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10/1/2008

Christina Dimitriadis

Curators without borders, Berlin

Curators Without Borders is pleased to present Berlin-based Greek-German artist, Christina Dimitriadis in her first solo show in Berlin since 1997. For this exhibition entitled Symbioses, the artist has carefully selected a group of photographs, that incorporate several series that she has created spanning the last ten years, from 1996 to the present.

Dimitriadis uses the medium of photography to articulate a very personal expression of space; one that is largely autobiographical and based on her close personal and family relationships. With these works, she continues her examination of the self, time and space. Her images are a meditation on the quotidian reality of existence that pose questions about how we occupy our most intimate and familiar spaces.

Symbioses, the title the artist has chosen for this show, is derived from the Greek word, which translates quite simply as, “living together” or in more scientific terms, “a close or prolonged association between two or more entities that may or may not be beneficial to one another.” A Symbioses lies at the core of each selected work and this title sets up the dialectic from which the artist’s work may be understood.

These carefully chosen works lead the viewer through the various stages of life, and mark the passage of time from one state of being to the next through each successive gallery space. At the same time, each work remains not only autonomous but ambiguous, eschewing any straightforward reading or interpretation. Dimitriadis’ cold, minimal images create a sense of poetic silence that, while intimate do not allow for the proposal of any specific personal narrative.

These concise and elegantly articulated photographs always keep the viewer at arm’s length, maintaining an underlying impenetrability throughout.

In the first gallery the viewer is confronted with a monumental photograph of an ominous black door, through which a white light radiates. Entitled, Men and Women this enigmatic door, a motif that Dimitriadis often returns to, is highly symbolic in relation to the title of the piece. A quiet yet gripping image, the door proposes a host of interpretive possibilities; from isolation, communication and solitude to
the problematic relations between man and woman and romantic notions of love.

In the same gallery on the left wall, a small portrait entitled I Remember All of You, features a partially obscured woman peering into a mirror. The viewer catches only th back side of the figure, who is lost within her own self-reflection. Wearing an embroidered dressing gown, this self-portrait is quite literally a
confrontation with the self, its two-way voyeuristic element adds more complexity to the genre of selfportraiture. The artist originally took this photograph in 1996, but she did not present the it until later until 2005, during a time when she describes “forcing herself to remember to forget.”

In the second gallery is another large imposing image of the artist in the most intimate of all places, her bedroom. In Living Together – Bedroom, from the series Building, Living, Leaving, Dimitriadis confronts herself yet again. This time, however the viewer is not presented with the obscured self, but a self, that is
split in two and on the verge of disappearing. Shot with a long exposure, this ghostly, translucent image of a young woman staring unabashedly at us from an Art Deco bed seems about to vanish before our eyes.

In the third gallery, the artist has chosen to present two diptychs from the series, Obscure Passages, which continue Dimitriadis’ examination of self in relation to family. In these elegant and striking photographs the artist poses with her mother in one photo, and then presents her mother and her grandmother in another. These quiet highly poised compositions focus on the private, domestic space
and the familial ties that bind us. They also allude to ambiguous sub-texts, which may be played out beneath the surface or outside the picture frame.

In the last gallery, the viewer is given a more universal view on life. The Trap, which was shot at the artist’s studio in an abandoned Humboldt University building in Berlin, features four color photographs that embody the scientific side of the term Symbioses. Devoid of human presence the space in now is
inhabited only by spiders and flies. Entry to the room is accessible for both of them, but not the exit. Their coexistence inside this space is impossible because one constitutes food for the other. Thus, this space itself offers no future to either of them. The room becomes the "un – natural" equation of victim and perpetrator.

Christina Dimitriadis’ oeuvre is comprised of several autonomous series, that build upon each other and relate to one another, culminating in a greater whole. For the first time, Dimitriadis is able to simultaneously incorporate several of these and create a nonlinear narrative that encompasses an examination of self, intimate relationships, family and finally the cycle of life and ultimately death. With this
new positioning of her work, the artist has successfully achieved a kind of Gestalt. While it offers us a glimpse into her private domain, it reveals nothing, and yet resonates universally.

Image: Obscure Passages 2003, Lambda print 120 x 120 cm

Curators without borders
Brunnenstrasse 5 - Berlin

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