︎︎︎News
and let no one be forgotten!
Launch event
18.11.2024
On Saturday, Katya, Hannah, and I welcomed over 60 guests to join our audiowalk in Karlshorst. It has already been played more than 180 times.
Thank you to everyone who joined, contributed, and participated. Special thanks to Lilia Usik for your support and speech.
and let no one be forgotten! is a free audiowalk, available in German and English. You can stream the walk directly from Soundcloud here.
We will be organising future collective walks and group discussions in 2025. More to follow on that soon.
alnobf! is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds Lichtenberg
Foto: © Katya Romanova
and let no one be forgotten!
Audiowalk in Karlshorst
16.10.2024
What (and who) gets left behind when empires fall?
and let no one be forgotten! is an immersive audiowalk I’ve created with fellow Berlin-based artists Hannah Alongi and Katya Romanova. It addresses the so-called 'Russenhäuser' (Russian Houses) of Berlin-Karlshorst that have stood empty since the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Berlin in 1994. As 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal, this audiowalk offers listeners an updated contemporary perspective on Soviet legacies in Karlshorst (and beyond).
All are welcome to join. The audiowalk is available in German and English. Please bring headphones with you. A mobile phone with internet data is also required.
Reserve your tickets for free on Eventbrite here (donations are of course welcome).
Date: 16.11.2024
Meeting time: 14:00
Meeting point: S-Bahn Karlshorst
(Opposite ‘Der Bäcker Feihl’)
alnobf! is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds Lichtenberg
Discover more at alnobf.de
Foto: © Matthias Töpfer, Museum LichtenbergDesign: © Katya Romanova
Listening In:
Sonic Strategies For Brighter Cities
14.10.2024
Join me at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin in January for a performative lecture I am giving which will explore the topic of light pollution through the lens of sonic arts practices.
Date: 13.01.2025
Time: 16:00-18:00
Location: Department of European Ethnology (HU Berlin)
Mohrenstraße 40-41, 10117
My lecture takes place within the context of the 2024/25 Winter Series of Stadtlabor For Multimodal Anthropology at the HU, which is part of the wider Wave Matters project expanding upon the ‘vibrations between art and anthropology’. I’m grateful to be included in the lecture series in January and excited to start work on a new response to this topic over the course of 2025 (more to follow on that shortly).
You can find out about the lecture series and how to sign up here.
Snapping Back
Co-making Matters Residency
30.09.2024
I start a two-week residency at Co-Making Matters in Berlin tomorrow. I’ll be using the two-week residency period to test ideas for my Master’s project in and around the area of Alexanderplatz.
Since 2016, when I first moved to Berlin, I've used photography and walking as tools to question Germany’s strict privacy laws. As the rights of individuals to privacy in public space differ greatly in Germany compared to the UK, I’ve aimed to use my practice both to better understand the differences and position myself somewhere in between (morally, legally, you name it). As a photographer, the topic of privacy interests me because cameras are often viewed within this context as weapons, whereas I see them as liberators and tools for justice. Throughout this residency, I will be trialling a range of strategies for shooting in public space that test existing legal boundaries.
You can find updates via Co-Making Matters here.
Then Again
Collaborative Project with Reza Adhiatma
09.08.2024
As a photographer, I deal with time by default. I can set my camera to record different portions of it with each exposure: perhaps one-hundredths of a second for a static scene and five-thousandths for a scene with movement if I want to create the illusion of stopping time altogether by arresting the motion of some fast-moving ‘thing’. Indeed, on a less mechanical level, and to summon the words of Susan Sontag here, “the photographer is not simply the person who records the past but the one who invents it.”
I’ve been thinking about time recently both through the lens of my photography practice and my connection to the British natural landscape. Perhaps this is because my perception of time – specifically how much time humans and the Earth have left due to global warming – is shifting.
Taking a longer view of time by contemplating the gaps between milliseconds and millions of years requires some serious processing (and compressing), and it’s here that I find rocks quite photo-esque in their ability to record time on an otherwise incomprehensible scale – like snapshots taken from the murky soup of deep time itself. It’s hard not to slip into romantic notions of time at this scale and avoid sensing what Alain de Botton describes as a kind of “pleasing terror” when comparing the fleeting presence we humans have on Earth to the slow compression of dust and sand over millennia into great slabs of rock.
But I'm trying.
Indonesian writer Reza Adhiatma and I are working together this year on a new project to exchange perspectives on time from our respective vantage points - writing, photography, Indonesia, and the UK.
More updates to follow.
- Then Again, with Reza Adhiatmarbb24 Press Article
Warum die "Russenhäuser" in Karlshorst seit Jahrzehnten verfallen
07.08.2024
alnobf! is the topic of an article published by rbb24 this morning, which explores the renewed attention brought to the so-called ‘Russian Houses’ in Karlshorst since my collaborative project with Katya and Hannah kicked off in June.
I’m so delighted to read that this project is already making waves! It’s also humbling to learn how well our research week in June was received by some of the people living in this part of Karlshorst. Let’s see how things progress over the coming months as we begin to pull our research and ideas together for the final project.
Our exhibition Kiosk of Memory is open at GISELA Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg until August 16th.
You can read the full article by Caroline Winkler and Sylvia Lundschien here.
- rbb24 article: ‘Warum die "Russenhäuser" in Karlshorst seit Jahrzehnten verfallen’Project Update
AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!
05.08.2024
Earler this year, I initiated an art project with Katya Romanova and Hannah Alongi to address the existence and contested ownership status of a number of empty buildings in Berlin-Karlshorst that are still owned by Russia thirty years after the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Berlin.
One challenge that we have faced so far is that some expect us to create direct political change, and we therefore have to explain that we are not public officials or politicians, but artists. Of course, this project is political and change is something we hope for, but we do not see ourselves as instigators of immediate political changes in the Bundestag or EU Parliament. We feel that our project offers something more important. We are asking how people closest to the empty buildings feel, and providing a forum for open debate and discussion about what the future might hold.
We are also clear in saying that, yes, we are ‘outsiders’ to Karlshorst, but this does not disqualify us from holding a position on this topic. I believe that such concepts keep gates for change and exchange unnecessarily closed. As a British person, I have reason to be troubled by the legacies of empires. The British Empire has a terrible record of violence and occupation, and so I am sensitive to this topic.
I ask myself, both in the context of the British Empire and the Soviet Union, what do empires leave behind after they fall?
- ‘They are empty’ (Kiosk of Memory at GISELA Freier Kunstraum)Kiosk of Memory
GISELA - Freier Kunstraum
24.07.2024
This Friday, Hannah Alongi, Katya Romanova, and I present an interim phase of our collaborative project AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN! at GISELA Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg.
Opening event: 2nd August, 6 pm
Run time: 3-16th August
Address: Giselastr. 12, 10317 Berlin
We invite you to join us at GISELA for an exhibition in which we share both our research and reflections on the topic of Soviet legacies in Berlin Karlshorst, specifically by addressing the existence of a number of abandoned buildings in the area owned by the Russian Federation.
Be welcome and join us!
You can find up to date information about the exhibition via GISELA’s website here or directly via the alnobf! site here.
- Kiosk of Memory at GISELA Freier Kunstraum
Self-Censoring
Tage der offenen Tür
21.07.2024
You can find my installation Self-Censoring this weekend during the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Rundgang in the open space between the main university campus and Concordia.
Address: Johannes-Itten-Straße 2, 13086, Berlin
Dates: 20-24 July 2024
Opening times: 12:00 - 22:00
Self-Censoring is a process of auditing my archive of over 177,000 digital images to meet the expectations of German law. The installation uses magnifying glasses and heat from the sun to redact depictions of people I have photographed in public space in Germany without their prior-given consent. In doing so, the rights of these individuals to develop his or her personality is ensured, albeit at the cost of a little censorship.
Mending the Void
Tage der offenen Tür
15.07.2024
This weekend is the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Rundgang. In keeping with tradition, we students in the department of Raumstrategien have created an exhibition within an exhibition, and this year we’ve titled our collective show Mending the Void.
Address: Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin, Johannes-Itten-Straße 1, 13086, Berlin
Dates: 20-24 July 2024
Opening times: 12-20 Uhr
Participating artists: Alexey Kokhanov, Amanda Bobadilla, Asuman Kirlangiç, Bianca Lee, Carlos Ricoy, Cau Silva, Cecilia Buffa, Emma Lang, Farokh Falsafi, Franziska Anastasia Lentes, Jeremy Knowles, Jian Langjie, Kathleen Bomani, Ksenia Lapina, Laura Bleck, Maria Fallada Llandrich, Mariana García Mejía, Maricarmen Gutiérrez Castro, Merel Maan Galama, Nathalia Favaro, Nina Cavalcanti, Nischal Khadka, Rebecca Pokua Korang, Reem Alfahad, Sayaka Shinkai, Sepehr Talebi, Xiao Zhang, xindi, Yupanqui Ramos
Faculty: Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Ndikung, Prof. Pauline Doutreluingne, Tonderai Koschke, Paz Guevara, Dr. Anton Kats, Dr. Marianna Liosi, Manuela García Aldana, Lerato Shadi, Viron Erol Vert
Swamposium
Floating University
11.07.2024
I’m heading back to Floating University next Wednesday, 17th of July, to present my installation There’s Nothing to See and I’m Going to See It. I’ll be presenting my work alongside students from TU Berlin, UdK Berlin, HTW Berlin, HBK Braunschweig, TH Nürnberg, Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee, Kontaminiert Werden, and more.
See yah there!
17.07.2024
2-5pm
Floating University
Lilienthalstrasse 32
10965 berlin
‘Swamposium invites past, present and future participants of the Learnscapes programme for a day of exchange, presentations, talks and get-togethers – an opportunity to take a deeper dive into the floating landscapes of knowledge production and practices of un-, co- and re-learning beyond academia.
This season we aim to reflect practices of un-, re- and co-learning through the notion of becoming the swamp – questioning established planning processes, breaking out of institutional borders and entrenched learning methods, developing new ways of practice-based knowledge production, envisioning alternative futures and narratives and exploring spatial transformations of the basin and beyond.’
- Floating University Website
Looking Forward
AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!
03.07.2024
Our four days of research, introductions, and presentations in Karlshorst came to an end last week. Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed.
We are still in the process of collecting stories, memories, and objects connected with the empty houses. If you would like to share something with us, please get in touch:
alnobf1994@gmail.com
An exhibition at GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg in August (2nd to 16th) will present the results of the exchange. More updates to follow shortly.
For an overview of the project, you can visit the project website here
alnobf! is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds (BKF) Lichtenberg
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Our four days of research, introductions, and presentations in Karlshorst came to an end last week. Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed.
We are still in the process of collecting stories, memories, and objects connected with the empty houses. If you would like to share something with us, please get in touch:
alnobf1994@gmail.com
An exhibition at GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg in August (2nd to 16th) will present the results of the exchange. More updates to follow shortly.
For an overview of the project, you can visit the project website here
alnobf! is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds (BKF) Lichtenberg
Photo: © Izzy Dempsey
Friction
Floating University
26.06.2024
This coming Tuesday, I am presenting a new installation work alongside my fellow Raumstrategien students in the exhibition Friction at Floating University.
Dates/Times:
02.07.2024
18:00 - 23:00
Location:
Floating University
Lilienthalstraße 32,
10965 Berlin
How can we learn from other forms of existence and cohabitation and explore parasitic ways of creation? We usually understand parasitic relationships as a binary distinction between two separate entities: host and parasite. How can we expand our notions and create artworks inspired by broader, beyond binary, ecological and communal contexts in which host-parasite relationships survive and thrive?
Our interest in parasites is in how they negotiate their surroundings and how their presence provokes responses - how certain implicated bases can become productive for change; how certain infiltrations by those routinely excluded can disrupt the status quo. Parasitism allows us also to talk about hosting and hospitality, about symbiosis and mutualism, about queer entanglements and adaptivity, about collective perspectives and envisioning spatial strategies through the eyes of the others.
As students of the seminar (PARA)SITES by Prof. Pauline Doutreluingne, we have been exploring the concept of parasitism and hosting through various learning sessions and the creation of spatial and ephemeral artistic interventions on the site of the Floating University during the summer semester of 2024, working site-specifically and in dialogue with the existing programme.
AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!
Kiosk of Memory
21.06.2024
I’m in Berlin-Karlshorst this week with Hannah Alongi and Katya Romanova for a research exchange program addressing several buildings in this neighbourhood known locally as the ‘Russenhäuser’.
The buildings have stood empty since the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Berlin in 1994. I’m interested to find out what the people who live closest to the abandoned buildings think of them, and how present the history of the withdrawal is thirty years later.
The format of our research is made possible by our collaboration with the Kiosk of Solidarity. An exhibition presenting the results of this initial process is planned in August at GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg.
More information can be found on the project website.
alnobf! is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds (BKF) Lichtenberg
Photo: © Presse- & PR-Büro Stefan
AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!
A Memory Mapping Project in Berlin-Karlshorst
17.06.2024
I’m launching a new project this week in Berlin with Hannah Alongi and Katya Romanova:
AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN!
The project addresses several buildings in Berlin-Karlshorst, known locally as the ‘Russenhäuser’, that have stood empty since the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Berlin in 1994. As this year marks the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal, AND LET NO ONE BE FORGOTTEN! explores the legacy of this historical process from an updated contemporary perspective.
An important first phase of the project is the implementation of an on-site exchange program in Karlshorst, which will include lectures, discussions, readings, research, and informal meetings with local initiatives - a format made possible by the project’s collaboration with the Kiosk of Solidarity. An exhibition is planned in August at GISELA - Freier Kunstraum Lichtenberg.
Be welcome and join us!
Dates: 20-23 June
Open times: 13:00 - 21:00
Location: Intersection of Andernacher Str. / Königswinterstr. 10318, Berlin-Karlshorst
Program highlights:
- 21.06.2024, 18:30-21:00
Reading: Wolfgang Schneider / Karlshorst Geschichtfreunde (DE)
- 22.06.2024, 13:00-15:00
Lunch & Talk: sowjetisches Erbe in Karlshorst, Gast: Christoph Meißner / Karlshorst Museum (DE)
- 23.06.2024, 14:00
Soundwalk (DE, EN)
The project is gratefully funded by Bezirkskulturfonds (BKF) Lichtenberg
Photo: © Museum Lichtenberg
Open the Night Workshops
Kiezlabor, CityLab Berlin
29.04.2024
Open the Night returns as a workshop during two evening events this summer in the context of Kiezlabor’s 2024 tour of Berlin districts:
1. Rotraut-Richter-Platz in Gropiusstadt
29.05.2024, 20:00 - 21:30
Sign up here
2. HTW Campus in Lichtenberg
05.06.2024, 20:30 - 22:00
Sign up here
Workshop spaces are free but limited.
Open the Night is a soundwalk addressing the topic of light pollution. The narrative is created by moths who speak to the listener about their nightly experiences around street lamps in Berlin. The experience uses geospatial audio technology via the mobile app Echoes. This technology activates sounds when a GPS device (a mobile phone held by you, the visitor) enters a specific zone. You will therefore need a smartphone or iPhone to participate in this artwork, to be able to download the Echoes app. For hearing people, please also bring a set of headphones.
What can you expect?
An introduction to light pollution and urban ecologies by me (in English with German translation). A site-specific, multi-channel sound walk lasting around 20-40mins, depending upon your engagement. An open discussion and sharing round at the end with snacks and refreshments.
©Izzy DempseyNEUWERK #10: BLACKOUT
Magazin für Designwissenschaften
29.04.2024
I’m pleased to have contributed to the 10th annual issue of Neuwerk Magazin, from the Design department of Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle, with my essay The Moth in Me (and in Steve). Issue #10 of Neuwerk is focussed on the topic of Blackout:
‘With this year’s edition of Neuwerk, we propose a thematic focus on blackouts in order to examine economic, political, social, psychological and narrative processes of late capitalist and postcolonial societies. As events that unsettle established routines, blackouts make conditions of the everyday visible in a specific way and allow a deeper look at those structures. The multidisciplinary contributions that come together in this edition pay attention to spaces of imagination and action that point beyond euro- and anthropocentric traditions of design and thought, communicating between themselves and between the many lines about possible futures.’
- Elsa Westreicher, Co-Founder and Editor of Neuwerk
Issue #10 launches on the 7th of May, 18:00, at Burg Giebichenstein with a release party.
Contributors:
Ana Henriques
Benedikt Schich
Bettina Nagler & Elias Erkan
Emma Louise Meyer
Jeremy Knowles
Junior Mvunzi
Lukas Schilling
Sebastian Wanke
Serge Matuta
Yuni Chung
©Neuwerk Magazin. Photo: Maja Nacke, Laura Schnieber, Lesya Kuranova
Residency Update
Co-Making Matters
24.03.2024
My residency at the Co-Making Matters container is coming to an end.
I’ve spent the past few days walking in the area surrounding Haus der Statistik as part of the urban plant-finding mission I set myself at the beginning of the week, and it turns out that there are far more species than I had originally expected. I’m a little blown away by the plant diversity in Mitte, honestly. The process has allowed me to get that ‘holiday’ feeling, even though I’m no stranger to Berlin. Still, I’ve felt like a newbie here along my plant walks. Perhaps it’s because my mission determined how I walked - no longer governed by my need to get somewhere, travel directly, or move efficiently, but to keep an eye out for plant life.
Whenever it rained, I returned to the container to print photos of the plants I came across and details about their origin and uses.
Local plant prints and research, Co-Making Matters, Haus der StatistikStraßensalat
Co-Making Matters
20.03.2024
I spent my first day in the Co-Making Matters container walking around the construction site that is currently Haus der Statistik to survey the local plant life. I was able to recognise some of the plants myself, as we have also them in the UK, whilst others I needed to look up. I identified thirty different species along the way, including:
Rush skeletonweed, smooth hawksbeard, meadow grass, wild rocket, clovers, wormwood, knapweed, mugwort, yarrow, alfalfa, dandelions, silverweed, Japanese quince, rhododendron, cherry plum, burdock, red elderberry, nettles, and honeylocust.
Observing how much plant diversity is right in the city's centre is fascinating. So many plants we classify as weeds can just as equally be viewed as urban survival specialists, depending upon which perspective you choose to take. Weeds, grasses, bushes, shrubs, and trees provide microhabitats for other life forms. Insects, birds, and fungi (and many more I know nothing about) make-do and get by just fine in Mitte whilst the human traffic of Berlin whizzes by.
