Those of you who were able to come to the vernissage on Saturday got a little more than you bargained for. Whilst sitting at home in the cold rain, I had hashtagged the instagram promo #dry. Oh, the irony!
Yes, when we arrived to turn everything on, the water was already ankle deep in front of Israeli artist, choreographer and dancer Yotam Peled’s Jonah. The night long sound of water rushing in created a live sound performance to accompany his prophetic journey into the wild. We installed a viewing platform and walkway from pallets. The water was so deep that they gently floated. It was truly, pardon the pun, an immersive experience.
“Furlong”, Gili Lavy, Solo Show vernissage, PK at Kunstkraftwerk, Leipzig, Germany 2020, photo by Tom Gallmann
Another result of the flooding were literal reflections. As if the world is not screaming out for attention through natural disasters, these mirrors created by nature itself were asking us to reflect on our actions. Curated entirely online, the information age that made this exhibition possible is not without blame. Somehow the flooding only accentuated the fact that nature is ultimately in charge.
There are solos and there are solos
The title Solo Show was created in June when lockdown was just opening up. Not knowing if or how many people could attend an exhibition, we thought we’d turn the tables. This time instead of a single artist, there would be one solitary guest. With no artists in residence, we sent out an open call with nothing more than the fact we were doing a group show entitled Solo Show.
As Greek curator Steffi Stouri started sifting through the more than 260 applications, a theme began to emerge. I was clear that lockdown had freed enough time to think about how we engage with our world. That’s how the tag line was born.
What will remain when we are the only ones left?
“This collective solo show is the result of collective experiences with point of impact, our common and growing anxiety about our footprint in this cosmos.
Concrete jungles, uprooted civilizations, destroyed and devastated worlds. Oceans absorbing 93% of heat produced by emitted carbon, killing of 50% of the world’s corals while buying us time. Humans have established themselves as the prevailing predator, overthrowing big mammals and carnivores, eradicating entire species and destabilizing whole ecosystems. Existing and relating to nature offers healing and comforting qualities and a unique sense of interconnectedness. However, the reckless, pervasive and predatory behavior of humans has led us to living in constant confinement away from nature.
Unadorned days came and passed, missing out on feelings of collective effervescence by social rituals, while also offering perspective. Shifting our focus from our fragmented societies, lockdown was an opportunity to absorb, reflect and expand understanding.
images as credited
Diffused edges of actual lived experiences within virtual maps, are now rigid lines inscribed deep within us.
By reiterating our perspective into the scale of our bodies, we manage to see more clearly the world around us, achieving macroscopic understanding through microscopic perception of the actual world.
For the first time we were utterly confronted with our compromised realities.”
Steffi Stouri
Solo Show online events
We were happy that Michael Hahn and Why Elliy could join us for the vernissage and give us a little more insight into their work. They will be among the four artists participating in the online program curated by Steffi in her efforts to include viewers from all over the world.
It starts at noon EST today With Berit Dröse giving a live commentary as we watch her piece I am in orbit. For Solo Show, her work, Dark Energy, is a life size floor projection of her navigating space, but always being kept in her place. Her vision and perspective will make for interesting viewing. Don’t miss it on facebook live on the PILOTENKUECHE International Art Program page.
Solo Show
“The Plant That Wasn’t There”
“Survive Acid Oceans by Switching to Soft Bodied Mode”
“Life in the future”
“Dark Energy”
“Monuments”
“Jonah”
“Lost and Found in Spacetime”
“Furlong”
Solo Show online events
Symbiotic degradation
Thur 1 Oct 12 noon EST
I am in Orbit
Fri 2 Oct 1.30 PM EST
Off The Wall Flowers
Sat 3 Oct 4 PM EST
A Walk in Spacetime” / “Quarantined Connections
Bringing the “invisible quarantine of the mind” to the eyes of spectators, the “Quarantined Connections” project is a series of interactive performances
Sun 4 Oct 8 PM EST
Artist Talk/ documentary screening