Diana Artus
dal 26/11/2015 al 9/1/2016
Segnalato da
26/11/2015
Diana Artus
Uqbar - projectspace, Berlin
There is tiresome, but attractive. The exhibition brings together various photographs from the city's business and shopping districts, that is still under construction. The artist transforms the street scenes and architectures into ''Urban Characters''.
In her exhibition /There is tiresome, but attractive /Diana Artus
presents the results of her three-month artist residency in Seoul in
spring 2015. Recurring themes in the artist's work are the interaction
of urban space and mood as well as thepossibility of a psychogeographic
reading and narration of urban space. This time her research was
inspired by the theories of South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han, who
referred to his country as "fatigue society in the final stage", and
focused on the specific atmosphere of Seoul between "excitement" and
"exhaustion".
In the form of an installation setting the exhibition brings together
various photographs from the city's business and shopping districts,
especially Gangnam and the "Smart City" Songdo that is still under
construction. Experimenting with the image carrier and the form of its
presentation, the artist transforms the street scenes and architectures
into "Urban Characters". In her series of works of the same title–/Urban
Characters/–the artist turns architectural bodies into representative
characters, who confront the viewer as independent personalities with
distinctive characteristics. In the case of Seoul, these are ultra
modern buildings, but barely able to keep upright. These new works
entitled /Dropouts /literally fall out of the frame into the exhibition
space. It seems as if they were acting out the exhaustion that the
passers depicted do not concede. When asked "How are you?" the
disciplined subject answers "Very busy!" Artus' /Businesscard of a Full
Body Sandwich Man/ refers to the importance of the business card as
proof of such activity.
The need for a permanent commitment and optimal appearance exerts
immense pressure and in order to keep up the motivation, there is
suggestive encouragement. Shown on a flatscreen, /Korean Notebook
Wisdoms/ is a collection of aphorisms that the artist has discovered on
the covers of Korean College blocks - the title of the exhibition is one
of them. The slogans -–written in incorrect English– oscillate oddly
between reassurance and encouragement; sprung from the Confucian
philosophy they fit seamlessly into a global neoliberal work ethic.
Diana Artus further presents her new artist's book /A Korean Notebook,/
which is inspired by the Korean college blocks. It brings together the
image and text level of the exhibition and–as the name suggests– it also
can be used as notebook.
Press Antje Weitzel aweitzel@uqbar-ev.de
Opening Friday, November 27, 2015, 19.00
Uqbar
Schwedenstr. 16 | D -13357 Berlin
Hours Fridays, 14 – 18 and by appointment
Admission free