Collecting urban survival specialists, Co-Making Matters, Haus der StatistikWalking Residency
Co-Making Matters
18.03.2024
After a few weeks at home in Lichtenberg spent working on research and writing-based tasks, I’m relieved to have an excuse to get my legs moving again!
Over the next week, I’ll be setting up camp at Co-Making Matters, located at Haus der Statistik, Berlin, for a residency dedicated to walking. My time in the container is in the framework of a walking residency facilitated by The ReRouting Project. I’ll be using the residency time to study the urban plant life surrounding Haus der Statistik - namely Alexanderplatz and the connecting streets. My aim is to challenge two assumptions I often make, subconsciously, about the retail centre of Berlin that is Alex: firstly, that there’s limited access to nature, and secondly that no one goes there simply to take a walk.
Walking has always been an important part of my projects. The history of walking inspires me, for sure. Yet, what I find the most fascinating about walking is that this simple act connects so many facets of being human. Having grown up in the countryside in the UK, with the luxury of having our hard-fought yet increasingly endangered British ‘right to roam’ laws at my disposal, city life has since become a topic in and of itself. There are so many barriers to walking in cities, yet these same barriers also provide challenges for city inhabitants to overcome.
Walking feeds into my practice in obvious ways, for example in my ongoing photography series 8am Walks, in which I document my morning walks through Berlin with a camera. In other projects, walking is how I create movement, interaction, participation, and chance encounters.
More updates to follow.
Thermal image of my legDisruptions in D Minor
Radiant Opacity
26.02.2024
Thanks to everyone who made it to Radiant Opacity at Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz last week and experienced my contribution to the exhibition: Disruptions in D Minor.
Disruptions in D Minor is composed, through one of the two channels, of field recordings of explosions and tractor horns from the mass agricultural strikes that took place outside of the EU summit in Brussels in January 2024. The other channel uses sections of a recording of Ode to Joy from the fourth and final movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony; the official anthem of the EU. Each source is slowed down by a rate of approximately 12,000% so that seconds and milliseconds of sound become minutes. Through this expansion of time, the principal disruptive quality of the explosions and horns is subverted and nullified. Conversely, the brief orchestral sequences from Ode to Joy – music adopted by the EU to convey ‘the ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity’ – are drawn-out and unsettling. As such, the two meet tonally, albeit uncomfortably, somewhere in the middle.
Text on shop receipt paper, which wraps around the corner of the corridor wall and at the apex of the direction of amplified sound from the two speakers, reads 'Oh friends, not these tones!'. It is an English translation of the first sung part of Ode to Joy, from the original German text: O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Disruptions in D Minor, Installation ViewRadiant Opacity
Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz
16.02.2024
I am excited to be presenting a new sound installation next week within the group exhibition Radiant Opacity at Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz in Berlin.
Opening hours: 23-24 February 2024, 14:00-19:00
Vernissage: 22 February, 18:00-22:00
Location: Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz
Gustav-Adolf-Straße 140, 13086 Berlin
Performance program:
12.02.2024 / 11:00 Reem Alfahad
22.02.2024 / 19:00 Alexey Kokhanov
24.02.2024 / 17:00 Sayaka Shinka
24.02.2024 / 18:00 Nischal Khadka
My contribution to Radiant Opacity is a sound installation inspired by my brief residency at Overtoon in Brussels in January with my collaborative project partner Masha Wysocka. The installation uses field recordings that I made on walks in Brussels during the mass agricultural strikes that took place outside of the 2024 EU summit.
In this exhibition, artists from the master’s program Raumstrategien (Spatial Strategies) at Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee present works that collectively question the limits of visibility within temporary worlds. Embracing opacity here becomes a way of fully expressing and presenting our authentic selves. Opacity is both a political and personal strategy to imagine other possibilities across and through borders and bodies.
A group exhibition by:
Alexey Kokhanov, Amanda Bobadilla, Asuman Kırlangıç, Carlos Ricoy, Cecilia Buffa, Cyril Ada, Emma Lang, Farokh Falsafi, Han Yu, Hannah Beilharz, Jeremy Knowles, Kathleen Bomani, Ksenia Lapin, Laura Bleck, Luna De Rosa, Maria Fallad, Mariana García Mejía, Nathalia Favaro, Nina Cavalcanti, Nischal Khadka, Reem Alfahad, Sayaka Shinkai, Sepehr Talebi, Viviane Letayf, Xiao Zhang, xindi
Embassy Walk in Brussels, 2024Residency Week
Overtoon, Brussels
31.01.2024
I’m in Brussels this week for a quick sprint artist residency at Overtoon with project partner Masha Wysocka.
Masha and I have been collaborating since 2021. This year, we will continue our project to address sites of historical significance in Lichtenberg that still inform the wider Berlin area today. Though Masha and I both have academic backgrounds in photography, our practices have united through our shared interest in walking, listening, and sounding within the city. We’re using the time afforded to us this week to experiment with sound and walking as artistic tools, connect with sound artists in Brussels, and benefit from the supportive infrastructure of Overtoon.
Overtoon is a residency program for sound artists based in Belgium. It is coordinated by composer and writer Bill Dietz, and we’re grateful for his mentorship this week.
More updates to follow shortly.
(Masha’s foot). Overtoon, Brussels, Jan 2024
Residency with Masha Wysocka
Overtoon, Brussels
03.01.2024
Later this month I will join my project partner Masha Wysocka in Brussels for a 7-day residency at Overtoon. Overtoon is an artist-run platform for practitioners working with sound. The residency supports the production of and research into sound-based practices, as well as their dissemination. Masha and I have been supporting one another since 2021 when we both participated in the online project Das Haus. Since then, we have held regular online sessions to discuss our practices and participated in a collaborative residency at Lichtenberg Studios in May 2023 to develop new projects and tools together.
Masha Wysocka (b.1984) is a hybrid artist using photography, performance, research, sound and writing. Geographically, she lives and works astride Belgium and Spain. Although she was born into a Polish family in the USSR, she has lived in various European countries. Being both Spanish and Belgian, she identifies herself as a multilingual speaker who embraces languages and cultures from Cadiz to Vladivostok.
More on our residency to follow shortly.
©Lichtenberg Museum. Lichtenberg Studios Residency, May 2023eat borders
Casa Zemstvei, Chișinău
18.12.2023
In September I visited Chișinău for the final stage of audiolab: Common Futures - an exchange project coordinated by re:imagine your city between Germany and Moldova. audiolab focussed participants on addressing urban challenges and consequently locating tools, hacks, and solutions. I worked with a group of four other practitioners to address the topic of urban gardening. The result of our collaborative work was a sound and dining installation titled eat borders that was presented at Casa Zemstvei in Chișinău in September and later at C*SPACE in Berlin.
eat borders invites participants to reflect upon the radical potential of the garden and the practice of gardening in the city. We aimed to collectively analyse the concept of urban gardening by deconstructing some of the conventional ‘borders’ that are imposed upon gardens and which keep the practice of gardening in a rather dormant state. Such borders deny gardening its potential as a transformative force within the city, and within future cities, for nurturing sustainable, edible, and solidary environments.
The project can now be accessed online here.
- Foraging for food,
Chișinău
re:imagine your city
rethinking urban paradigms
17.10.2023
I’m grateful to have contributed to a new book that was published today by Shift Books titled re:imagine your city - rethinking urban paradigms.
My contribution to the publication is an essay exploring how artificial light and moths are changing the modern city. The essay is titled Violent (De)Lights and it was conceptualised in classes at Kunsthochschule Weißensee over the past year.
You can order the book here
From the publisher:
The publication re:imagine your city invites you to explore and rethink current paradigms that shape our urban environments. It offers insightful perspectives on commemoration and heritage, city planning and gentrification, migration and post-pandemic changes, solidarity and critical spatial practices. The publication is the result of a collective effort by an engaged transdisciplinary network of urban practitioners, educators, researchers, artists, designers and architects in the framework of the international design lab for urban practices and transformation re:imagine your city.
- re:imagine your city, Shift Books
Open the Night
Project Update
26.09.2023Thank you to everyone who attended Open the Night last week and made the opening event of this project so spectacular. I am truly overwhelmed by the turnout for this event and all the positive feedback.
Open the Night is now an active sound walk on the Echoes platform until the 27th of November. Check it out and let me know about your experience.
The walk is free to stream.
You only need an iPhone or smartphone, plus headphones. The walk is available in English, German, and German Sign Language (DGS).
Open the Night is funded by Draussenstadt.
You can also find more project updates on Instagram
- Open the Night Premiere - 21st Sep 2023
Open the Night
Premiere
06.09.2023The date is set:
21.09.2023
19:00
Lichtenberg S+U Bahnhof, Berlin
Project Website
DRAUSSENSTADT Event Page
- Project Preview - Lange Nacht der Bilder, 2023
Lange Nacht der Bilder 2023
Open the Night - Project Preview
16.08.2023Join me on the night of the 1st of September for Lichtenberg’s annual open doors art studio evening:
Lange Nacht der Bilder!
For Lange Nacht der Bilder this year, I am excited to offer an early preview a new project I have been working on in secret over the past few months. For curious ears and eyes, you can find me outside of Lichtenberg S+U Bahnhof (Weitlingstraße 22, 10317) from 7pm. Make sure to bring your headphones!
My project is also part of Radtour 4, starting at Gisela Freier Kunstraum at 6pm
Check out the full Lange Nacht der Bilder program here
Or read a recent press article about the evening from the council here
- Shooting street lamps outside of Lichtenberg S+U Bahnhof, Berlin
Im Tierpark Belauscht
Rundgang, Kunsthochschule Weißensee
25.07.2023The grounds of Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, Lichtenberg, represent deeply political and symbolic territory. Over the past century alone, the site that now constitutes Europe’s largest landscape zoo has found use, on the one hand, as the private estate of a wealthy agricultural family – the Treskow family, who built and made their home in Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde – and, on the other hand, as the site of a Nazi forced labour and education camp. Originally leased by the Reichsbahn in 1938, the camp was the very first of its kind. Arbeitserziehunglager Wuhlheide then became the archetype for all further work and education camps under National Socialism. Approximately 30,000 inmates were detained in this camp alone and, from those inmates, 3,000 were killed.
Im Tierpark Belauscht responds to the politicised history of Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde through a provocative gesture that nuances our reading of events, political actions, and individual people connected with this site and thus, more broadly, the production of memory in Berlin. Horn speakers hanging by chains reproduce the sounds of birds recorded in captivity in Tierpark Berlin alongside the unmistakable sounds of their human spectators. Both the visual aesthetic of the speakers and the distinctive military-like sound they produce are reminiscent of places of power and hierarchy – schools, detention facilities, prisons, army barracks, etc.
The conflict of symbols presented in this installation between freedom, which we associate with birds owing to their ability to fly, and domination reflects the stunning paradox of the site of Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde - a site of continued, though politically masked, exploitation.
- Im Tierpark Belauscht, Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin
OUTLINE
Presentation & Discussion
23.07.2023Today at 5pm in the department of Raumstrategien, Kunsthochschule Weißensee, we invite you to join us in an open discussion about our self-published reader OUTLINE - a collection of text and visual responses to questions of space, the city, colonialism, restitution, and memory.
Excerpt from the foreword:
Look around. Where are you reading this text? Try to imagine the layers of histories of the soil, the stones, metal, glass, and paint that surround you.
What do you see?
Although these histories may seem fixed - maps have been drawn, buildings raised, and terrains established - our existing environment still functions as a representation of people’s stories. How these stories are told, and by whom, strongly informs our reading of the places we occupy.
These responses give an insight into how our environment is not static at all, but in fact a space of dialogue and exchange nuanced by multiple, intersecting lines and shapes.
These are the stories we want to tell...
- OUTLINE Cover
Installation
Ongoing Strategies
19.07.2023This week, I am installing my sound installation Im Tierpark Belauscht outside of Kunsthochschule Weißensee in preparation for our Rundgang/open door exhibition this weekend.
Date and Times:
22nd - 23rd July
12pm - 8pm
Address:
Johannes-Itten-Straße 1
13086 Berlin
Tours:
3pm (German)
4pm (English)
Program:
Download here
See you there.
- Installation, Ongoing Strategies, Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin
Raumstrategien Rundgang
Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee
14.07.2023Join me, and fellow Raumstrategien students, next weekend in Weißensee for our Summer Semester rundgang exhibition... Ongoing Strategies.
Date and Times:
22nd - 23rd July
12pm - 8pm
Address:
Johannes-Itten-Straße 1
13086 Berlin
Tours:
3pm (German)
4pm (English)
I’m excited to present my sound installation Im Tierpark Belauscht in the Rundgang, which was first exhibited last weekend in Steglitz on the grounds of Kulturhaus Schwartzsche Villa. Our department is also presenting a new print publication, titled OUT LINE, which is a collection of texts and artistic responses generated by students on this course through classes held in the Winter Semester of 2022 and Summer Semester of 2023.
My contribution to OUT LINE explores how the ethical authority of museums has been undermined by two ‘guests’ over the past century: restitution and computer technology. Unwanted Guests they have also become obsolete.
- Ongoing Strategies, Kunsthochschule Weißensee Berlin
Im Tierpark Belauscht
Xposures Open Air Exhibition
07.07.2023Im Tierpark Belauscht responds to the politicised history of Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde through a provocative gesture that nuances our reading of events, political actions, and individual people connected with this site, and thus also the production of memory in Berlin.
Over the past century alone, the site that now constitutes Europe’s largest landscape zoo has found use, on the one hand, as the private estate of a wealthy agricultural family – the Treskow family, who built and made their home in Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde – and, on the other hand, as the site of a Nazi forced labour and education camp. Originally leased by the Reichsbahn in 1938, the camp was the very first of its kind.Arbeitserziehunglager Wuhlheide then became the archetype for all further work and education camps under National Socialism. Approximately 30,000 inmates were detained in this particular camp and, from those inmates, 3,000 were killed.
Horn speakers, installed in a tree on the grounds of Schwartzsche Villa, reproduce the sounds of birds recorded in captivity in Tierpark Berlin alongside the unmistakable sounds of their human spectators (voices, footsteps, camera shutters, and mobile phone ringtones). Both the visual aesthetic of the speakers and the distinctive military-like sound they produce are reminiscent of places of power and hierarchy – schools, detention facilities, prisons, army barracks, etc. The conflict of symbols presented in this installation between freedom, which we associate with birds owing to their ability to fly, and domination reflects the stunning paradox of the site of Schlosspark Friedrichsfelde.
Although visitors to Tierpark Berlin may well discover a memorial stone to the victims of Arbeitserziehunglager Wuhlheide as they explore the park, I make the case here that the more accurate memorial is the zoo itself - a site of continued, though politically masked, exploitation.
Xposures Instagram
Bezirksamt Steglitz Press Article
- Xposures is funded by Draußenstadt Fonds SZ
- Listening Session, Im Tierpark Belauscht
Xposures
Kulturhaus Schwartszche Villa
06.07.2023Xposures is a two-day open-air exhibition and program of performances taking place in and around the garden of the Kulturhaus Schwartzsche Villa in Steglitz.
Schwartzsche Villa
Grunewaldstraße 55
12165 Berlin
- Saturday, 8th July (2pm to 8pm)
- Sunday, 9th July (10am to 6pm)
The commissioned video and sound installations, sculptures, performances, and participatory artworks explore in various ways the politics of representation of bodies, the need of decolonising memory, and the debated issue of whose legacy is transmitted through exhibitions, public memorials, repositories, visible traces in urban space and digital sphere, and consequently which voices can be heard. Furthermore, playing with practices of inhabiting public and private spaces, and questioning architectures and bodies as borders between the inner and the outside, the artworks will be displayed in, and will create dialog with, the garden of Kulturhaus Schwartzsche Villa, as well as liminal spaces of the building itself.
You can read the press article here
- Im Tierpark Belauscht, Kulturhaus Schwartsche Villa
Day 2.
Aktuelle Reality (AR)
25.06.2023Well, it’s all over for another year folks...
Aktuelle Reality (AR) was, of course, smashing. I even met a bunch of lovely people in the process. We certainly pushed the boundaries of reality. And hopefully my performance provided some mild entertainment for the participants, too.
One participant of the workshop on Saturday, David Koblos, who created some funky spiral goggles, wrote a playful description of his experience on his blog.
Here’s a cute section I’d like to share:
‘Under the skillful instructions of Jeremy Knowles we first got to experience reality, feel it as it is, or rather, as each one of us created their own interpretation of it, using the power of our imagination completely freely. After a brief discussion of this conceptual base, we were thrown in the deep end, where we had to transform these ideas into something tangible: goggles of Virtual Reality. Or let's just say, something amazing to strap in front your face that you can look through (or not).’
Until next summer, 48 Stunden Neukölln.
Aktuelle Reality (AR) has gratefully received funding from Bezirksamt Neukölln, Fachbereich Kultur.
- Aktuelle Reality (AR), Officina Neukölln
Day 1.
Aktuelle Reality (AR)
24.06.202348 Stunden Neukölln is in full, glorious swing once again as 1000+ artists claim spaces across the district to offer workshops, performances, and exhibitions inspired by the theme Play(Ground).
My contribution to the festival this year is a performative workshop and city intervention, held at Officina Neukölln. During each session, participants are invited to create optical devices from cardboard that use a fantastic and yet still under-acknowledged technology:
Aktuelle Reality (AR)
This project aims to poke fun at the increasing consumer value of Virtual Reality technology by instead offering performance and imagination as tools for viewing space differently. In line with this year's festival theme, this combined workshop and group intervention challenges participants to playfully re-imagine city space and... to unplug.
Aktuelle Reality (AR) has gratefully received funding from Bezirksamt Neukölln, Fachbereich Kultur.
- Aktuelle Reality (AR), Officina Neukölln
Aktuelle Reality (AR)
48 Stunden Neukölln
21.06.2023Please join me in the Hof of Officina Neukölln over the weekend of 48 Stunden Neukölln for the official user testing phase of a new product I have developed:
Aktuelle Reality (AR)
The past, present, and future of human experience...
Users say: “It’s just like real life!”
There are several opportunities for you to come and try out this cutting-edge technology yourself before it hits the consumer market and makes a big splash.
So don’t miss out.
