
Connecting War and the Arts
In the “Colonial Exhibition: Culloden 1746” (on show at power galerie, Hamburg, 27 October – 7 December 2012), the Scottish artist Andrew Gilbert presents a tableaux and series of new drawings in the tradition of a military museum, exploring this epic and blood drenched historical event: the last battle fought on British soil. Born 1980 in Edinburgh, Gilbert is truly fascinated by the British soldier of the 18th and 19th century and its appearance in representations of the colonial wars, around which his extensive work circles. Since 2002, Gilbert is living and working in Berlin. Continue reading “Andrew Gilbert: “Colonial Exhibition – Culloden 1746” (power galerie, Hamburg)”
After having been on show at ICA London (26-30 September 2012), the 24 works of “AKA Peace” will be auctioned on 4 October 2012 at 1930h at Phillips de Pury & Company in London versteigert. An illustrious group of contemporary artists (e.g. Mat Collishaw, Gavin Turk, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Sarah Lucas, Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley and Bran Symondson, initiated by the latter) dealt with the highly symbolic assault rifle AK-47 for the charity organisation Peace One Day.
Continue reading ““AKA Peace” Live Auction at Phillips de Pury & Company, London”
The exhibition “Festungen: Innen und Außen” (Fortresses: Inside and Outside; 5 July to 31 October 2012) presents position from 22 artists on the meaning of fortresses in our time. It forms the artistic complementary exhibition to this year’s Bayern-Ausstellung (Bavaria Exhibition) “Festungen – Frankens Bollwerke” (Fortresses: Franconia’s Strongholds) at Festung Rosenberg in Kronach (17 May to 21 October 2012). Continue reading “Fortresses: Inside and Outside – Young Art from Leipzig (Festung Rosenberg, Kronach)”
From 19 April until 30 September 2012, the exhibition “Holocaust im Comic” (Holocaust in Comics) is shown at Evangelische Versöhnungskirche of KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau. Curator Ralf Palandt, himself comic artist and founding member of Gesellschaft für Comicforschung (ComFor) (Association for Comic Studies), published a reader on right-wing extremism, racism and anti-Semitism (“Rechtsextremismus, Rassismus und Antisemitismus in Comics”) in 2011.
From 26 January until 28 March 2012, Galerie Anke Zeisler presents the exhibition “Der blaue Himmel” (the blue sky) with works by Achim Riethmann. His watercolours illustrate the book “Kleine Tragödien” (small tragedies, 2011) by the Vietnamese author Le Minh Khue. “The Blue Sky” is the title of one of the book’s stories and refers to the view from a tank’s open hatch.
Since years, Berlin-based artist Jens Kloppmann is addressing issues of visual reality and collective memory that he is realising with many different media. Today, I am proud to present to you an edition that he has manufactured exclusively for Wartist and which will solely be offered via Wartist. His work “Trümmerfrau”1 does not only bring back memories of Germany’s old currency, but is a strong statement of humility and not the least of German identity.
Continue reading “Wartist Exclusive: “Trümmerfrau” by Jens Kloppmann”
Jan Bejšovec, a textile artist working in Berlin on his label “Konfliktstoff” 1 has made a new work, “Tyrannenmord” (tyrannicide). It addresses both actual developments in the Arab world and the general dealing with dictators: for more than 30 years, Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya with an iron fist. The world was able to come to terms with him, especially since he departed from his previous support of international terrorism. Thus, the external perception was mainly reduced to his high entertainment value. Quite unexpectedly, the uprising that begun in February 2011 lead to Gaddafi’s escape and his homicide, including the presentation of his dead body. Continue reading “Tyrannenmord (Tyrannicide): New Work by Jan Bejšovec”