seven years, supplemented with parts of Schiemann’s work “c’était son monde” from 1995.

Wartist presents: “Peaceful Places” by Henning Kappenberg at ARD-Hauptstadtstudio, Berlin

We are pleased to announce our next exhibition at the both centrally located and well-visited ARD-Hauptstadtstudio in Berlin. The single show “Peaceful Places” of Berlin-based artist Henning Kappenberg circles around landscapes and maps: what do we see in landscapes, and what do we think we see? Maps, on the other hand, do always represent a political system. Curated by Martin Bayer, the exhibition will be opened on 17 January 2013.

o.T. (Guernica) © 2007 Henning Kappenberg (photo: © 2011 Martin Bayer)

Upper-Class Barbarians: Masquerades of Systemic Violence (ratskeller, Berlin)

From 8 November 2012 until 18 January 2013, ratskeller – Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst (town hall cellar – gallery for contemporary art) in the basement of the town hall of Berlin-Lichtenberg presents the group show Barbaren der Oberschicht – Maskeraden systemischer Gewalt (Upper-Class Barbarians – Masquerades of Systemic Violence). An interesting contribution are Florian Göttke’s book and video installation “toppled”, addressing the countless statues of Saddam Husseins in Iraq: after Hussein was toppled, his statues shared the same fate. From symbols of his power, they became icons of his downfall, quite fitting to the dictator who at the end was pulled from a hole in the ground as dirty fugitive with a matted beard.

Matthias Ley: Remembering Gwangju (Bürgerforum Wunsiedel)

From 27 October to 2 December 2012, photographer Matthias Ley presents photos from his series “Remembering Gwangju” at Bürgerforum Wunsiedel. Made 2009 to 2010, the work remembers a central event for the development of democracy in South Korea: the revolt in the city of Gwangju against the military dictatorship after the declaration of martial law on 18 May 1980, up to the “Gwangju massacre” on 27 May 1980. While the crushing of the protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 4 June 1989 received worldwide attention, there was hardly any coverage of the Gwangju massacre in Western media.

Schamal: Peace Bird (MHM Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow)

From 27 October 2012, Schamal – an artist originating from Iraq – presents his most recent Friedensvogel (peace bird) at Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr, Flugplatz Berlin-Gatow (German Air Force Museum, Berlin). As distant, but feasible vision, these peace birds are intended to take to his native country’s skies and “make the children marvel, pleased and question and inspire the adults to reflect on freedom and peace”.

The Desire for Freedom – Art in Europe since 1945 (DHM Berlin)

From 17 October 2012 to 10 February 2013, the Deutsche Historische Museum (German Historical Museum, DHM) Berlin presents the 30th Council of Europe Art Exhibition “The Desire for Freedom – Art in Europe since 1945”. Not the least it is most interesting that the tradition of Enlightenment is the centre of reference instead of the two-bloc confrontation between the East and the West Cold War, as one might have assumed. Thus, multifaceted approaches towards freedom by 113 artists from 28 countries can be seen; paintings, drawings, photos, videos and installations by e.g. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Gerhard Richter, René Magritte, Richard Hamilton, Tadeusz Kantor, Erik Bulatov, Aurora Reinhard and Christo, to name a few. Continue reading “The Desire for Freedom – Art in Europe since 1945 (DHM Berlin)”