Jan Bejšovec, a textile artist working in Berlin, is opening his textile installation “Friedenssäule” (Peace Column) on Tuesday, February 3rd at 1400h in Berlin-Kreuzberg, Mehringplatz.
Jan Bejšovec will use a monument of Prussian military history in Berlin as a location for his unusual textile art. The idea is to make a bond between history and present: the former with its enormous military-political, -technological and not the least -philosophical importance, the latter with its negation of the former.
The 166-years-old Friedenssäule (Peace Column) by Christian Gottlieb Cantian will become an “image column”; its appliqués will tell about the eventful history of this place. On the 64th anniversary of this residential quarter’s destruction by a Second-World-War bombing raid, this last remnant of the former Belle Alliance Place’s (since 1945 Mehringplatz) original architecture will reflect history and that of its residents.
The artist’s other works are highly interesting and multi-faceted, too, whom he is presenting under the both wonderful and provocative name “Konfliktstoff”.1 Jan Bejšovec was born in 1975 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Karl-Marx-City, GDR) that has been renamed Chemnitz in 1990 after the German reunification. His grandfather worked as seamstress in a textile company that had contracts with the armed forces, too. This and other effects lead the artist to an intensive examination of the matter of fabric, not the least during a four-years-stay in Anatolia. Since 2007, Jan Bejšovec works in Berlin.
At 1400h, his installation will be opened at Mehringplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg.2 The installation is planned to stay for one or two months.
At 1900h at Café “IchOrya”, the opening reception will begin3 For one or two weeks, further works of the artists will be shown, too, amongst others the “NVA tryptich”4, “Ich” (me), “Raubvogel” (bird of prey), “Freedom Tower”, “Air Argentina” and “Ein Schuß Kein Kuß” (A shot No kiss).
- Konfliktstoff is German for “cause for conflict”, but it consists of Konflikt (conflict) and Stoff, a rather ambigous word that can mean “subject matter”, “material”, “agent”, “substance”, “solid”, “stuff” (of course), but also “cloth” and “fabric”. ↩
- Friedrichstr. 4, subway station Hallesches Tor. ↩
- Oranienstr. 22, 10999 Berlin ↩
- NVA is the abbreviation for the GDR’s armed forces. ↩
Love your work. I soon will be starting my final year of a Contemporary Textiles degree. If it is ok with you could i forward some questions about your work and the materials you use at a later date. For my dissertation which is on political art and you are a perfect example for me to wrte about Please
Thanks
Hope to hear from you soon
Ezma
Dear Ezma,
I will send you an email with further information.
Cheers
Martin Bayer