Sessions:
Saturday (24.06.2023): 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm
Sunday (25.06.2023): 11 am, 2 pm
Location:
Officina Neukölln
Karl-Marx-Straße 277
12057 Berlin
Links:
48 Stunden Neukölln
Officina Neukölln
- Aktuelle Reality (AR) has gratefully received funding from Bezirksamt Neukölln, Fachbereich Kultur.
Settling Scores
Lichtenberg Studios
14.06.2023Settling Scores was a two-part public engagement that Masha Wysocka and I co-facilitated toward the end of our one-month residency at Lichtenberg Studios in Berlin.
The idea driving these engagements, in which we invited participants to join us in walking, listening, and performing in public spaces, originated in our desire to share our perception of particular sites in Lichtenberg in non-invasive ways – specifically without the use of politically loaded objects such as cameras or microphones. The two engagements we offered took place in Neu-Hohenschönhausen and Karlshorst respectively, and for each place Masha and I wrote scores that participants would use to engage physically and playfully with their surroundings. Our aim was also to experiment with a technique for addressing the history of these sites in a non-didactic way, through which participants could ask questions and draw conclusions based on their own, personal experiences.
We were deeply inspired by a workshop we attended earlier in our residency period, given by Elena Biserna, in which we discovered different walking scores written by artists. Elena’s book Walking From Scores is a rich resource for such works and I highly recommend it.
- Settling Scores participant Patricia Meier. Photo taken by Masha Wysocka
Public or Private?
Rights, Space, and Photography in Berlin
09.06.2023Privacy is a deeply political and geographically bounded issue. Even within Berlin, the concept of privacy may be viewed quite differently depending on which side of the city you find yourself in - former East or former West - and whether you’re in the company of Germans who were born before or after reunification (1989-1991). Here, unmistakable ghosts of the past century’s political shifts still linger in the resilient attitudes held by Berliners towards their rights to privacy in and out of public space.
After taking the photo of the broken window with tape around it, I quickly entered into a *lively* debate with a man who was inside the building at the time, and who immediately came out to question me.
“Wer sind Sie? Für welches Firma arbeiten Sie?” He asked.
“Ich bin ein Künstler. Ich finde dieses Bild mit dem zerbrochenen Fenster sehr interessant”. I replied.
It is often assumed by people who stop me in the act of photographing that I am working for someone. Rarely is my answer of “I’m an artist!” accepted or taken as reassurance.
“Sie können hier nicht fotografieren. Das ist verboten - privat!”, the man asserted.
“Sorry, aber im öffentlichen Raum kann ich durchaus Gebäude fotografieren”, I responded.
“Haben Sie noch nie etwas von Datenschutz gehört?” He asked.
The debate went on like this for some time and eventually included his co-workers and passers-by rallying against me. Although I absolutely respect the man’s right to privacy, and his right to request it from me, for that matter, I didn’t see my actions as invasive. Certainly not invasive upon his privacy - the camera saw nothing of the inside of the building and the image shows no people - and perhaps he wouldn’t have either if he could have seen the photo I had taken.
Yet, I was grateful for the encounter. I have them so often in Berlin - far more often than ever in London. What always strikes me as comedic (and ironic) is that the people who demand their rights to privacy from me are the ones to first approach me and then demand my name and information. The paradox is stunning, and it speaks so clearly to the history of people, occupation, rights, and freedom in Berlin.
- The photo that sparked a debate, of a broken window in Neu-Hohenschönhausen, May 2023
Settling Scores
Neu-Hohenschönhausen
29.05.2023Earlier today, Masha and I invited participants to join us in the first public engagement of our one-month residency at Lichtenberg Studios in Berlin.
Settling Scores is a two-part ‘walkening’ taking place in Neu-Hohenschönhausen and Wartenberg respectively. For each engagement, we’ve invited participants to join us in performing walking scores inspired by each place.
Here is one of my favourites from today:
Measuring Score
Number of participants: Even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, etc)
Duration: 5-7 mins
Location: An intersection or crossroads
Equipment: Tape measure
In pairs, use a tape measure to define your direction, length, and speed of travel.
- Settling Scores Prep, Neu-Hohenschönhausen, 28th May 2023
Walking from Scores
Elena Biserna Workshop
23.05.2023Last weekend, Masha and I joined Elena Biserna’s practical workshop Walking from Scores, hosted by Errant Sound in Berlin, in which we used some of the artist scores archived by Elena in her book of the same title to engage physically with the city.
What quickly became clear within this workshop was how differently we each read and understand our engagement with public space.
Amongst our group, there were many contradicting definitions of what ‘normal’, everyday life is in Berlin. Is a system developed, worked on, or added to, as we enter public space? How is the everyday produced and reproduced as a kind of performance? Throughout the course of the day, we both individually and collectively performed scores from Elena’s book and afterward spent a good deal of time discussing our observations. We were also keen to note how other people, outside of our little workshop bubble, reacted differently to our interventions. Did our actions have an impact or, perhaps, break the ‘normalness’ of this everyday performativity we originally discussed?
- Walking from Scores, Errant Sound, 13th May 2023
Neu Horizons?
Lichtenberg Studios
15.05.2023This month, at long last, Masha Wysocka and I are united in person to observe, document, walk, listen, rummage, and misunderstand in unison within the context of our collaborative research residency at Lichtenberg Studios in Berlin.
Thanks to the support of Museum Lichtenberg, we are also diving into the district archive and asking questions of the past.
Have a ganders at this recent press article from Bezirksamt Lichtenberg related to our residency.
More updates to follow...
- Museum Lichtenberg Archive, May 2023
Tschüssi tschüss, Future-Proof
Dot Berlin
11.05.2023The future has been proofed - you’re welcome.
Julie and I clinked glasses last night during the final hours of our month-long exhibition Future-Proof, at Dot Berlin. Just look at the joy beaming from our faces!
If you missed the opportunity to visit our exhibition, I highly encourage you to stay updated with Julie’s projects via her artist website. UrbanEyez will return next month, on 17th June, during Karneval für die Zukunft.
More updates to come shortly...
UrbanEyez was a series of workshops aimed at challenging participants to playfully reimagine their engagement with the changing city. In each workshop, objects constructed from cardboard and found materials were designed and worn in order to alter our experiences of the urban environment. We encountered our own, individual limitations and freedoms, and in doing so created a collective vision of what future cities might look like and offer us.
Workshop #1 addressed the body (which bodies are granted access?). Workshop #2 focussed on anonymity (are our rights to privacy changing?). Workshop #3 was about survival (what challenges might the future metropolis present us?).
- Confused? Angry? (Future-Proof Finissage, Dot Berlin, 10th May 2023)
Collaborative Research Residency
Lichtenberg Studios
08.05.2023Work is underway in Lichtenberg!
Last Wednesday, Masha Wysocka and I began our one-month collaborative research residency at Lichtenberg Studios in Berlin.
Masha and I have been meeting regularly online since 2021 when we were connected via the remote project group DAS HAUS. Over the past year and a half, since the project ended, we have supported one another’s practice through fortnightly check-ins on Zoom. Our goal has been to develop ideas together and to collaborate on a new project. This month, we are united in person at last to research, observe, document, walk, listen, connect, and misunderstand in unison. Thanks to the Lichtenberg Museum, we will also be diving into the district archive and asking questions.
Our residency runs until June 4th.
More updates to follow soon.
- Museum Licthenberg Archive, May 2023
Future-Proof
Finissage
05.05.2023My UrbanEyez workshops may be finished, but Future-Proof, with Julie Chovin, certainly isn’t...
Our exhibition is running until 10th May. I also warmly invite you to attend the finissage of the show (details below).
10th May 2023
6-9 pm
Dot Berlin
Malmöer Str. 3
10439, Berlin
- UrbanEyez Workshop #3 @Dot Berlin, May 3rd 2023
UrbanEyez - Workshop #3
Dot Berlin
02.05.2023The final UrbanEyez workshop is tomorrow at Dot Berlin and there is still room for a couple of late sign-ups. If you’re interested in taking part in UrbanEyez, you can do so using this registration form
Workshop #3 takes place:
3rd May, 3-6 pm
Dot Berlin
Malmöer Str. 3
10439, Berlin
The aim of UrbanEyez is to reimagine our physical engagement with city spaces. Participants in these workshops construct physical objects to change their experience of (or their ability to move through) the urban environment. In doing so, we undoubtedly encounter our varied limitations and freedoms, and in doing so create a collective imaginary of what future cities might offer us.
- UrbanEyez Workshop #2 @Dot Berlin, April 22nd 2023
UrbanEyez - Workshop #2
Dot Berlin
20.04.2023The second installment of UrbanEyez is fast approaching and I can still take in a few more eager participants. If you’re interested in taking part in UrbanEyez, you can sign-up using this registration form
Next workshops:
22nd April 1-4pm
3rd May 3-6pm
Participation in UrbanEyez is of course free and no experience in anything at all is required! You should come prepared to blend in/stick out/move through city space in a potentially new way using whatever devices we construct in the session.
- UrbanEyez Workshop #1 @Dot Berlin, April 12th 2023
UrbanEyez - Workshop #1
Dot Berlin
12.04.2023One workshop down, two more to go: 22nd April + 3rd May
Sign up for the remaining workshops (for free) here
UrbanEyez is a series of workshops I am presenting at Dot Berlin as part of my duo show future-proof with artist Julie Chovin. future-proof opens this Friday at Dot Berlin, where both Julie’s artwork and the results of my first workshop will be on show. I warmly invite you to the opening!
14th April 2023
6-9 pm
Dot Berlin
Malmöer Str. 3
10439 Berlin
Who has the right to be in the city? Are public spaces open to everybody? Can every body, therefore, safely travel through and exist in public spaces - streets, markets, open areas, green spaces, and parks? If we assume that this isn’t the case, then which bodies are granted safe access and which are denied?
For whom are cities intended?
We are living in a time of rapid technological advancement across countless fields and industries, but this is especially true for online space-making and virtual experience. From the very foundations of the internet, we have sought to relate to online space through our understanding of social and city space. Retro examples of early-internet projects such as GeoCitiesand Myspace make this desire expressly clear: we have a propensity to conflate the physical with the digital. Yet, perhaps as a result of our efforts to negotiate between the two poles, and in seeing ever-growing possibilities of being online to meet our needs, our lived experiences are increasingly migrating from tangible to intangible. Consequently, there is a growing tendency to seek out the sublime in safe, online spaces - spaces which traverse conventional boundaries and limitations of geography, identity, income, politics, and body (to name but a few) - instead of us first seeking to generate the kind of change we wish to see in our immediate physical/analogue environment. And yet, this does not make online spaces safe. Far from it. We need only consider the many extremist and violent ideologies (anti-vaccine movements, incel culture) that are fostered in online forums to see how internet echo chambers polarise and exclude. The boundary between body and screen is not as rigid as we might think.
The aim of UrbanEyez is to reimagine our physical engagement with city space. Participants in these workshops will construct physical objects to change their experience of (or their ability to move through) the urban environment. In doing so, we will undoubtedly encounter our varied limitations and freedoms. The products of the workshops will be presented in the exhibition future-proof (Apr 14 - May 10), after which participants are invited to claim their creations back!
- UrbanEyez Workshop #1 @Dot Berlin, April 12th 2023
Night (Light) Walk
With Annette Krop-Benesch
09.03.2023
I thoroughly enjoyed my night walk around Berlin's Friedrichshain yesterday evening with the fantastic Annette Krop-Benesch!
Together, we strolled through the snowy night, feeling the omnipresent buzz of various lights being projected into public space, and traded our opinions on artificial light in the city. I even invited Annette to experience a condensed version of my Sound Safari workshop, which enables participants to listen to different sources of light through headphones.
Annette is a biologist, author, researcher, lecturer, and overall expert on the subject of light pollution. Her book, Licht Aus?!, addresses in depth the many concerns, causes, and consequences of applying too much light, too frequently, into the night.
What does the future hold for the inhabitants of major cities like Berlin as we blast ever-increasing amounts of light into the darkness?
- Night Walk with Annette Krop-Benesch, March 2023
‘Low-Hanging Fruit’
Dark Monuments in the Shadows of War
08.02.2023Back in October, shortly before Berlin turned icy cold and a blanket of grey cloud predictably settled over the city for the winter period, I spent two evenings (with clear skies above) looking through my viewfinder at some of the capital’s most iconic monuments: the Siegessäule, Brandenburger Tor, Berliner Dom, and Reichstag. Having lived in Berlin for over six years now, I must admit that these sites sadly do not carry the same intrigue for me as they once had when I was a newcomer to the city. However, something about these monuments had changed that made them extremely interesting again: they were standing in darkness.
Well... partially, at least. This is honestly a whole other conversation.
The decision to switch off the lights that would normally illuminate some 200 monuments and historical buildings across Berlin was made in July 2022 as an energy-saving measure in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the resulting economic implications for Germany. It being an action that spans politics, geopolitics, debates about the environment, and ecology (to name but a few concerns), the shutting off of lights on famous monuments in Berlin and across Germany has prompted many people concerned with light pollution to ask questions. One such person is Thomas Schielke, who is not only one of Europe’s leading voices in the critique of unsustainable lighting practices but also happens to be the person I was shooting these dark monuments for in the first place. His series of articles for ArchDaily explores current debates around light pollution, lighting design, and architecture.
Thomas' article about Berlin's dark monuments is insightful and thought-provoking, and I would encourage anyone interested in these topics to read it.
- Berlin’s Siegessäule illuminated by trafficSound Safari
Humbolt-Universität zu Berlin
28.11.2022It was an absolute pleasure to facilitate the Sound Safari as a practical workshop last Thursday for the seminar class ‘Urban Vibrations’, at Humbolt-Universität zu Berlin. Thank you to all the participants for your engagement! I’m extremely grateful to Nona Schulte-Römer, who is co-director of the program at HU, alongside Ignacio Farías, for inviting me as a guest lecturer in her class and for the opportunity to share my project with a new audience.
Workshops like this provide an invaluable opportunity for exchange across disciplines and between sometimes isolated areas of research. It was fascinating to hear feedback on my project from Ph.D. students and professors who already actively investigate and study unseen waves (electromagnetic fields, noise, heat) within the built environment. We discovered many intersections between our practices.
Would you like to attend the Sound Safari?
Shoot me a message to express your interest in future runs of this event and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.
This project has received funding from Neustart Kultur + Stiftung Kunstfonds
- Sound Safari Workshop, Berlin, 24.11.2022
Sound Safari
De-Brief
16.11.2022The first-ever Sound Safari has wrapped!
Last Friday, I gathered a group of around 20 curious participants in Friedrichshain, in the east of Berlin, for a night-time tour of the neighborhood to explore and better understand our relationship with artificial light at night. I should first make clear that I use the word ‘tour’ here loosely because this implies that I or some other person of authority took everyone along a pre-selected route. This was not the case. On this tour, participants had to guide themselves and determine their own routes based solely on their individual experiences of both light and sound.
The context of this event is Martinstag, which is celebrated each year in Germany on 11th November predominantly by children and their parents. Traditionally, Martinstag is observed in the acts of creating homemade paper lanterns that house tealights and then walking in procession through the neighborhood at night. Though its historical context is Catholic, Martinstag for Berliners is viewed in a largely secular way and is more often termed Laternenfest (Lantern Festival). It is a celebration of hope and generosity in hard times (the winter), represented by light in the darkness.
It is within this context - a context in which light is accepted as a metaphor for good - that we lent our ears and eyes to the city at night in order to become more aware of the presence and effects of urban street and commercial lighting. As a group, we explored the neighborhood according to our desire to listen to, and categorize, different sources of light. We learned about the effects of light pollution on human health, biodiversity, our environment and changing climate, and our ability to view the stars.
Would you like to attend the Sound Safari? Shoot me a message to express your interest in future runs of this event and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop.
This project has received funding from Neustart Kultur & Stiftung Kunstfonds
Licht, Klang, Flux - Sound Safari
Public Event
08.11.2022Join me this Friday, 11th Nov, for a tour through light, sound, and... Friedrichshain.
Place:
Stefan-Heym-Platz 1, 10367 Berlin
Date & Time:
11.11.2022, 18:30
Registration & attendance (free):
Eventbrite
Description:
For those of us who are already accustomed to the warped cycle of day and night that comes as a package deal with living in the city, an acute awareness of the senses is essential to stop on the way home at night and pause, only for a moment, to take in the unnatural and otherworldly quality of the brightly-lit modern city when all should be dark. Artificial light at night is so ubiquitous, so commonplace and so widely experienced by humans and animals alike within urban space that we are often blind to it.
But what if we could define and categorise light in a different way - instead of just seeing the light which brightens our cities at night but, also, listening to it? Might we become more aware of its presence and the spaces it occupies? Though we, as humans, are sensitive to much - spectrums of light perceived through the eye, sonic frequencies received in the eardrum, various forces felt and interpreted on the surface of the skin and throughout our fleshy bodies - there is also much of the natural and the digital that we simply cannot pick up on. So much information that we aren't tuned in to.
On 11th November each year across Germany, Martinstag (also known as Laternenfest) is celebrated mostly by young children who walk in procession at night holding homemade paper lanterns. It is a celebration of hope and generosity in hard times, represented by light in the darkness. With this annual tradition as our contextual backdrop this Friday, we will explore the city at night in a new way, by allowing both light and sound to be our guides.
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This project has received funding from Neustart Kultur & Stiftung Kunstfonds
Place:
Stefan-Heym-Platz 1, 10367 Berlin
Date & Time:
11.11.2022, 18:30
Registration & attendance (free):
Eventbrite
Description:
For those of us who are already accustomed to the warped cycle of day and night that comes as a package deal with living in the city, an acute awareness of the senses is essential to stop on the way home at night and pause, only for a moment, to take in the unnatural and otherworldly quality of the brightly-lit modern city when all should be dark. Artificial light at night is so ubiquitous, so commonplace and so widely experienced by humans and animals alike within urban space that we are often blind to it.
But what if we could define and categorise light in a different way - instead of just seeing the light which brightens our cities at night but, also, listening to it? Might we become more aware of its presence and the spaces it occupies? Though we, as humans, are sensitive to much - spectrums of light perceived through the eye, sonic frequencies received in the eardrum, various forces felt and interpreted on the surface of the skin and throughout our fleshy bodies - there is also much of the natural and the digital that we simply cannot pick up on. So much information that we aren't tuned in to.
