Monthly Archives: February 2019

ReView: Unfinished Hase

“Where’s the piano?” is always the question when one comes to Alte Handelsschule for an exhibition. On the evening of Friday 15th March, For Unfinished Hase, the piano was front and center in Floating Room 1, an installation by Atsuko Mochida.

Creating a room out of scaffolding, Atsuko floated the piano, stool and a temporary floor. This is a study for work she will be doing in Japan this summer on “Ghost Island,” an island left vacant after a Tsunami. In Japan ghosts are depicted as having no legs. Their feet no longer have contact with the ground.

One might think a room would dominate the space, but this center-piece did not. That’s partially because the walls were invisible and partially because all the other works were so strong. It’s a huge curatorial challenge to bring work from 16 artists into one space and maintain dialogue, but Tena Bakšaj  accomplished it with Unfinished Hase.

In general the atmosphere at the vernissage was bubbling. The exhibition was cluttered with interested adults and energetic toddlers. Clusters of people shared their thoughts and interests in a various seas of conversation, until the united attention of all was captured by the first performance in the space.

All photos by PILOTONKUECHE International Art Program

Eliana Jacobs (our Pilotenkueche resident) and the Dilara Womens Choir (lead by Walburga Walde) congregated, moving organically through the space towards their circular meeting arrangement. The group created humanist noises, all responsive to one another. In the middle of the circle, circus performer Eliana began to perform moves that called attention to the fact that we are expected to contort ourselves in order to be attractive to others. The choir created sounds that manipulated Eliana’s aggressive and erratic movements. Spectators were captured by the hypnotic actions of the performance.

This collaboration between PK’s international artists and the local choir was an example of how art can be integrated into the community. It also gave space for another PK resident, Ece Canguden to add her voice through performance.

Between the forms by Ludmila Hrachovinová  (feature photo) was designed to give viewers a new perspective of her drawing on paper, but it also gave them a safe place to engage with each other. They were completely immersed in the experience.

Throughout the space people could be seen with plants in their hands. This was part of AL Kleiner’s Take a plant – you’ll need it, where visitors were encouraged to choose a plant in return for a donation to Extinction Rebellion.

In our current climate of climate change deniers, this is a move towards radical social change. Adam knew he wanted to address a local topic, but wanted to choose a non-partisan one. This living still life could have long reaching affects. It will definitely have personal ones as those who took the plants watch their plants grow and benefit from cleaner air as a result.

Later in the evening, Eliana performed traditional Yiddish songs. Her arrangements with Ben Osborn were tantalising and made for a mellow atmosphere. All in all it was a wonderful experience. Somehow these artists in process felt very much complete.

We can’t wait to see the next and final show: Fast Kotzen.

Fast Kotzen 

Vernissage:  23.03.19, 19h
Open:  24 – 27.03.19 17h-20h
Location: PILOTENKUECHE, 2nd Floor, Franz-Flemming-Str. 9, 04179 Leipzig, Germany

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International residents

A L Kleiner 
(Painting, Installation; Sydney, Australia)

Amanda Struver 
(Interdisciplinary:Syracuse, NY, United States)

Ana Castillo 
(Illustration, Painting, Animation: Paris, France)

Atsuko Mochida 
(Installation, Site-specific Installation, Public Art : Tokyo, Japan) 

Ece Canguden
(Painting, Sculpture: Istanbul, Turkey)

Eliana Jacobs 
(Etching, Objects, Collage, Conceptual: Vancouver, BC, Canada)

Isabelle Kuzio
(Video, sculpture, painting, installation: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

Jose Sarmiento
(Painting, Drawing, Etching: Bucaramanga, Columbia)

Charles Park
(Photography: New York, NY, US)

Marloes Staal
(Sculpture, Photography, Drawing: Enschede, Netherlands)

Ludmila Hrachovinova 
(Painting: Bratislava, Slovakia / Stockholm, Sweden)

Roman Bicek
(Painting, Collage: Bratislava, Slovakia)

Tomas Orrego Gianella
(Video, Installation, Collage: Lima, Peru)

Valentine Emilia Bossert
(Drawing, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Installation: Geneva, Switzerland)


Local Participants

Henrike Pilz 
(Mixed Media; Leipzig, Germany)

Paul Altmann 
(Conceptual Art, Photography, Video, Installation: Leipzig, Germany)

Curator

Tena Bakšaj 
(Zagreb, Croatia)

Assistants

Ciara Brown
(Fine Art, Multi-media: Burnley, UK)

Samra Šabanović 
(Photography, Visual Culture: Helsinki, Finland / Sarajevo, B&H)

Maria Valcarcel Maceira 
(Art History: A Estrada, Spain)

Mihyun Maria Kim 
(Painting, Drawing; Toronto, Canada)

PK Artistic Director and Coordinator

maeshelle west-davies
(Performance, Time-based media, Installation: US/UK/DE)