Press Release

14 december 2006 - 17 february 2007

“Seeing The Invisible”
Charif Benhelima (B) / Kristina Braein (N) / Heman Chong (SGP) / Michel de Broin (CAN) /
Shin il Kim (ROK) / Lucas Lenglet (NL) / Jan Mancuska (CZ) / Conor McGrady (IRL) /
Melvin Moti (NL) / Sancho Silva (P) and John Hawke, USA / Nasan Tur (D)

A performance project by Valeria Schulte-Fischedick and Shin il Kim

The erased, the void, the missing, the unmarked or the left-out, transparency, infinity or even nothingness, as well as the idea of emptiness in Zen Buddhism, are notions that come into mind when thinking about Invisibility. It seems that the term almost always comes along with immateriality. It embraces thus a whole area in philosophy and perception theory as it was shown in curatorial and critical thinking lately.
Transferred to the art-context though, the term invisibility is at the same time obviously a contradiction in itself: Always strongly related to visibility and only recognizable as such through its counterpart or the knowledge of it, it seems that there can´t be something invisible, except for sheer thoughts and concepts...
Already in the 1960s, invisibility was reflected on in articles, exhibitions and art works like of Robert Morris, Hans Haacke or Robert Barry, who used immaterial and thus invisible materials like steam, wind or gas. Today other immaterial concepts like gossip or rumours are being considered to be part of the invisible.
The 12 international artists choosen for this show highlight quite differently to this in sometimes metaphorical, but always very haptical ways this ambiguous invisible, reflecting at the same time on our everyday surroundings, hinging not seldom on political issues. In the sense of “hiding”, the invisible here even sometimes borders on camouflage or fake and rediscovers and redefines the classical notion of the trompe-l´oeil.
Seeing the invisible is thus testing the limits and borders not only of the visible but of art itself, enriching our perception.

Kristina Braein:
“The invisible is right there, in front of you.”

The Norwegian artist KRISTINA BRAEIN (1955) undertakes small, sometimes almost invisible, interventions in space, by installing everyday objects such as plastic bags, little pieces of wood, carpet or tape to the floors and walls, thus creating minimalist and humorous arrangements.

Shin il Kim:
“We have the tendency to create something more beautiful out of 'visibility' things. However it is necessary to find and suggest the beauty of 'invisibility' since 'invisibility and visibility' is the one unit together.”

But invisibility can also present itself in spaces between different media.
When the Korean artist SHIN IL KIM (1971) follows his creative process in developing a video piece, he makes hundreds of drawings to create an animated video, thereby rendering visible not only the different processes in between, but also the specific elements of each medium.

Heman Chong:
“I am searching for a plot, but there isn’t one. Across the 1,097 files that I've scanned through, nothing makes sense to me. I light a cigarette and lean back into my chair and ponder over the meaning of it all.”

Singapore artist HEMAN CHONG´s (1977) objects diffuse the division of everyday objects and art pieces by presenting an assortment of postcards that are used as a door-stopper in an exhibition, slightly irritating the viewers’ unconsciousness, until the story behind them is revealed: (CHONG sent them as an art-object to a gallery owner, who, thinking very little of their worth as art, used them to keep his door ajar. It was only much later, when the postcards were dirty and destroyed, that he returned them to the artist). This object pretends to not be art and is thus almost invisible due to our definition and perception of art. CHONG’s work described above also redefines the notion of the Trompe l´oeil or the Fake

Sancho Silva:
“See what I’m saying?”

John Hawke:
“Invisibility within Orange Work is paradoxically created through the artists’ adoption of the florescent signal material designed for maximum visibility around building sites.  Camoflauged as the ubiquitous urban construction worker, the artists work incognito, building unauthorized structures to probe spatial pressures and reorganize public spaces for new social uses.”

This same concept is explored in the work of the Portuguese artist SANCHO SILVA (1973), who, together with the American artist JOHN HAWKE (1978), has been installing fake construction sites and shelter arrangements in public spaces in Brooklyn and Lisbon that blur the boundaries between art and urban environment. For the show at the Galleria Riccardo Crespi he installs a construction site in the front of the building, purposely provoking a negative reaction from the public.

Lucas Lenglet:
“I guess invisibility only matters when you at least suspect that the invisible object is actually there.”

The Dutch artist LUCAS LENGLET (1972) searches for forms to depict  “aggression”, “violence“, but also “shelter“ in his work, without rendering it  it visible in an illustrative manner. Also Camouflage, in its militaristic sense, is an important and recurring element in his work. His installations often refer to art-historical icons, uses them as a starting point to arrange his sometimes stage-like, architectural settings, highlighting social issues.

Charif Benhelima:
“It’s an anti-image and yet an image opened to the imaginary. In the case of Semites #2, the invisibility relates to ancient memories and lost or forgotten identities.”

On a more metaphorical level, invisibility also encompasses images that are left out, traces of memories, trauma, loss, as in the photographic work of the Belgium artist CHARIF BENHELIMA (1967), who traces in his formally blurred photographs the history of his relatives and the cultural background of his Moroccan-Jewish upbringing.

Michel De Broin:
“The invisible sleeps inside.”

Canadian artist MICHEL DE BROIN (*1970) invents absurd physical procedures that replace the actual ones, thereby humorously drawing our attention sideways of the mundane and how it’s perceived.
The notion of Entropie, which de Broin interprets as the reversal of the growth, is crucial in this context.  For the show DE BROIN presents the refrigerator-like object “Warming”: the mysterious insight - light is floating through the half-open door -  remains invisible, leaving it all up to the spectator’s imagination.

Melvin Moti:
“Change position. Change position. Change position.”

Dutch artist MELVIN MOTI (1977) uses a completely different approach with a modern photocopy-technique that presents a work based on a historical document and emphasizes the notion that all magic tricks lose their magic when they are officially accepted and patented.

Conor McGrady:
“Invisibility: The process of removal, disappearance, omission, emptiness and silence, yet retaining the residue of that which is subtly hidden beneath the surface.”

Historical as well as political references also are a subtle subtext in the black and white drawings of Irish-born artist CONOR MCGRADY (1970), where space and architecture allude to places of terror and battle.

Nasan Tur:
“                                     .” or “Wodka makes gorilla invisible.”

Turkish/German artist NASAN TUR (1974) presents a video loop, in which narration is suggested, but never explicit. There is only a hint of people moving behind bushes, leaving the scenery in the darkness.     

Jan Mancuska:
Invisible - A Short Story
Characters:
Father, Two kids, Teacher
In the kindergarten. “Sorry, but you cannot see me. I’m invisible today. I fetched the kids my self, because my wife couldn’t do it”, he says to the teacher. The children kiss him and walk inside behind the teacher. “I wonder what more we can expect from you…” she answers.

Prague-born artist JAN MANCUSKA (1972) reflects on Joseph Kosuths conceptual work with a wink in “800 ways to describe the chair”, when he shoots a bullet hole silhouette onto a real chair.

Valeria Schulte-Fischedick, Berlin
Shin il Kim, New York