On 11th November each year across Germany, Martinstag (also known as Laternenfest) is celebrated mostly by young children who walk in procession at night holding homemade paper lanterns. It is a celebration of hope and generosity in hard times, represented by light in the darkness. With this annual tradition as our contextual backdrop this Friday, we will explore the city at night in a new way, by allowing both light and sound to be our guides.
This project has received funding from Neustart Kultur & Stiftung Kunstfonds
- The city at night, BerlinTranslating Light into Sound
City Interventions
19.10.2022For those who are already accustomed to the warped cycle of day and night that comes as a package deal with living in the city, an acute awareness of the senses is essential to stop on the way home at night, briefly pause, only for a moment, and take in the unnatural and otherworldly quality of the brightly-lit modern city when all should be dark. Artificial light at night is so ubiquitous, so commonplace and so widely experienced by humans and animals alike within urban space that I suspect we are often-times oblivious (at least consciously) to its very existence. To be in the dark in the modern city is not a guaranteed experience. For our personal and road safety, we expect our streets and footpaths to be illuminated as if they are football pitches, wherever we may go.
Though we, as humans, are sensitive to much - spectrums of light perceived through the eye, sonic frequencies received in the eardrum, various forces felt and interpreted on the surface of the skin and throughout our fleshy bodies - there is also much of the natural and the digital that we simply cannot pick up on. So much information that we aren't tuned in to. But what if we could define and categorise light in a different way, instead of just seeing the light which brightens our cities at night but, also, hearing it? Would we become more aware of its presence and the space that it occupies?
These are questions that have fuelled my investigation over the last couple of months. To find new ways of signalling what I perceive as the overuse of street lighting at night in Berlin has been a real adventure. This enquiry has driven me to create all sorts of experiments and interventions in public space, which I will be sharing soon.
- City Intervention at Night, LichtenbergProject Update
Dark Sky City
13.10.2022I spent a lot of my childhood in Wales staying in a cottage situated between two IDA-recognised sites: the Brecon Beacons and Ellan Valley. I have extremely fond memories of taking night hikes through the mountains as a child using nothing but the light of the moon to guide my way, of witnessing in awe a solar eclipse from our garden, and of visiting The Spaceguard Observatory Centre in Knighton where I first learned about the important role such sites play in keeping our planet safe from asteroids. During a trip back to Wales in 2017, I read an article about a new IDA site in Germany just outside of Berlin in Westhavelland. Since then I have become fascinated by the efforts of so many passionate people to preserve something I had always taken for granted – access to dark skies at night.
A central theme in my art projects over the last 8 years is an investigation of our spatial relationships with the modern city. Having grown up on a remote and fairly isolated farm in the English countryside, with no neighbours in sight for many miles, city living has become a source of endless inspiration for me. To say I am bewildered by the act of millions of people sharing the same space is, frankly, an understatement.
Having now lived in two European capital cities myself (London and Berlin), there is one question that still drives my investigation: how do we, as inhabitants of the city, activate the spaces we share?
I have extended this enquiry throughout my freelance work in Berlin - as an artist, photographer, educator and writer – and this summer was awarded funding from Neustart Kultur to investigate an aspect of city experience that I feel is given hardly enough exposure (sorry for the pun): artificial light at night.
During this initial stage of my project, I am gathering research and ideas by connecting with the many passionate people across Germany who are engaged in efforts to reduce light pollution. I have been overwhelmed by the number of activists, researchers, scientists, lighting professionals and politicians who have responded to my call for help.
Ultimately, my goal in this project is to bring even greater awareness to this issue. If I can inspire more city-dwellers to turn off their lights and appreciate natural dark skies a little more, I’ll consider my efforts a massive success.
Dark Sky Nord
Langwedel Community Meeting
26.09.2022Over the weekend, I attended a community meeting in Langwedel (just east of Bremen) organised by Dark Sky Nord - a small group of individuals working in their free time to inform people about the effects of artificial light at night. The aims of the meeting were simple: to educate the community in Langwedel about light pollution and spark debate.
One of my key research tasks over the summer was to find areas of the country that are at the forefront of light pollution discourse, campaigns and activism. I wanted to find the places that are struggling for change and, early on in my search, Dark Sky Nord appeared as a group I should be in contact with. I was told that the few members of Dark Sky Nord tirelessly fight local municipalities in Bremen and surrounding towns for light pollution in Germany to be taken seriously.
Karin Dörpmund is one of the founding members and she knows how to engage a crowd. Several times during her presentation, exclamations of “oh Gott” and “nein” could be heard coming from attendees as they learned for the first time about the serious effects of light pollution on the environment, local wildlife, and on human health and wellbeing. Meetings like this play a vital role in getting the message across, if only to inform a group of people who might not have otherwise been exposed to the concept of light pollution.
I’m completely honoured to have been invited as a guest member of Dark Sky Nord. You can keep up to date with future workshops, meetings and presentations here.
Dark Sky Nord Meeting, Langwedel, 24.09.2022Urania Berlin
2022 Magazine Issue
05.09.2022I’m really happy to see Hold Up To View published in the 2022 issue of Urania Berlin’s annual magazine. This year’s issue explores the theme ‘Freiheit und Widerspruch’ (freedom and contradiction).
Very apt timing for my research into dark skies...
You can find the full series here
- Urania Berlin Magazine, 2022More Light = More Safe?
Thoughts on Artificial Light at Night
19.08.2022How much light do we need in order to feel safe in the city? Does increased street lighting equal more safety? Or less crime?
The majority of violent crimes are actually committed during the day. So where does this theory come from that we need more light in order to be safe? And that light somehow acts as a deterrent for bad things?
We have evolved to be active during the day and to rest during the night. Darkness is something we often fear and so we’ve built our living environments to have nearly perpetual light, around the clock, 24/7. Because of the light pollution this causes, the majority of us never experience the *phenomenon* of a natural dark sky at night.
And it’s not just those who live in the city that are no longer granted this access! Sky glow (caused by excessive light pollution in cites) is an over-exposure of the night sky by artificial light. This has an effect not only in the city itself but also for many miles into suburbs and countrysides. As a result, around a third of the world’s population cannot see the Milky Way when looking up at the night sky.
Aren’t we losing something here?
We are becoming disconnected from something primal and essential - the source of humanity’s most important art, music and science for thousands of years - a view of the stars.
Yet, only 100 years ago, every human on earth was capable of looking up at night and seeing thousands of stars. This was possible in even the most densely-populated cities.
What would have inspired van Goch in Paris had there been no stars to paint in The Starry Night?
- Fulda, GermanyDark Sky City: Fulda
2022 Research Grant
18.08.2022I’ve spent the past couple of days in the Baroque city of Fulda, Hessen, investigating artificial light at night (ALAN).
Did you know that residents in Fulda are committed to protecting the natural dark sky? Fulda has recently become recognized by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) as a Dark Sky City. This makes Fulda the only city of its kind in Germany and the second largest Dark Sky City in the world after Flagstaff, Arizona.
I’m here to explore Fulda at night and document how the city is adapting its lighting plan to reduce light pollution.
My project is funded by StiftungKunst Fonds - Neustart Kultur.
More updates to follow.
In//Between ResidencyGreen Hill Gallery, Berlin
28.07.2022I'm really excited to share that I will start a new freelance position this month as Artist Residency Coordinator at Green Hill Gallery (Kulturschöpfer e.V) in Friedrichshain.
I've been connected with Kulturschöpfer since 2019 when I participated in the IN-BETWEEN residency as an artist myself. Since then I've stayed involved in the Kulturschöpfer community by hosting The Salon (a monthly artist talk series) throughout the year and now as a coordinator of the residency program that I once enjoyed and learned so much from.
Starting this month I will be coordinating the program alongside a team of art and cultural professionals in Berlin, facilitating group discussions around contemporary art practices, giving one-on-one mentoring on-site and curating public exhibitions in the gallery.
I’m looking forward to meeting the artists next month!
More updates to follow 💥
- Photo by Marie Kloos, 2022
48 Stunden Neukölln, 2022
Opening Party
25.06.2022We kicked off 48 Stunden Neukölln in style yesterday with an opening party at Polymedialer Ponyhof packed full of people. Guests in the courtyard could participate in a new VR experience made for the festival, which explores boundaries between public and private space (amongst other things).
You can find me at the space this weekend during the times below.
- 24-26 June
- 7-10 pm Fri & Sun, 3-10 pm Sat
- Kienitzer Str 11, 12053
This project would not have been possible without the support of three important contributors, who deserve credit for their work:
- Raised by Puritans (Music)
- ALPHA_RATS (Game Design)
- INVR SPACE (VR Devices)
- Bats in the Belfry (Opening party, Polymedialer Ponyhof, 2022)
Bats in the Belfry
48 Stunden Neukölln
16.06.2022In a couple of weeks time, I’ll be presenting work at 48 Stunden Neukölln again!
Bats in the Belfry is a new virtual reality experience created for the 2022 program of 48 Stunden Neukölln in Berlin. During the opening times (specified above), guests visiting the courtyard at Polymedialer Ponyhof are asked to put on VR headsets, leave the city and step inside my own private space.
This piece was made in response to the theme of the festival this year:
Kafayı yemek
What is highlighted in the idioms kafayı yemek and bats in the belfry is our tendency to conflate the emotional (sensations of panic and disorientation) with the physical (bodyparts, architecture, the motion of wild animals). Such is our need to situate and make tangible our mental condition in the times that we find oursleves to be ‘out of place’.
‘Kafayı yemek is to be true to yourself.
Kafayı yemek is deorganizing under circumstances.
Kafayı yemek is documenting the time through sayings.
Kafayı yemek is wandering around the city.
Kafayı yemek is reacting.
What is kafayı yemek for you?’
- 48 Stunden Neukölln, 2022
Bats in the Belfry is a new virtual reality experience created for the 2022 program of 48 Stunden Neukölln in Berlin. During the opening times (specified above), guests visiting the courtyard at Polymedialer Ponyhof are asked to put on VR headsets, leave the city and step inside my own private space.
This piece was made in response to the theme of the festival this year:
Kafayı yemek
What is highlighted in the idioms kafayı yemek and bats in the belfry is our tendency to conflate the emotional (sensations of panic and disorientation) with the physical (bodyparts, architecture, the motion of wild animals). Such is our need to situate and make tangible our mental condition in the times that we find oursleves to be ‘out of place’.
‘Kafayı yemek is to be true to yourself.
Kafayı yemek is deorganizing under circumstances.
Kafayı yemek is documenting the time through sayings.
Kafayı yemek is wandering around the city.
Kafayı yemek is reacting.
What is kafayı yemek for you?’
- 48 Stunden Neukölln, 2022
- Bats in the Belfry (Poster), 2022
The Salon (May)
Sound, Sight, Touch
20/05/2022Last night, Kulturschöpfer opened its doors once again to The Salon - our free, monthly artist talk series held in Friedrichshain, Berlin.
This month, I invited three artists to discuss their work and share insights into their practices:
- Marnie Feuerriegel
- Oleg Yakovlev
- Quadrature
Whether by taking influence and cues from the natural world, searching for patterns in data or archiving fragments of the human experience, Marnie Feuerriegel, Quadrature and Oleg Yakovlev demonstrate both a shared sensitivity to their physical and cultural environments and a critical concern for inspecting normalcy.
The Salon is a free, monthly artist talk event, so stay tuned for updates on our next instalment in June
Artist links:
@marniefeuerriegel
https://marniefeuerriegel.com
@quadrature.co
https://quadrature.co/
@the.favorite.place
- The Salon (May) Sound, Sight, Touch
The Salon (May)
Sound, Sight, Touch
09/05/2022Event info:
19th May, 7:30 pm
Kulturschöpfer
Grünberger Str 13
Berlin
Event links:
Kulturschöpfer
Eventbrite
What is The Salon?
The Salon is a meeting place for anyone interested in art and culture. Each month we create a space for free exchange and learning in the style of an art salon, where local Berlin artists are given a platform to share the decisions and processes behind their artistic projects, and where participants can explore a range of topics and concerns related to contemporary art practice. Our theme is May is Sound, Sight, Touch and we will be joined by three artists.
Who are the artists this month?
Quadrature uses technology as a means to read and write realities, using data as the primary artistic material. The Berlin-based artists use transdisciplinary media to create artworks that not only capture the intersection between art and science, but also the convergence of digital and analogue.
@quadrature.co
https://quadrature.co/
Marnie Feuerriegel is an Australian artist who moved to Berlin in 2015 to pursue a career in the arts. She works predominately with oil paint and bold bright colours. Marnie is in a self-proclaimed love affair with nature and works her hardest to capture the wonderful, whimsical animals and plants of the natural world in her paintings.
@marniefeuerriegel
https://marniefeuerriegel.com
Oleg Yakovlev is a Russian artist and photographer interested in urban layers and their influence on urbanites. Oleg was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1986, but has been living abroad since the Russian invasion to Ukraine. He is currently based in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
@the.favorite.place
- The Salon (March) Art & The City
8am Walks (Return)
Yes, I know. It’s been a while
18/04/2022Thought of the day: walking without a destination is to be liberated of a fundamental in walking (purpose).
I encourage anyone and everyone to try it. See how you feel walking (in or out of the city) in a way you haven’t before and without a finish line. Take a new route, shortcut or diversion. Try to walk against your internal compass and counter to whichever direction the roads, signs, trees or hedgerows lead you.
Can you get lost?
I’ve been taking regular morning walks with my camera since my second year living in London (2013). I had to find something, and so I searched London for it on foot and through the lens. Several years later (and now living in Berlin), I feel I am no longer searching for things, as such. But I still walk, find and connect bits and bobs. I take a different approach from those early days walking around Camberwell. My walks now have an added purpose: subversion.
Subversion is an unignorable theme in this project. I accept that my act of subversion is pretty tame in comparison with the likes of Sophie Calle and Francis Alÿs. But it does, nonetheless, exist.
What am I subverting? Capitalism, obviously.
Think of the city as a puzzle.
Like any game, this puzzle is designed around a set of fixed rules. As you navigate it, there are some spaces you cannot visit (you will inevitably encounter one of those ‘Privatgrundstück - Kein öffentlicher Durchgang!’ signs), some actions you cannot take (in Germany, unlike in the UK, most people do in fact wait at pedestrian crossings) and routes you cannot follow (all of those ‘Umleitung’ signs that force you to change your intended direction due to construction). Often, rules in the city-puzzle are intent on parting you with your money. This is evident in the infrastructure of most urban spaces, which channel you toward centres of trade and commerce. Follow any main road in the city and you’ll inevitably find a range of opportunities to lighten your wallet.
I generally dislike taking major thoroughfares and boulevards when I walk in Berlin, London or anywhere else. I’ve always been drawn to small places, forgotten places (as if they exist) and less-frequented places - places that have something to offer or hide. By doing so, I walk against the grain of a city designed to direct me towards shops. I feel this now more than ever after two years of experiencing a worldwide public health pandemic when many shops were closed. What is the purpose of that infrastructure then? Where do those routes now lead?
I also wonder which holds more value for me now; the process (the walk) or the product (the photograph)? Which best navigates, explains and solves the puzzle?
8am Walks, April 2022
Sensing the City - Sense of the City
Zwitschermaschine
19/03/2022Sensing the City - Sense of the City is now open and running until March 28th at Zwitschermaschine and ORi in Berlin.
Locations:
- Projektraum Zwitschermaschine - Potsdamer Str. 161
- ORi künstlerische Bildmedien e.V. - Friedelstr. 8
Times:
- Wed - Fri 4-8 pm
- Sat, Sun 2-8 pm
The artist responses presented in this group show demonstrate a shared impulse to investigate, document and catalogue the many facets of human experience within urban space. I’m really inspired by the scope and depth of the projects exhibited in this show, and grateful to the curators for making it all happen by bringing the artists together - not only within Berlin but also between Berlin and Lisbon.
‘Has every city got its own pace? What do we hear, see, and feel when we walk out the door into the cityscape? Is it too loud, too fast, too trendy, too narrow, too dirty, too crowded? How do we manage not to lose track? The exhibition project Sensing the City - Sense of the City aims to explore individual sensations in urban spaces. Taking place in Berlin and Lisbon simultaneously, this cross-disciplinary platform for urban art will host works in diverse shapes and different media and will be accompanied by a broad range of workshops and other participatory formats.’
- Exhibtion Text
Artists:
Bailey Keogh, David Wagner and Nico Espinoza, Jeremy Philip Knowles, Laura J. Lukitsch, Lijung Choi, Lisa Hofmann, Luiza Baldan+David Wagner+Nico Espinoza, Özcan Ertek and Ivana Papić, Mathias Gatti, Pharaz Azimi, Zsófia Puszt
Sensing The City - Sense Of The City, Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
Art & The City
The Salon, March
18/03/2022Yesterday evening, The Salon returned to the Kulturschöpfer living room for the first time this year.
We hosted three artists who, each in their own way, engage with city space in their art practices. Whether by re-purposing dis-used Deutsche Bahn signal towers, displaying 365 GIFs on a found square-format TV monitor or by creating interventions in the public space with geometric cardboard sculptures, Natalia Irina Roman, Christina Sarli and Katharina Kamph share a desire to transform the ordinary and the banal and to weave an element of wonder into everyday urban living. It was an extremely inspiring evening of artist talks, demonstrations and open discussion. Thanks to the artists and to everyone who attended or contributed.
If you’d like to see or hear more from the artists this month, you can find their websites below.
I will next be hosting The Salon on 19th May and presenting, as always, another round of exceptional Berlin-based artists. Please get in touch if you’d like to attend, or if you would like to suggest an artist to show their work at The Salon.
Natalia Irina Roman
https://nataliairinaroman.eu/
www.instagram.com/sitespecificideas/
Christina Sarli
https://christinasarli.com/
www.instagram.com/christinasarli/
Katharina Kamph
https://www.kamph.net/
Natalia Irina Roman, Christina Sarli, Katharina Kamph
Install Day
Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
17/03/2022Yesterday was installation day at Zwitschermaschine. My work is now installed and ready for the opening of Sensing the City - Sense of the City on Friday.
If you’re in the area on Friday, come and say hello.
7pm
Friday 18th March
Projektraum Zwitschermaschine
Potsdamer Straße 161
10783
It will be the first time in a couple of years that I’ve displayed 8am Walks in Berlin, and it feels like the work from this series is finally coming home. Actually, the two artworks in this show have literally come home from Milan, where they’ve been in storage over the last year since ReA! Art Fair.
Sensing the City - Sense of the City
Zwitschermaschine, Berlin
08/03/2022Has every city got its own pace? What do we hear, see, and feel when we walk out the door into the cityscape?
Is it too loud, too fast, too trendy, too narrow, too dirty, too crowded? How do we manage not to lose track?
I’m excited to be participating in a new exhibition opening in Berlin and Lisbon next week (17th, 18th & 19th March respectively)!
The exhibition project Sensing The City - Sense Of The City aims to explore individual sensations in urban spaces. Taking place in Berlin and Lisbon simultaneously, this cross-disciplinary platform for urban art will host works in diverse shapes and different media which are accompanied by a broad range of workshops and other participatory formats.
Follow Sensing the City - Sense of the City on Instagram here
Openings:
- Biblioteca de Marvila - March 17th, 7 pm
- Zwitschermaschine - March 18th, 7 pm
- ORi künstlerische Bildmedien e.V. - March 19th, 7 pm
Times:
- Wed - Fri 4-8 pm
- Sat, Sun 2-8 pm
Poster design by Anaïs NyffelerCiao, 2021
A Walk-Through Guide
01/01/20222021 was a wild ride 🏄♂️
From solo shows to collaborative projects, international exhibitions to artist talks, and art festivals to street workshops, the last 12 months offered a surreal mix of the challenging and the rewarding.
So, please put on your best walking boots and allow me to guide you through the peaks of my artistic year, step-by-step.
Route Planning
- In January, the design of my upcoming installation YOU ARE HERE, at DISKURS Berlin, begins after a visit to the gallery. During this time, Berlin is in lockdown. Erie and quiet walks through the city inspire my series Small Victories. In February, Richard Kalman, of Crane Kalman Brighton, writes a beautiful review of my work for ArtFinder after I am selected for the Artist of the Month feature. Later in the month, I also give an interview for RAUMSPACE Festival, Kaliningrad. In the interview, I discuss my installation Common Ground: The Wallpaper Project, which was exhibited in December of the previous year.
Setting Off
- In March, I host The Salon after a long COVID break. My guest speakers this month are Berlin artists Alice Kahei Yu, Sandra Blatterer and Phoebe Kim. In April, my application to study at Weißensee Kunsthochschule in Berlin is accepted. The following month, on an overcast May afternoon outside of DISKURS Berlin, YOU ARE HERE opens to the public. Install of the work takes two, very full, days.
Expedition
- Pressing Matters kicks off my summer in June. I spend the weekend of 18th-20th scanning people’s bodies outside of ReTramp Gallery in Berlin for 48 Stunden Neukölln. Later in the month, Routes opens to the public at Scalo Lambrate, Milan. My series Small Victories is exhibited for the first time, within the group show, as a sprawling table-top installation. In July, 8am Walks is exhibited for the first time in 2021 within the group show Obsessions, at Tête Gallery, Berlin. At the end of July, Kreuzungen is presented at LiTE-HAUS Galerie, Berlin, as a solo show that lasts one month.
Packing Up
- In September, Small Victories is finally exhibited in Berlin within a new group show at DISKURS Berlin titled Wiedersehen. Later in the month, I give an artist talk during Berlin Art Week for Art Tours Berlin, where I discuss the installation. In October, I am selected to participate in DAS HAUS, Lab #04 - an online collaborative project running until March 2022. Weekly sessions for Lab #04 begin in November. The following month, Wiedersehen closes. After three months of public display, Small Victories is broken down and my last project of 2021 is completed.
- Northumbria Coastline, Alnmouth, UKExhibition Breakdown
Wiedersehen, DISKURS Berlin
10/12/2021That's a wrap, folks.
My last project of 2021 is officially wrapped-up, broken-down and safely stored for the winter.
Wiedersehen was a group show at DISKURS Berlin, running between September and December of this year. The exhibition publication is now available to read and download from the DISKURS site here
Thanks again to curators Anna Ratcliffe and Peter Ungeheuer!
Das Haus
Lab #04
04/11/2021I’m pumped to have been selected for Lab #04 - an online, annual collaborative artist project coordinated by Das Haus, which will be running between October 2021 and March 2022.
Lab #04 is centred around weekly online meetings between participants and the coordinators of the program. Over 6 months we’ll be developing our practices and collaborating on some new projects.
You can keep up to date on the project here
‘This independent project intends to support professionals of all cultural and creative industries (advertising, architecture, design, film, music, performing arts, publishing, TV, etc.), through creative labs and an online creative community.
The Lab starts new editions in October. Between 2019 and 2020, new editions started in April and October. For each edition, a group of international multidisciplinary professionals is selected and united for an experimental and free concept online group.
Through video / sound online meetings, the selected participants exchanged knowledge and experiences related to creative processes and professional backgrounds, while developing their own practices together, in a safe place where technologies and location diversity agrees in an in-between.’
- Das Haus Website
Art Tours Berlin
Berlin Art Week, 2021
20/09/2021Until next year, Berlin Art Week!
I had the pleasure of giving a brief artist talk for Art Tours Berlin over the weekend as they made their way around Berlin’s Mitte. Thank you again Anna Ratcliff for inviting me to speak about my work in this exhibition!
Check out Art Tours Berlin here
During my artist talk on Saturday, I discussed how my series Small Victories grew slowly from the many cold and desperate walks I took through the city in the middle of lockdown this past winter. At the time, these walks provided me with an escape from being stuck inside twiddling my thumbs all day, as I waited impatiently for various forms of work to return.
To quell my anxiety, I walked.
The more I walked, the more I observed the city shifting pace... as if slowing down to meet the needs of its inhabitants. And when I look back at this series now, I’m reminded of how still this time felt. Still and yet agonising. A feeling of being off-balance, of being disconnected and out of touch with one’s very self.
I hope this tension translates into the installation.
Let me know how it reads to you.
- Art Tours Berlin, DISKURS Gallery, Sep 2021
It May Sound Utopian
Exhibition Catalogue
15/09/2021Earlier in the summer, I exhibited my installation piece YOU ARE HERE within the exhibition relay It May Sound Utopian, at DISKURS Berlin.
My installation was ninth in a line of ten solo shows taking place at the gallery, which all had the shared restriction that works must be viewed only through the windows of the gallery.
You can now access the full, online exhibition catalogue of It May Sound Utopian, which features descriptions of all ten artists and their works.
Find the catalogue here on DISKURS, issuu, and Adobe.
YOU ARE HERE was on display between May 27th and June 9th.
Throughout the duration of the exhibition, the doors to the gallery remained closed and visitors were instead forced to engage with the installation through the windows of the gallery only, thereby positioning themselves within the artwork when standing in front of the lens.
The title of the installation acts as both a guide and a cold fact. When observing the projection made by the camera-obscura we are reminded that, undoubtedly, we are here and nowhere else.
As we continue to experience this changing and precarious ‘new normal’ as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, with so many truths and knowns under new scrutiny and with an increasing amount of our interactions now taking place on the surface of a digital screen, perhaps modest tools are needed most in order to remind us where we truly are.
You are here, of course.
- Installation View ‘YOU ARE HERE’, DISKURS BerlinWiedersehen
DISKURS Gallery, Berlin
10/09/2021WIEDERSEHEN opened last night at DISKURS Berlin.
'Wiedersehen translates most accurately into ‘meet again’: an optimistic farewell. During the pandemic, the idea of meeting again and ‘Wiedersehen’ have taken on more gravitas due to social distancing, travel restrictions and frankly death. In England, the song made famous by Vera Lynn in the second world war had a resurgence with the iconic lines ‘We'll meet again. Don't know where. Don't know when. But I know we'll meet again some sunny day’ capturing both the uncertainty and need for hope felt by many.
This wartime rhetoric continued in many other places. The German government took on a satirical approach, making adverts depicting elderly men talking of medals and the fate of the country, only to discover that they are speaking to us from the future looking back on 2020, stating: "Our couch was the frontline and our patience was our weapon". Additionally, in Denmark, the word ‘samfundssind’ has had a revival. Meaning community spirit or civic-mindedness, ‘samfundssind’ entered the dictionary in 1936 and was used in speeches leading up to WWII but was utilised by the current Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in March 2020 to speak about the pandemic and the word has boomed since. All of this is to say, society’s rhetoric changed. There was now a need for a collective mentality that hasn’t been seen in many western European countries since wartime.
The ideas of individualism and collectivism are often seen in direct opposition to each other, but they can be complementary constructs. In Germany, we live in a country that places importance on the hopes, freedoms and self-expression of the individual. However during the pandemic, the group became the priority over the self. Certain rights and liberties had to be conceded for the protection of the whole, giving way to social distancing, mask-wearing and adherence to rules. It is often seen that individualism leads to innovation and puts value on self-expression and civil freedoms, all positive attributes, but the pandemic has come at a time of hyper-individualism where self-interest has taken over with a disregard for society. As we stand in the face of the pandemic, along with global crises like climate change, inequality and increasing wealth gaps, ideas of collectivism could aid us as we move forward.
To mirror this in the group exhibition, artists that took part in the mainly solo exhibition series come together. The 23 artists, that previously had individual platforms, sacrifice a bit of autonomy to form a collective and exhibit alongside each other.'
- Anna Ratcliffe, Curator
- Opening of Wiedersehen, DISKURS Berlin
Wiedersehen
DISKURS Gallery, Berlin
30/08/2021‘WIEDERSEHEN is a group show uniting the artists who have shown their works through the windows of DISKURS Berlin during two series of exhibition relays, ‘Solidarity, FightBack, SunGoesUp’ in 2020 and ‘It May Sound Utopian’ in 2021. Interestingly, most of the artists have never met before in person. It is the first opening after 18 months of closed doors and sets the stage for a post-pandemic phase, without knowing what remains and what changes.
The eyes, associated with seeing (‘Sehen’) are, since Aristotle, considered the most important of our five senses and for sure the one which first comes into one’s mind when we think about art. But "Wiedersehen" has the connotation of meeting again, which comprises all of our senses: we encounter something familiar in a different way, in an unprecedented context, with new expectations and reactions.
As we say in German: "Wiedersehen macht Freude" or the joy of reunion is something that we all hopefully experience these days – seeing each other again. While keeping contact in smaller circles and virtual meetings, a physical ‘Wiedersehen’ seems irreplaceable for us since we longed for it.’
Anna Ratcliffe
Peter Ungeheuer
9th Sep - 4th Dec 2021
Opening: Thursday 9th September 2021, 6–9 pm
Find the event on DISKURS here
Wiedersehen
DISKURS Gallery, Berlin
14/08/2021Next show coming up:
Wiedersehen, at DISKURS Berlin
Curated by Anna Ratcliffe and Peter Ungeheuer
9th Sep - 4th Dec 2021
Opening: Thursday 9th September 2021, 6–9 pm
Find the event on DISKURS here
Wiedersehen is a new group show featuring the many artists who have presented their work at DISKURS Gallery since the beginning of the Corona Crisis last year.
I’m really excited to be finally presenting Small Victories in this show, as it will be the first time that this new series has been exhibited in Berlin (where the series was shot). Small Victories was started in March 2020 to record subtle changes within the city as a consequence of the pandemic. It was first exhibited in July at Scalo Lambrate, Milan, within Routes.
Check out Small Victories here
It’s a pleasure to be presenting work alongside these amazing artists:
Erik Andersen, Inna Artemova, Birte Bosse, Jérôme Chazeix, Sandra Hauser, Gregor Hildebrandt, Bethan Hughes, Yukiko Jungesblut, Zinu Kim, Jeremy Knowles, Kodac Ko, Jay Lee, Jeewi Lee, Yiannis Pappas, Fabian Reetz, Thomas Rentmeister, Elinor Sahm, Laura Schawelka, Merani Schilcher, Lorina Speder, David Szauder, William Winter, Hana Yoo
More updates to follow.
Kreuzungen
LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum
23/07/2021Yesterday evening was the opening of a new group show I am very pleased to be participating in, at LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum in Neukölln, featuring artists Sandra E. Blatterer, Joachim Ramin and yours truly.
Technically the exhibition is three solo shows in one, so it's a little hard to give it a title. But I like the board I found outside of the gallery last night:
3 Künstler
3 Raumen
That fits nicely.
Each artist in this show utilises light within their work, engaging visitors to the space in a physical or material conversation where participation and movement are sometimes required. I’m so impressed by the works of fellow artists Joachim Ramin and Sandra E. Blatterer - I highly reccomend going to see their work. For my own part in the show, I am presenting work from my 2020 series Kreuzungen, which consists of nine lightboxes housing film negatives.
You can find more information on Kreuzungen here
Check out the event page on LiTE-HAUS here
LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum
Mareschstr. 4, 12055 Berlin
Opening: 22 July, 6pm
Running: 22 July - 25 August
‘LiTE-HAUS again welcomes artist Jeremy Philip Knowles who has created an interactive exhibition using lightboxes. Using a free smartphone app, visitors can discover areas of Neukölln in Jeremy's lightboxes.’
- LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum Website
- Kreuzungen, LiTE-HAUS Galerie + ProjektraumObsessions
Tête Gallery, Berlin
16/07/2021Obsessions is a new group photography exhibition at Tête Gallery, Berlin, featuring artists who explore (you guessed it) obsessions within their work - curated by Bénédicte Blondeau, founder of Photography Exploration Project (PEP).
The show opened to the public yesterday evening and I highly recommend going to check it out if you’re in Berlin, not least because my work is included in the collection! Bénédicte has curated the space at Tête Gallery beautifully and it’s a pleasure to have been invited to contribute one of my pieces.
The show opened to the public yesterday evening and I highly recommend going to check it out if you’re in Berlin, not least because my work is included in the collection! Bénédicte has curated the space at Tête Gallery beautifully and it’s a pleasure to have been invited to contribute one of my pieces.
Check out the PEP page here
Tête Gallery
Schönhauser Allee 161A
10435 Berlin
15-25 July
Wednesday-Sunday, 2-8pm
In their creative practice, many artists gravitate towards certain ideas that are intruding on their mind and to which they keep on returning over and over again - some forms of obsessions that drive them to create. The extraordinary perseverance and the willingness to take risks that arise from them are often the driving force that feeds artists’ productivity, allowing them to grow in their practice and deliver exceptional outcomes while expanding their singular universe.
- Photographic Exploration Project
- Installation View, Obsessions, Tête Gallery, Berlin
- Installation View, Obsessions, Tête Gallery, Berlin
Routes
Scalo Lambrate, Milan
11/07/2021Today is the last day to visit Routes at Scalo Lambrate in Milan and to see my installation Small Victories.
Although I, unfortunately, haven’t been able to visit the show in person (due to predictable Corona restrictions), I’ve been kept up to date by the curators of the show over the past couple of weeks and it’s been so rewarding to hear the reactions from visitors.
It's amazing to finally see my ideas turned into reality, even from a distance.
So, I need to say a massive thank you to everyone at ReA! who helped to make this exhibition happen - especially curator Paola Shiamtani for supporting me throughout the process since last year and to (hero) Giacomo for constructing my installation under pressure. So grateful!
Links:
Eventbrite
Scalo Lambrate
ReA! Art Fair
Dates:
Fri, Jun 25 to Sun, Jul 11
Location:
Scalo Lambrate
via Pietro Andrea Saccardo `12
20134 Milano
Italy
Artists:
Alessio Guarda, Alisa Chunchue, Dominique Cro, Giacomo Zornetta, Jeremy Knowles, Peng Shuai, Clara Rubin, Lorenzo Papanti, Kim Gromoll, Leo Cogliati
- Small Victories, 2021Routes
Scalo Lambrate, Milan
25/06/2021Routes opens today at Scalo Lambrate, Milan!
This show has been a long time in the making and I’m really excited to see it all finally come together. Unfortunately, I can’t be there in Milan to see the exhibition in person, but I’m looking forward to getting updates from the curatorial team. If you’re in Milan to see Routes, send me a message and tell me what you think.
I am presenting unpublished work from my new series 'Small Victories', which acts as a personal diary of my observations in Berlin during months of lockdown, since March 2020.
Over this time, it has been fascinating to notice and document physical changes in the city, and to see the effects of the pandemic left around Berlin in so many subtle ways.
For Routes, I have designed a standing wooden structure to house small prints from this series. The structure snakes through the industrial space of Scalo Lambrate and appears off-balance. My aim in designing this installation was to communicate uncertainty and instability - emotions that many connect with this time. As an artist living in Berlin during this pandemic, and having been largely unemployed over the last 18 months, my walks through the city have offered brief moments of creative relief from a downright miserable time.
For Routes, I have designed a standing wooden structure to house small prints from this series. The structure snakes through the industrial space of Scalo Lambrate and appears off-balance. My aim in designing this installation was to communicate uncertainty and instability - emotions that many connect with this time. As an artist living in Berlin during this pandemic, and having been largely unemployed over the last 18 months, my walks through the city have offered brief moments of creative relief from a downright miserable time.
Small Victories will be published online shortly.
Links:
Eventbrite
Scalo Lambrate
ReA! Art Fair
Dates:
Fri, Jun 25 to Sun, Jul 11
Location:
Scalo Lambrate
via Pietro Andrea Saccardo `12
20134 Milano
Italy
Artists:
Alessio Guarda, Alisa Chunchue, Dominique Cro, Giacomo Zornetta, Jeremy Knowles, Peng Shuai, Clara Rubin, Lorenzo Papanti, Kim Gromoll, Leo Cogliati
Pressing Matters
48 Stunden Neukölln
21/06/2021It’s all over, folks.
Scans are complete.
Scans are complete.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in and contributed to my project Pressing Matters this weekend for 48 Stunden Neukölln. Many things were scanned. Many things (thankfully) were not scanned.
I’ll just have to find a clever way of pulling together all these lovely scanned body parts to make something especially interesting some time in the future. More to follow on that later.
I want to say a massive thank you to Verity Oberg from ReTramp Gallery for hosting me this weekend and of course to the organisers of 48 Stunden Neukölln for accepting my proposal and supporting me in realising this project. It’s been a very fun, experimental few days scanning bodies on the street. The return of this festival is a huge step forward towards re-starting the arts and culture in Berlin. I’ll just have to find a clever way of pulling together all these lovely scanned body parts to make something especially interesting some time in the future. More to follow on that later.
It’s long overdue.
And we’re ready.
Keep your eyes peeled for my next exhibtion Routes, which opens this coming weekend at Scalo Lambrate in Milan. Routes is a group show presenting new work from the recipients of the ReA! Art Prize in 2020.
- Installation View and Artist, Pressing Matters
Pressing Matters
48 Stunden Neukölln
18/06/2021My own, personal contribution to 48 Stunden Neukölln this year, Pressing Matters, was finally underway yesterday evening to officially kick off the festival weekend from our little corner of the neighbourhood.
After only two hours of running the installation from outside of ReTramp Gallery on Reuterstraße, I was already seeing some very interesting and, well, how do I put it, unique responses to the project from passers-by.
My goal is to fill the window of ReTramp Gallery with body scans by the end of the project on Sunday, so please come by and say hello today and tomorrow (3-7pm) if you’d like to participate.
18-20 June, 3-7pm
ReTramp Gallery
Reuterstraße 62
12047, Berlin
Check out the Facebook event here
- Installation View, Pressing Matters
Routes
Scalo Lambrate, Milan
16/06/202125 June - 11 July, 2021
Scalo Lambrate
via Pietro Andrea Saccardo `12
20134 Milano
Italy
I have a new show coming up in Milan next week, opening on 25th June. Routes is a group show orgnaised by ReA! Art Fair in Milan. The ten artists in Routes are the winners of the 2020 ReA! Art Prize. I’ll be presenting my new series Small Victories, which has been made during lockdown in Berlin.
Check out the event on ReA! here
Or via Eventbrite here
During this time of restart, the ten winning artists of the ReA! Art Prize come together for a group exhibition. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, they nonetheless share a common point, which is the subject of travel, an investigation of the self, the environment and nature, the urban landscape, technology, communication, culture and society. We are looking at these critical changes through the practices of emerging artists and their creative experimentation, which evolving under difficult circumstances takes on new functions.
The exhibition space is the starting point for the exhibition - Routes refers both to the artists' creative journey and to the space itself located in a former railway factory. Despite the multiple interests of the 10 winners, there are some parallels between their works, and the research ranges from the focus on materiality to the representation and interpretation of the space that surrounds us - be it circumscribed or liberating. There is also a strong emphasis on the search for identity through connections with others and nature as well as the relationship with the self. The artists address these themes through different media, ranging from more classical practices - such as painting and sculpture - to more contemporary forms using algorithms to create digital videos. The exhibition aims to offer the public an in-depth view of the artists' practice in order to create a connection with their perspective of the world.
- ReA! Website
- Small Victories, 2021Pressing Matters
48 Stunden Neukölln
14/06/2021This weekend I’m going to be scanning some 'stuff' outside of ReTramp Gallery in Berlin for 48 Stunden Neukölln - Neukölln’s annual, summer arts festival weekend.
If you’re in the kiez from the 18th to 20th, come and say hello.
Oh, but then make sure you scan something as well.
It’s gonna be an experiment...
18-20 June, 3-7pm
ReTramp Gallery
Reuterstraße 62
12047, Berlin
You can access my project via the 48 Stunden Neukölln online program here
Or via ReTramp Gallery here
YOU ARE HERE
Exhibition Breakdown
09/06/2021This week saw the sun set for the very last time on my installation and solo show 'YOU ARE HERE' at DISKURS Berlin. Although it was only on display for a short time - just two weeks - YOU ARE HERE has been in the works since November 2020, during my residency at Green Hill Gallery, Berlin.
The exhibition series ‘It May Sound Utopian’ at DISKURS Berlin continues tomorrow with Fabian Reetz and his installation ‘Pretending to Swim’. I definitely recommend checking out his work if you get a chance.
YOU ARE HERE was originally conceptualized during one of Berlin’s most severe periods of lockdown restrictions, when the majority of private businesses, including art galleries and museums, across the city were closed to the public. Through this installation, I wanted to find a way of engaging an audience, actively, through the windows of an art space. I also wanted to restrict their view even further and only represent the space itself without any special objects of value inside. Camera Obscura’s have the ability to transform what is banal and mundane into something mesmerizing - I’ve always been fascinated by this power. But allowing someone to have access to this transformation from outside of the space itself is quite a challenge.
By connecting the phenomenon of the Camera Obscura, which was first documented circa 470BCE by Mozi, an early Chinese philosopher who described it as the ‘treasure house’, with the language of modern CCTV surveillance, my hope was to transform these mundane elements in the city even further.
What we see in the view of these cameras is, after all, nothing more than everyday life, simply spoken in a different language.
- Installation View, YOU ARE HERE
- Installation View, YOU ARE HERE
YOU ARE HERE
DISKURS Berlin
07/06/2021My two-week solo show YOU ARE HERE, at DISKURS Berlin, is coming to an end on Wednesday 9th June. If you’re in Mitte until then, go and check it out and tell me what you see in the screen.
DISKURS Berlin
Novalisstraße 7
10115 Berlin
The screen is on/running from 11am until 6pm each day and visibility obviously depends on the available natural light. It’s been super cool to hear the reactions from people who have visited the installation so far.
So, keep em’ coming. I’d be happy to hear from you.
- Installation View, YOU ARE HERE
Shop Update
04/06/2021I’ve just updated my online shop to include a few new additions from morning walks in Berlin.
Have a ganders and see what you find.
Limited editions now available:
- Mittelbuschweg
- Saalestraße
- Quitzowstraße
- Obentrautstraße
Certificates of authenticity are provided with every artwork and worldwide shipping is available. All prints are individually signed and numbered.
- Mittelbuschweg, 2020Pressing Matters
48 Stunden Neukölln
04/06/2021I’m pretty excited to be participating in 48 Stunden Neukölln this year in Berlin!
In a couple of weeks time I’ll be presenting my new installation/performance project from the windows of ReTramp Gallery on Reuterstr. This project is participatory and somewhat experimental, and I’ll be inviting members of the community who pass by the gallery to engage physically in creating the work.
So, if you’re in the area between 18th - 20th June, come and say hello.
18-20 June, 3-7pm
ReTramp Gallery
Reuterstraße 62
12047, Berlin
You can access my project via the 48 Stunden Neukölln online program here
Or via ReTramp Gallery here
Pressing Matters is a new participatory art project developed specifically for 48 Hours Neukölln in 2021. This project explores a number of the lasting social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: lack of closeness, connection and physical touch. During the festival weekend in June, members of the Neukölln community will have the opportunity to engage with and actively contribute to this playful art project by physically pressing body parts against the window of ReTramp Gallery and, in doing so, both address and reimagine some of the concerns raised during this time.
YOU ARE HERE
Exhibition Opening
28/05/2021My camera-obscura installation project YOU ARE HERE opened yesterday evening at DISKURS Berlin! The work will be up for two weeks, until 9th June, and can viewed directly through the gallery windows from outside on the street.
You can also find out more from the gallery website here
Jeremy’s top tip:
“Check it out on a bright day, mate”
This project has been many months in the making, but would not have been possible without the help of some very important people, who I need to champion here, big time.
- Nancy Dewhurst was instrumental in helping me design, construct, transport and install the internal wooden structure of this installation. Her skills are so valued and she did an amazing job.
- Tommi & Annika (founders of Bonfoton), provided me with a very clever camera-obscura lens for the show and helped me in problem-solving along the way. The Bonfoton lens is a pretty nifty piece of kit, and I highly recommend it.
- Christopher Elmerick (founder of Kulturschöpfer in Berlin), provided continued support and, importantly, a physical space to prototype my idea back in April.
- Clara Gross supported me massively throughout this project, from prototyping to install, and gave me the encouragement needed to make it all happen.
Thanks to you all.
- Installation View, YOU ARE HEREYOU ARE HERE
DISKURS Berlin
25/05/2021This coming Thursday (27th May) is the opening of my installation YOU ARE HERE at DISKURS Berlin.
27th May - 9th June, 2021
(Soft opening 27th May 7:30pm)
DISKURS Berlin
Novalisstraße 7
10115 Berlin
You can also access the event through these platforms: ArtConnect, ArtRabbit, Index
YOU ARE HERE is a camera-obscura installation piece designed for the exhibition relay It May Sound Utopian at DISKURS Berlin. This installation will be exhibited from May 27th at DISKURS Berlin for two weeks. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, the doors to the gallery will remain closed and viewers will instead be forced to engage with the installation through the windows of the gallery only, thereby positioning themselves within the artwork. The title of the installation acts as both a guide and a cold fact. When observing the projection made by the camera-obscura we are reminded that, undoubtedly, we are here and nowhere else. In doing so, we are also forced to engage with the question of whether our privacy is being violated.
As we all continue to live through this unfamiliar and precarious period of time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, when so many truths and knowns are under new scrutiny and with an increasing amount of our experiences and interactions now taking place on the surface of a digital screen, perhaps modest tools are needed most in order to remind us where we truly are.
You are here, of course.
The Salon
Artist-Talk Series
26/03/2021Last night was the very first online session of The Salon, featuring Berlin-based artists Alice Kahei Yu, Sandra Blatterer and Phoebe Kim, hosted by yours truly. If you missed this month’s live event, kein stress... because I’ve got you covered with a recording of our session on Youtube.
The Salon is a free, monthly meeting place for anyone interested in art and culture. Each month we create a space for exchange and learning in the style of an art salon, where local Berlin artists are given a platform to share the decisions and processes behind their artistic projects, and where participants can explore a range of topics and concerns related to contemporary art practice.
In this month's Salon, we explored themes of identity, connectivity and community in the practices of Alice Kahei Yu, Sandra Blatterer and Phoebe Kim, who discussed their ongoing works and showed us around their Berlin studios.
- Alice Kahei Yu was born in Hong Kong and both lives and works in Berlin. Yu is a painter and founder of Prenzlauer Studio in Berlin. Yu is currently participating in a fellowship at nGbK, within the framework of the 'Weltoffenes Berlin' program, initiated by Berlin’s Senate Department for Culture and Europe to support artists and cultural workers from countries where cultural freedom is restricted.
- Sandra Blatterer creates imaginary spaces with her light artworks that explore the relationships between reality, symbols and society. In the simulation of natural spaces, she generates copies that represent things that never existed or that no longer have an original. Her works negotiate perception, (pictorial) memory, parallelisms, dream worlds and imagination versus so-called reality. By alienating the ordinary in the sense of artificiality, her designed worlds compete with naturalness and transfer image sequences into abstract space.
- Phoebe Kim is a Korean-Australian Artist based in Berlin. Her works reflect self-identity through painting as a process and practice. Her works are vastly a response to the situations and conversations she is faced with that are often discriminating and racist. She intertwines a sarcastic sense of humour in her works and seeks to question the underlying motive and raise awareness of the discrimination faced within the careless social prejudice which blatantly exist today.
- Phoebe Kim, Kunst Zum Mitnehmen, 2021- The Salon: Artist Studio Visit, Youtube, 2021
RAUM SPACE Arts Festival, 2020
Follow-Up Video
01/03/2021In December 2020, I participated in Raum Space - a new multidisciplinary arts festival in Kaliningrad, Russia. The follow-up video to the festival has just premiered on Youtube this evening and features my interview with curator Alexandra Goloborodko.
Check out the video on Youtube here
‘We are glad to present you a film about the first International pop-up festival of contemporary art RAUM SPACE in Kaliningrad. It took more than two years to prepare this event. In October 2020, we held a week of workshops for artists from Kaliningrad and Berlin. Our curators Alexandra Goloborodko and Leyli Aslanova have managed an excellent lineup of speakers. Under their leadership, the artists provided international art collaborations. As a result, in December 2020 Kaliningrad became the place for a large-scale festival of contemporary art. The city was fulfilled with creative vibes and with the energy of young and talented authors. The program of the RAUM SPACE festival consisted of four sections and everyone could find an event on their interests. The festival was attended by over 1000 people — citizens of Kaliningrad, guests from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Stary Oskol and many other cities of Russia. We aimed to be as open and accessible as possible. Most of the festival events were held in a hybrid format with online broadcasts in Zoom conferences.
The main mission of the RAUM SPACE festival is to support contemporary art in Kaliningrad, to attract the attention of the world art community to the local context, as well as to develop creative links between artists from Kaliningrad and Berlin.’
- RAUM SPACE 2020, Youtube
- RAUM SPACE 2020, Youtube, 2021
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- Curator Leyli Aslanova alongside ‘Common Ground’ intsallation, 2020
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- RAUM SPACE opening, 2020
- Curator Leyli Aslanova alongside ‘Common Ground’ intsallation, 2020
- RAUM SPACE opening, 2020Curator’s Pick: ArtFinder
Artists of the Month for February
28/02/2021I’m humbled to have been featured in this month’s Artists of the Month on ArtFinder, and given special mention by Richard Kalman, founder of Crane Kalman Brighton. Thanks also to Richard for a beautiful write-up of my work.
You can find Richard’s selection here
‘You could say that Jeremy Philip Knowles has an obsession with shape and colour. Since 2016, he has been based in Berlin, where he has set about exploring its identity on the ground. As he winds his way through this vibrant city, he discovers the everyday things that we overlook, and injects them with new life.
Impossibly bright colours and dynamic shapes punch their way into our vision: a vivid orange wall is cut into zigzags of light and shadow; a powder-blue umbrella lies inverted like a spider on its back; a bright yellow balloon is trapped underneath a van. Knowles captures those bizarre and wonderful everyday things that we see but don’t really see as we rush through our lives. His precisely structured composition casts his subject matter in an abstract light, causing us to pause in our visual consumption of these highly polished images.
Through his lens, these seemingly mundane objects and buildings become elevated. Knowles plants the viewer firmly in his camera, to see what he sees, and how he sees it. His adventurous contrast of light and shadow, usual and unusual, known and unknown asks us to take a minute to reflect on the ordinary marvels that exist around us.’
- Richard Kalman, ArtFinder Website
- Mainzer Str. 2020You Are Here
DISKURS Gallery, Berlin
(19/01/2021)I’m very excited to announce my participation in a new curatorial project with DISKURS Gallery in Berlin, Mitte, taking place later this spring. This May Sound Utopian is a solo-exhibition relay consisting of 10 shows, 10 artists and 4 guest curators over the course of four months, between February and June 2021. This project is specifically designed to tackle the newly imposed restrictions affecting in-person gallery attendence across the city by embracing works and proposals that engage people through the window of the gallery itself. You Are Here is my own contribution to the project, and will be exhibited between 27th May and 9th June. More to follow as that project develops.
You can find out more about the project, and discover the works of the other artists participating, on the DISKURS site here or by following DISKURS on Instagram here
‘Under the title ‘It may sound utopian’, DISKURS Berlin launches the second round of the Exhibition-Relay in 2021 to attract, select, and provide an opportunity to artists, curators, and creative individuals. This project is specifically designed to be viewed through the windows of DISKURS Berlin as our doors remain closed. With the exhibitions changing every two weeks, this fast-paced exhibition program aims to support the art scene to fight back against the COVID-19 crisis.’
- DISKURS Site
- DISKURS Gallery, BerlinRaum Space Festival
Arts Festival, Kaliningrad
(18/12/2020)Raum Space Arts Festival kicks off today in Kaliningrad, Russia, with a city-wide program of projects, exhibitions and events featuring artists, and artist collaborations, from both Kaliningrad and Berlin. The festival runs over the weekend, culminating on Dec 20th.
For the full festival program, check out the Raum Space site here
I have three engagements in Raum Space Festival, which I’m excited to share:
- Common Ground: The Wallpaper Project is a collaborative project coordinating the unique perspectives of two school classes of children: at Georg-Weerth-Schule in Berlin and The School of Creative Technologies in Kaliningrad. This project is on display within the main festival site, The Pravaya Nabereznaya 21 Creative Space, until Dec 20th.
- Everyday Life is a cross-disciplinary collaboration between myself and Kaliningrad-based painter Anton Yakovlev. Anton’s series of ten paintings, inspired in part by photographs made by myself in Berlin, will be on display around the city on billboards and public displays.
- Novel (s) of Places or Abstract Topophilia is a group exhibition investigating, and responding to, peripheral places. This show features twenty artists based in both Kaliningrad and Berlin whose works explore boundaries of public space and the everyday. This exhibition, curated by Nikita Klen, is on display at Rozenau Gallery.
- From ‘Commond Ground: The Wallpaper Project’Action on Hold
Current Exhibition
(14/12/2020)Over the past month, I’ve been working on a new exhibition series here in Berlin exploring different responses to our current situation; at the end of a decisive year filled with all sorts of weird twists and turns. This exhibition is designed to be viewed from outside the gallery, through the windows. We hope it provides the community in Friedrichshain some form of entertainment/relief/distraction over the next two months.
Green Hill Gallery
Grünberger Strasse 13
10243, Berlin
‘Action on Hold is a three-part exhibition, on display at Green Hill Gallery in Berlin between December 2020 and February 2021, investigating subliminal responses to the current global pandemic. Over the course of eight weeks, the gallery space will be deconstructed and re-assembled twice, concluding in February.
When we perceive danger, the body elicits one of three automatic responses that are out of our control but which aim to protect us from immediate harm. Our heart rate increases, our pain perception drops and our hearing sharpens in preparation for our next move, which may be either fight, flight or freeze. Each reaction is the result of a complex chain of hormonal and physiological changes designed solely for our survival. But what happens when our actions are put on hold? Where do we turn to in order to secure our own safety when the threat we seek to overcome is one affecting so many aspects of our lives?
Artists Florent Lubienicki (FR), Silvia Sarsano (IT), Jeremy Philip Knowles (UK), Kon Turner (DE) and Audriana Acuña (USA) present a varied and personal response to life under pressure by exploring how we react to moments of crisis.’
- Photo by Silvia SarsanoNeukölln Stories
Post-Exhibition Interview
(10/12/2020)Neukölln Stories, at LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum in Berlin, came down last weekend after a four-week opening despite the many challenges presented by the nation-wide lockdown in Germany since the beginning of November. Over the coming weeks I’ll be documenting my work from this exhibition to be published online, but until then you can check out the full exhibition digitally via a new video walk-through of the gallery. The video also includes recorded interviews from each artist participating in this exhibition, providing insight into the making of each artwork and discussing some of the broader themes of this project.
Find the full video on Youtube here
“I became very aware of my role within this experience and what I was doing - as a white person, a man, a non-German, as a European - and going into these communities within Neukölln, which are varied and have all sorts of different people. But I had role within that and, whichever way you look at it, I was an outsider. With respect to all of those aspects, I was an outsider and I was going into that community to take from it in some way.”
- From ‘Neukölln Stories’ Youtube Video, published by LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum
- Neukölln Stories, LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum, BerlinCreatives During the Pandemic
Newly Published Interview
(04/12/2020)Last week I gave a live interview for With P.M in Berlin to discuss my experience as an artist throughout this pandemic (so far, at least). In the interview I discuss my reasons for leaving London in 2016, my disenchantment with university education in the UK, how the lockdown in March propelled my practice, and what I’ve been up to creatively over the last two months since the ‘Berlin cloud’ rolled in. Importantly, I also discuss the reality of losing several jobs as a result of the pandemic and shed light on the many challenges in seeking support from the government.
Spoiler alert, it’s not fun.
Find the full interview here
“There aren’t any tourists, but otherwise you see that people are out and about at the moment as normal so you really don’t feel the struggle or see the pressure and the anxiety within so many people. But it is absolutely there.”
‘Creatives During the Pandemic is a personal project giving creators a space to fully share their experience and struggles during the COVID pandemic.’
- With P.M in Berlin Website
Common Ground: The Wallpaper Project
New Project & Forthcoming Exhibition
(03/12/2020)Over the past month, I’ve been working on a new collaborative project in Berlin coordinating the efforts of two school classes in finding new ways to investigate the city through play and photography. Common Ground: The Wallpaper Project will be concluded on Dec 20 at RaumSpace Festival in Kaliningrad, Russia.
Find out more about the project here
Follow the project on Instagram here
Check out RaumSpace here
RaumSpace Festival
Kaliningrad
Dec 18-20
This project aims to involve children in an important conversation about art and the role of the digital image in everyday life. I’m incredibly proud of my class of students at Georg-Weerth-Schule in Berliin and equally grateful to The School of Creative Technologies in Kaliningrad for participating so well in this project. More updates to follow as the project develops between both cities.
Photo Kyiv, 2020
Fair opening
(02/12/2020)Photo Kyiv 2020 has now officially gone live and will be running online until Dec 20. New work from my ongoing series 8am Walks will be displayed at Photo Kyiv this year alongside the works of 24 other artists exploring the medium of photography in their practice.
Check out Photo Kyiv online here
‘Photo Kyiv is the International Photography Fair in Ukraine founded in 2017. PHOTO KYIV 2020 will be held online on the Pangram platform. Pangram is an online art space, where visual art will be presented. Going online provides new opportunities for galleries and independent photographers, as well as for partners and visitors.’
- Photo Kyiv Website
- Elli-Voigt-Straße, 2020Neukölln Stories
LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum
(23/11/2020)Neukölln Stories (my current exhibition at LiTE-HAUS Galerie + Projektraum in Berlin) has been extended by a further week, until Dec 5th. The gallery is still open and following all the current guidelines, so check it out before things change again and we forget all about visiting exhibitions.
Check out LiTE-HAUS Galerie here
Or find the Facebook event here
There will be a short digital Q&A coming soon from all seven participating artists. Keep your eyes peeled.
I’m really grateful to have taken part in this project for nomadicArt, which began all the way back in June of this year. Neukölln Stories has taken me on a very unique and explorative journey within my practice and, also as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic locally within Berlin, has forced me to challenge the way in which I make work. The resulting work from all seven participating artists amounts to a varied and yet poingnant response to the neighborhood of Neukölln. This exhibition focuses on six specific locations within the neighborhood and addresses a number of concerns affecting it’s residents: queer culture and rights, club culture, far-right extremism, gossip and the everyday, and even life from the perspective of a dog.
Alongside the investigations of each artist are the accounts of business owners in Neukölln, recorded and archived by anthropologist Julia Widdig, and illustrations of the facades of the six shops by Myriam Perrot.
Photo Kyiv 2020
International Photography Fair
(16/11/2020)Next month you can find my work on display within Photo Kyiv, which is taking place online this year for, well, obvious reasons...
Online art engagement is still a relatively new and experimental format, but one that is becoming increasingly necessary. Viewing and engaging with art online does, however, present new questions for artists, art institutions and for the public. Is physical engagement with visual art still needed today? What do we stand to sacrifice, and what do we stand to gain, in the process? How do we transition between online and offline? Despite these concerns, it is, nonetheless, pretty exciting to see how different art platforms have begun to approach the online-gallery format over the past few months and adapt traditional tools in order to connect with a new digital audience. Perhaps the online viewing experience will never fully replace physical art engagement in the traditional sense, but it certainly deserves a little more time to develop as it’s own medium, in my opinion, before we judge it too harshly. Let’s see where it goes, I say...
Photo Kyiv 2020, Online
December 2-20
Check out Photo Kyiv 2020 online here
‘Photo Kyiv is the International Photography Fair in Ukraine founded in 2017. Photo Kyiv 2020 will be held online on the Pangram platform. Pangram is an online art space, where visual art will be presented. Going online provides new opportunities for galleries and independent photographers, as well as for partners and visitors.’
- Photo Kyiv Website
- Photo Kyiv WebsiteReA! Art Prize
Winner
(07/11/2020)I’m really excited to announce that ReA! Art Fair has awarded me the first ever ReA! Art Prize, following the first ever ReA! Art Fair in Milan last weekend.
Check out ReA! on Instagram here
The ReA! Art Prize awards ten emerging artists with a group exhibition in Milan in 2021. More information to follow on that later.
Congratulations also to Peng Shuai, Clara Rubin, Lorenzo Papanti, Alessio Guarda, Alisa Chunchue, Dominique Cro, Giacomo Zornetta, Kim Gromoll and Leo Cogliati.
Thank you so much to ReA! for awarding me this prize and to everyone who visited the fair last weekend and got in touch after seeing my work.
It looks like I’ll be having that Aperol after all...
Locked + Loaded
Online Exhibition, DegreeArt
(02/11/2020)I’m excited to announce the virtual opening of my very first online exhibition, with DegreeArt in London. Locked + Loaded presents the work of 48 artists represented by DegreeArt. The works in this exhibition have all been made during periods of lockdown, somewhere in the world.
Check out Locked + Loaded here
Download the exhibition catalogue here
‘There have been many silver linings amongst the unexpected new challenges faced in 2020. Our first exhibition since lockdown celebrates the pure, multiplices and creative responses this period has enabled.The momentum of creativity has never, in our lifetime, felt so powerful. Artists have always needed and have been driven to respond to the world around them. Art provides a means of not only recording a moment in history, but equally gifts a window that transports their audiences on a personal journey they may not have otherwise embarked on.
Throughout the last six months, the diverse responses, interpretations and journeys offered by our artists, communicated through multimedia, has driven our determination to use the time we have spent in this altered universe to emerge fully ‘Locked and Loaded’.
The ‘Locked + Loaded’ exhibition and the artwork it showcases, is a reflection of the unplanned journey we have been on, a celebration of what has been accomplished and a permanent reminder, that together, we can transform the world for the better’
- DegreeArt Website
ReA! Emerging Artists Fair, Milan
Fair Opening
(30/10/2020)Check our ReA! Art Fair here
This weekend is the opening of ReA! Art Fair in Milan, where two works from my ongoing series 8am Walks (Mittelbuschweg, 2020 and Obentrautstraße, 2019) will be on display alongside the work of some amazing young artists from across Europe. Sadly I won’t be there myself this weekend to enjoy the work of the other artists because of new travel restrictions, but curators and organizers within the ReA! team in Milan have been fighting really hard over the past weeks to make sure the fair is open to the public - on time and in the safest way possible.
So please put my Aperol on ice for now, Milan...
If you’re in Milan right now and feel comfortable to do so, check out ReA! this weekend... and if you spot my work in the fair please feel free to send me a message. I’d be happy to answer questions about my practice in general or specifically my Berlin series 8am Walks.
Editions:
100cm x 70cm, Framed x 10
Available via the ReA! online shop
35cm x 25cm, Unframed x 20
Available via my online shop
- ‘Obentrautstraße’ 2019
Tools Without Rules - RaumSpace Festival
Berlin Workshops
(25/10/2020)An intense week of workshops in Berlin has come to an end.
Tools Without Rules was coordinated in Berlin by Russian curator, and graduate of the Art in Context program at UdK, Alexandra Goloborodko, who has been organizing international exhibitions and cultural events since 2010. We’re incredibly grateful to Alexandra for planning such a rich program for us this week, which has already resulted in some very exciting projects and collaborations for the future.
How you can keep up to date on this project:
Artvorota website here
RaumSpace Instagram here
Our week in a nutshell:
At the beginning of the week we created an online bridge between the artists in our workshop space here in Berlin and the artists who were engaging in the program in Kaliningrad. The aim of the week was to explore the theme of urbanism within contemporary art and to begin collaborating with our Russian artists on new projects that will be presented in Kaliningrad in December within RaumSpace Festival. Over the course of the week we attended a number of exhibitions in Berlin - KW Institute, KOW Gallery, Living the City/Stadt leben, The New Normal? (Haus der Statistik) - and had a number of guest speakers from Germany and Russia - Matthias EInhoff, Barbara Anna Bernsmeier, Alexander Koch, Anton Valkovsky.
The workshops may be over but now the real work begins...
- Denis Esakov, Patrick Jambon, Jeremy Knowles, Ekaterina Shuvchinskaia, Antonia Walther, Natalia Golubenko, Alice Kahei Yu, Alejandra Morote Peralta (At KOW Gallery, Berlin)Kreuzungen - Neukölln Stories
Behind the Camera
(21/10/2020)Neukölln Stories is a project comprising seven participating artists who live in the neighbourhood of Neukölln, in the south-east of Berlin. In July of this year, each artist was invited to begin a new project responding to the neighbourhood, and to later present their work within an exhibition at LiTE-Haus Galerie in November. Six of the artists were given the task of selecting shops in Neukölln to investigate through their artwork.
Kreuzungen is a project investigating the nine intersections (kreuzungen) that lie in-between.
This series comprises of nine photographic negatives. The photographs in this series were taken at night towards the end of the summer in Neukölln at the precise geographic intersections connecting the selected shops. A street corner, a market place, a graveyard and a residential estate are among the locations given new focus in this series. They are places for walking, buying things, visiting loved ones, and for living. When seen at night, however, these un-extraordinary settings find new meaning, and we are at times invited to participate in observing moments of daily life in the city that could be considered private.
This project is still in production and will be published to coincide with the exhibition ‘Neukölln Stories’ opening on November 5th at LiTE-Haus Galerie in Berlin.
Check out LiTE-Haus Galerie here
Check out nomadicArt here
- Kreuzungen (Neukölln Stories) - Behind the Camera. Youtube Video
Tools Without Rules - RaumSpace Festival
Project Announcement
(16/10/2020)I’m very excited to have been selected to participate in Tools Without Rules - a new project coordinated between artists in Berlin and Kaliningrad (Russia). This project takes shape as a series of workshops with artists and curators between both cities, and will culminate in an exhibition in Kaliningrad in December this year within Raum Space Festival.
Check out the Raum Space page here
‘Two groups of artists from Berlin and Kaliningrad will share their experience and knowledge with each other during the whole educational program. The result of this work will be a presentation of the artists' works within the Raum Space pop-up festival in December 2020.
The festival will become a platform for the exchange of ideas, skills and experience of artists and specialists from two cities.
As part of the festival program, they will meet with specialists from the cultural sphere of Russia and Europe, and take part in workshops Tools Without Rules.’
- Artvorota Website
Under the Surface
European Month of Photography
(14/10/2020)
Next week you can find my work in Under the Surface - a one-day outdoor exhibition as part of the European Month of Photography in Berlin.
Friday 23rd October
7pm-10pm
Grüntaler Strasse 23 (Gesundbrunen), Berlin, 13357
‘Under the Surface is a collection of photographs by young Berlin-based visual artists and photographers. Each artist presents a collection of images of in-between moments - ungraspable textures and close-ups on the artist’s life and environment that cannot be located. Even if we can’t see it, beneath the surface, molecules are bonding and energy is pushing up slowly. Is is not just a material that is working, it is an opening into the many processes of life within and around it.
Join us on Friday 23th of October, 2020, from 19:00 (7 pm) to 22:00 (10 pm) in Gesundbrunnen.
Due to Covid-19 regulations, the show will take place at a private open space in the parking lot of Grüntaler Strasse 23 (Gesundbrunen), Berlin, 13357. Access is directly on the West corner side of the building (Klever Straße).’
- Berlin Mafia Website
- ‘Sasarsteig’ 2020DegreeArt - Thursday Takeover
Interview
(08/10/2020)Earlier this week I answered some questions in an interview with DegreeArt, who represent my artwork in London.
Check out DegreeArt on Instagram here to view this week’s Thursday Takeover, which features my interview alongside new work made here in Berlin.
‘I still struggle with creative blocks. Sometimes, no matter how hard I try, inspiration doesn't strike. I put half of this down to luck and the other half to mental and emotional health. As an artist reliant on the physical world around me for what I can create, sometimes there just aren't interesting and quirky 'things' to discover. That's just life. It's easy to internalise it. But it's also about what your eyes are willing to see. If I'm stressed or low on energy, if I'm focused on something going on in my life, there's far less chance I'll find gold through my lens. Focussing requires more than just camera technique.’
‘A typical day for me, as a photographer, involves far more time spent exploring and shooting outside of the studio than working in there afterwards on post-production. I know that some photographers love the editing process, but for me I'm all about discovering and learning with my camera. I'm pretty impatient once I know I've taken a shot that's going to sit well in a series. I like to get up early - my brain is crystal clear and I tend to have my best ideas within the first hour of being awake. If the weather looks good, then I'll be out of the door within 10 minutes of opening my eyes to take a walk with my camera and capture the morning light. Then it's back to the studio or photo lab to drop off film. This is usually a good start to the day for me. Everything follows pretty smoothly after this ritual.’
- DegreeArt Instagram Page
ReA! Art Fair, Milan
Art Fair Announcement
(30/09/2020)I’m excited to be presenting new work in Milan next month for the first edition of ReA! Emerging Artist’s Fair.
30 October - 1 November 2020
Fabbrica Del Vapore
Milan, Italy
Check out ReA! here
To coincide with the fair, I’ve released a limited number of unframed editions of the two works that will be exhibited in Milan in October. You can find them in my online shop here.
‘The Independent Emerging Artist Fair is a disruptive concept that challenges the industry to adopt new operational tactics. The protagonists are the artists - a carefully curated selection of emerging visual art talents coming from academic and freelance background. The collectors and visitors are invited to take part in peer-to-peer transactions bypassing the gallery intermediaries.
For its first edition, REA Milano will be a 3-day event with on-site curated exhibitions and online sales powered by innovative technologies.’
- ReA! Art Fair Website
- ‘Mittelbuschweg’ 2020C41 Magazine
New Article Published
(15/07/2020)
Milan-based photography platform C41 Magazine this morning published my work in an online article titled ‘Jeremy Philip Knowles Shows the Charm of Early Morning Light’.
Check out the article here
‘C41 Magazine is a Milan-based magazine of contemporary visual art from all over the world. We’re interested in lifestyle, fashion, design, outdoors, and creative communities. Through our viewers’ lenses, we tell the stories.’
- C41 Magazine Website
- ‘Obentrautstraße’ 2019Art-Work Conversations
Artist Interview
(01/07/2020)
In response to very uncertain times caused by COVID-19, two close friends of mine, Brea Robertson and Poppy Rose, began a new project in Berlin archiving conversations with artists about their day to day lives.
Check out the latest Art-Work conversation on Spotify with yours truly, right here
‘Why Art-Work?
We want to provide a platform for multi-disciplinary artists to share their work, their passion and their journey with a broader audience. We hope that people from all backgrounds will hear these stories and gain a deeper understanding into the minds, the life and the processes of creative people from all over the world. We also want to shine a spotlight on independent artists who are not well known, to celebrate their stories and challenge the idea that to be successful in the arts, you need notoriety.
So far, we have been amazed at the conversation we’ve had with artists from Canada, England, Norway and India. Stories of challenging social systems in India to pursue their passion, using the arts to fight political battles in Norway and more.
Every human has an incredible story, and we can’t wait to share some with you!
Find us on Spotify, Google, Apple podcasts and Soundcloud.’
- Art-Work Conversations Spotify Page
Neukölln Stories Zine - Issue No.1
Artist Interview
(10/06/2020)Earlier this month I gave an interview for the first issue of ‘Neukölln Stories’ - a digital publication, made by nomadicArt and LiTE-HAUS Galerie, which will track the progress of a new research project responding to the neighbourhood of Neukölln in Berlin.
Read or downloard the full, digital zine here
‘Before moving to Berlin in 2016, I lived in London for five years. I believe strongly that when we relocate from one place to another, especially after living in one place for several years, we take an impression of the former with us. This impression is like a record of the many subtle lessons we have gleaned from experiences of our previous environment, and the lens through which we come to perceive and analyze our new surroundings.
(...)
Over the last three years, I have documented my immediate environment by taking photographs along daily 8am walks. For me this routine acts as a visual diary of my experiences, but it is also my own means of studying the terrain itself. Although this exercise started as a tool for quelling waves of creative blocks some years previously, the ritual of my morning walks has since developed into a fundamental and cathartic part of my creative process. When we walk, we can sometimes enter into a sort of light meditative state, helped by the natural and repetitive rhythm of the steps we take when putting one foot in front of the other. We can of course observe our surroundings visually but we also feel the city in a more abstract way. This visual diary allows to me to reflect on my environment. And perhaps I am still hoping to capture that abstract quality of experience – to record the impressions left on us by the spaces we occupy.’
- ‘Neukölln Stories’ Zine - Issue No.1
- From ‘Neukölln Stories’ Issue No. 1Neukölln Stories, by nomadicArt & LiTE-HAUS Galerie
Project Announcement
(05/06/2020)For the last two years, nomadicArt has coordinated an annual research project, titled ‘Moabit Stories’, with the aim of collecting stories from the residents and shop owners of Moabit, in West Berlin, and generating an archive of responses to a shared urban environment that is increasingly affected by concentrated social and economic shifts. This year, the project will focus on the neighbourhood of Neukölln, in the South East on Berlin, and I am honoured to be one of seven local artists participating in the program and creating new work responding to the area. This project is supported by LiTE-HAUS Galerie (who will host an exhibition in November) and funded by Kultur Neukölln - Bezirksamt Neukölln von Berlin.
You can find out more about the Neukölln Stories project and stay updated on our work here
‘Neukölln Stories project brings together the disciplines of art and anthropology and includes the realization of various cultural activities: workshops, exhibitions, installations and interventions in public space. Each element of this project deals with the concepts of neighborhood, community, immaterial heritage and archive. It aims to promote interaction within the community and to create new networks of relationships between neighbors.
The main goal of this project is to create a rich archive of stories, feelings and perceptions connected with Neukölln. We see the project as an exciting and meaningful opportunity to reflect on the social and economic state of Neukölln in transition and its impact on residents and entrepreneurs. Like most of Berlin’s districts have experienced, Neukölln is currently in rapid socio-economic change. Sharing with Neukölln’s neighbors, businesses and their owners about their past, present and future provides an opportunity to highlight and share forgotten stories and narratives.’
- ‘Neukölln Stories’ Zine - Issue No. 1
- ‘Mittelbuschweg’ 2020Fresh Eyes
Book Announcement
(04/06/2020)I’m very excited to (finally) announce that I have been included in a new book publication presenting 100 emerging photographers in Europe, to be released later in the summer. Fresh Eyes is published by Netherlands-based photography hub and magazine GUP (Guide to Unique Photography). The second edition of this book for 2020 presents a new line up of fresh and emerging photographers born or based in Europe. Release date coming shortly - keep your eyes peeled.
Check out the GUP Magazine site here
Or take a look at the GUP Instagram page here
‘Since 2005, GUP aims to connect communities around contemporary art and documentary photography. We promote work from all over the world which stands out for its strong – unique – visual signature style and character. Furthermore, we help to guide our international audience to a wide variety of recently or soon to be published (art)photobooks and relevant events (festivals, exhibitions, open calls, etc.). We are an independent publication established by an editorial team of mixed backgrounds. Both online and in print, GUP produces compelling articles and other critical forms of writing related to the broad and dynamic spectrum of photography and the visual arts.’
- GUP Magazine Website
- ‘Naunynstraße’ 2019Marta Hurst Gallery, IT
‘Pay to Display’ - In Conversation with Jeremy Knowles
(20/05/2020)I recently gave an online interview with Marta Hurst (gallery owner and artist manager based in Rome) on the subject of pay-to-display exhibition opportunities in the art world - a reality of the times reflecting a stark shift in the balance of power between artist and art institution.
The issue of pay-to-display exhibition opportunities is one that increasingly effects young artists like myself and yet continues to divide opinion. In an industry that normalizes hefty submission fees for open calls (from major, well-known art institutions around the world to small local galleries), artists at all stages in their career are forced into a constant decision-making process to discern genuine opportunities from scams.
It’s harder than it sounds... trust me.
In this interview I share my own experiences of strange pay-to-display opportunities over the last five years and give some advice to fellow young-artists on calculating the risks.
Check out the full video interview on Instagram here
‘Marta Hurst is an online contemporary art gallery with offices in Rome. The gallery represents international artists in all media including painting and photography.’
- Marta Hurst Gallery Website
- Portrait by Jörg Klam, 2019Degree Art, UK
Meet the Artist: Interview with Jeremy Knowles
(20/03/2020)A fews weeks ago (before all the madness) I gave an interview with Degree Art, UK, which has just been published online via the Degree Art website and social media platforms.
The interview features gems, such as:
‘If we were to fast forward 10 years, where would we find you?
- Still applying for a European visa in Germany.’
And:
‘What was the biggest lesson your university course taught you?
- You will need to find a job, this course will not teach you how to do that.’
Check out the full interview here
A limited number of my artworks are represented by Degree Art. You can find my collection here
‘British lens-based artist Jeremy Philip Knowles has a ritual of walking the streets of Berlin (where he has been based since 2016) and capturing elements of the city with his camera that would usually go unnoticed. Having graduated from Camberwell College of Arts (University of the Arts London) in 2015, Jeremy's practice has since developed into a playful photographic study of urbanism and the everyday. His colourful series alert us to vibrancies present in even the most monochrome and mundane places, if only we allow ourselves the time to look.’
- Degree Art Website
- Photo by Josh Spriggs, 2020Verzasca Foto Awards, CH
Shortlisted
(18/03/2020)Amidst the many significant challenges we are all facing (world-wide) at the moment in response to the COVID-19 Corona Virus pandemic, I am happy to share some good news that is totally unrelated.
I’m really pleased to announce that my work has been shortlisted for the Verzasca Foto Awards - part of the Verzasca Foto Festival held in Switzerland (3-6 September). Let’s hope that the festival continues!
Check out the festival’s website here
The Verzasca Foto Awards 2020 judges: Michael Hiltbrunner, Evelien Kunst, Nuno Ricou Salgado, Alessia Locatelli, Rocco Venezia.
‘The festival aims to promote emerging international photographers and to support visual arts in in rural and peripheral areas, by giving free space through connection and dialogues with nature, offering access to different forms of expression and ways of visual storytelling.
The main activities take place Sonogno. Located in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, is a small alpine village of stone houses surrounded by mountains and nature. Here, local and international photographers have the opportunity to get together and share their visions and ideas in an informal environment.’
- Verzasca Foto Festival Website
- ‘Saalestraße’ 2020Florence Contemporary Gallery, IT
Published Works
(14/03/2020)I’m grateful to Florence Contemporary Gallery for publishing a number of my works in their March catalog.
Check out the FCG catalog issue for March here
‘Florence Contemporary Gallery was created to promote emerging and established artists from all over the world.’
- Florence Contemporary Gallery Website
- ‘Lahnstraße’ 2020Degree Art, UK
Artist Representation
(21/01/2020)Well! Just in time for my birthday, I’m really pleased to announce that a number of my works will now be represented by Degree Art UK. These works are available now for purchase through the Degree Art online platform.
You can view my work on the Degree Art site here
‘One of the UK's first Online Art Galleries, over the past 16 years, DegreeArt.com has established itself as the market leader in UK student & graduate art sales, hand picking & promoting the most promising talent. Based in Somerset House, we are not just an online gallery! As well as selling, commissioning and renting the finest artwork created by the artists emerging from the most prestigious art establishments, DegreeArt.com runs an Artists' Residency and Exhibition program from its gallery and takes part in Art Fairs throughout the year. DegreeArt.com offers clients the opportunity to invest in the artists of the future. We help artists grow their careers.’
- Degree Art Website
- Portrait by Helena Napal, 2019Signature Art Prize
People’s Choice Award
(19/11/2019)The ‘People’s Choice Award’ has now opened as part of the Signature Art Prize 2019 in London. If you would like to support my work then you can do so by ‘liking’ my work on the Degree Art Facebook page here
This work is also available to purchase online through Degree Art. There are 10 editions available mounted on aluminium. You can find my work on the Degree Art platform here
‘Every year the standard of entries to The Signature Art Prize is overwhelmingly and consistently high, and the award was created to provide a further opportunity to those artists not selected by the judges as part of the shortlist. The award also gives the public the chance to have their say on the artworks they think deserves recognition. Alongside the finalists chosen by the judges, there will also be a ‘People’s Choice’ winner from each of the 4 artwork categories, voted for by the public from all of the competition entrants.’
- Signature Art Prize Website
- ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019 (In situ at the Affordable Art Fair, London, March 2019, within curated exhibition ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Feel’)Signature Art Prize
Shortlisted
(18/11/2019)I’m very pleased to announce that I have been shortlisted for the Signature Art Prize in London, an award which celebrates artists in the emerging stages of their career.
Check out the full 2019 shortlist here
To support my work there is also the opportunity to vote in the People’s Choice Award within the Signature Art Prize. More info to follow shortly.
‘We are delighted to announce the Shortlisted Artists for the 2019 edition of the Signature Art Prize. With a record number of entries battling it out in the categories of Painting, Photography and Film, Drawing and Printmaking and Sculpture, our esteemed panel of judges now have the task of selecting 5 artists from each category that will be part of our Finalist Gala in February 2020.’
- Signature Art Prize Website
- ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019Democratic Gallery
Published Works
(14/10/2019)I’m very pleased to be represented by Democratic Gallery, who have published some of my work on their website. Democratic Gallery is a Swedish sales gallery offering out of edition prints from photographers around the world.
You can find a limited selection of my work available here
‘We believe the planet would have more love if we were all artists. When we see the world from different perspectives it brings us closer to each other. The good thing is - we’re all artists. Traditional galleries just don’t get it. We empower artists discovered by the people for the people. We arrange Gallery battles, a unique way to let the people decide who will be represented by our gallery. Gallery battle prints are unique limited time edition prints.‘
- Democratic Gallery Website
- Image used ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019Independent Photo Fair Berlin
Instagram Takeover
(09/10/2019)Tune in to the Independent Photo Fair Berlin Instagram feed over the next few days, where I’ll be taking over their stories and sharing work that will be on display later this month during the three day event.
You can find the Independent Photo Fair Berlin Instagram here
The fair will be running from 25th - 27th October.
- Image used ‘Zur Marktflagge’ 2017IPFB 2019
Independent Photo Fair Berlin
(04/10/2019)Later this month I’ll be participating in Independent Photo Fair Berlin alongside some very interesting Berlin-based artists. I’ll be sharing work from the first volume of my 8am Walks series - including limited editions, one-off prints, exhibition copies and the last copies of my 8am Walks Newspaper.
Check out the event page here
25th Oct (6pm-10pm)
26th Oct (12pm-7pm)
27th Oct (12pm-7pm)
Independent Photo Fair Berlin
Braunschweiger Str 16
12055, Berlin
‘Independent Photo Fair Berlin is a weekend long event celebrating Berlin's contemporary photographers. Founded by three photographic artists and Held twice each year, the IPFB Fair is Berlin’s first independent photography fair, featuring a selection of Berlin based and international photographic artists. Free and open to the public, the fair presents a varied and exciting selection of affordable and collectable exhibition prints, artist proofs, Posters and postcards. The IPFB aims to connect emerging artists directly with the public and provide an entry into affordable art collection, without the involvement of Galleries or the need for official representation. Since 2017, the fair has been held at various locations within Berlin.’
- Independent Photo Fair Berlin
- ‘Hausburgstrasse’ 2017
Downtown Arts Collective
Exhibition Announcement
(24/09/2019)Pleased to announce my participation in a small group show with Downtown Arts Collective in Orlando, FL. The exhibition opens this coming Friday. I’ll be showing work from my 8am Walks series in a one-off printing edition alongside other international photographers.
Check out the Downtown Arts Collective site here
Or find the Facebook event here
Opening: Friday 27th Sept 6pm - 9pm
Downtown Arts Collective
643 Lexington Ave
Orlando, FL
32801
‘On September 27, Downtown Arts Collective will open the annual International Photography Exhibition featuring world class photography by talented artists from around the world.
In this exhibit, Downtown Arts Collective aims to challenge and inspire local artists and collectors while creating a dialogue with artists working abroad. It will be showcased at the studio from September 27 to October 24, 2019.’
- Downtown Arts Collective Website
The Great Creative Life
Interview
(09/09/2019)Check out my interview with Rachel Marsden (artist coach in Berlin and founder of The Great Creative Life) where I discuss my photographic work in the context of environmental sustainability.
You can read the full interview here
‘The Future of Art is an interview series where I speak with artists on the topics of sustainability and climate change in relation to their artistic practices. The series aims to explore a range of viewpoints, not only those of artists working directly with these topics but also how it affects the practices of all artists, no matter their chosen themes or mediums.
Our first artist is Jeremy Knowles. Originally from the UK, Knowles lives and works in Berlin.
Jeremy has a ritual of walking and photographing in Berlin in the mornings. The images presented here have been captured in the last two years and reflect his interest in capturing the unnoticed aspects of Berlin life. The emphasis on colour and vibrancy in the morning light playfully awaken us to how much colour exists around us when we take the time to look.’
- The Great Creative Life Website
- Portrait by Helena Napal, 2019Fotogalerie Friedrichshain
Private View - Blind Date
(06/09/2019)To coincide with Berlin Art Week (11th - 15th Sep), Blind Date opens next Thursday at Fotogalerie Friedrichshain.
Take a look at the Facebook event page here
Vernissage:
Thursday 12th Sept, 7pm
Free entry
Fotogalerie Friedrichshain
Helsingforser Platz 1
10243 Berlin
‘The group exhibition presents 22 photographers who are connected in two ways - the originality of their series and a personal relation to the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.’
- Fotogalerie Friedrichshain Website
Aesthetica Magazine
Urban Abstraction
(03/09/2019)Just discovered this article featuring my work - published by Aesthetica Magazine.
Take a look at the article here
‘Influenced by personal encounters, Berlin-based artist Jeremy Knowles (b. 1992) traverses a space between documentary and conceptual photography. Finding abstractions in the urban landscape, the bold images in 8am Walks seek vibrancy within architectural space – cataloging the everyday through surprising angles. The images show how the colours of scaffolding, paint and other manmade materials disrupt the rhythms of a landscape.
Each work was taken at the same time of day as part of an ongoing routine, recording elements found within individual journeys. The artist explains: “Series are driven by stories and accounts that explore the human experience by connecting person to place… Pattern, repetition and coincidence structure my approach to ongoing projects.”‘
- Aesthetica Magazine Website
- ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019Fotogalerie Friedrichshain
Blind Date
(28/08/2019)Opening:
Thursday 12th September, 7pm
Helsingforser Pl. 1
10243
Berlin
You can view the exhibition event page here
I’m pleased to announce my participation in Blind Date - a group exhibition of photographers who are connected to the area of Kreuzberg/Friedrichshain in Berlin.
‘For our group exhibition in autumn 2019, all photographers were invited who have a personal connection to the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district. The district as birthplay, center of life, studio location or distant memory. The final selection of photographers will focus on dedicated long-term projects as well as highly conceptual series that impress with their extraordinary aesthetics.’
Fotogalerie Friedrichshain was the first art gallery in former East Germany to focus exclusively on photography. One of the true pioneers of photography in Europe (founded in 1985), it is located just between Warshauer Straße and famous Berlin nightclub Berghain. During its moving 30 year history, it has hosted exhibitions by Sebastiao Salgado, Tina Modotti, Imogen Cunningham, Gordan Parks and Cecil Beaton, as well as acclaimed German photographers Helga Paris, Arno Fischer, Sybille Bergemann, Roger Melis, Harald Hauswald and Ute Mahler.
- Fotogalerie Friedrichshain Website
Green Hill Gallery
Public, Private, and In-Between
(23/08/2019)Last few days to visit Public, Private & In Between at Green Hill Gallery, Berlin.
Green Hill Gallery
Grünberger Str. 13
10243 Berlin
The notions of Public and Private are complex, as they relate to multiple aspects of our lives, and affect us by forcing a constant decision-making process that dictates our conditions of safety. What is public, and what is private, becomes anissue of binary opposites when there is an obscure and confusing area that lies in between. Are public and private separate, or can they be the same? Who is able to draw the distinction? What is at stake when defining private and public? Is this all related to safety; and if so, of whom?
In this exhibition artists Funda Zeynep Ayguler, Ioana Butloc, Lionel Cruet, Marcel Everling, Francesco Gioacchini, Jeremy Knowles, Valentina Michelini and Marie-Charlotte Nouza created an art installation that reminds us of the living environment, challenging the notion of private and public and what lies in between by engaging with an interactive, thought provoking space that aims to find new ways to discuss and make visible these issues and to spark new ways of thinking about this subject.
- Photo courtessy of Bridget Lollihell
Photograd, UK
Instagram Takeover
(18/08/2019)Tune in to the Photograd Instagram platform from 19th - 23rd August for my takeover where I’ll be sharing new work from my 8am Walks series.
Photograd documents the journey of photography graduates from UK based courses. You can follow the Photograd Instagram feed here
- Image used ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019Green Hill Gallery
Public, Private, and In-Between
(01/08/2019)Private View Friday - 2nd August 7pm
Green Hill Gallery
Grünberger Str. 13
10243 Berlin
Today it is estimated that around 500,000 video surveillance cameras are in active use across the city of London. This figure not only takes into account cameras that are operated by the UK government and Scotland Yard (situated, for example, outside of official government buildings and throughout underground railway lines) but also the many privately-owned video surveillance systems that can be found in both business and domestic spaces. Regardless of the intent, ownership or use of such cameras, it is estimated that, on average, an individual may be recorded on camera 300 times within a 24-hour period in London.
Berlin, on the other hand, has so far resisted London’s example of marked public monitoring. In a country scarred by a history of oppressive state surveillance, it is hardly surprising that those born in Germany before reunification in 1990 still retain an enduring distrust of authority. Even after a new wave of discussions on the topic of public safety was opened up in 2016 (following a spate of violent attacks in major German cities), the city of Berlin has still held on to comparatively restrictive surveillance laws that protect the rights of its residents. New legislation proposed to relax the use of video surveillance within Berlin in the wake of these attacks (through the introduction of facial recognition software in railway stations, for example) has nonetheless divided public opinion on the matter and sparked new debates that have brought fresh concerns to further contest the boundary between public and private space. As a result, decisions made by the state that risk infringing on the privacy of individuals are made tentatively.
Privacy in Germany is a sensitive subject. In a country that still displays social evidence of the prolonged effects of the Cold War, privacy is widely seen as a right worth firmly protecting. Within the context of the exhibition at Green Hill Gallery, which is situated in one of the last haunts of punks and squatters in Berlin, CCTV cameras installed throughout the exhibition challenge our ideas of individual private space and also question our wider engagement with camera surveillance in the city itself.
The cameras can be seen to interact with other artworks in the exhibition and, with varying success, blend in with the different simulations of domestic surroundings they occupy. Throughout the gallery, these cameras increasingly appear to mimic familiar, human gestures – one camera seems to peek behind a door, while another is positioned to look as if it is peering out of the window on to the street. But despite the impression of innocence suggested through their playful encounter with the space, the CCTV cameras represent a significant invasion of privacy by their very nature and thus create an uncomfortable feeling of observation.
The question of whether these cameras are truly recording individuals in the space is left unanswered.
Float Magazine
Instagram Takeover
(23/07/2019)July 28th - July 31st
Stay tuned and follow Float Photo Magazine on Instagram from Sunday 28th July till Wednesday 31st for my takeover, when I’ll be sharing new and existing work from my ramblings in Berlin and London.
Check out the Float site here
Or follow Float on Instagram here
‘Float was created with the goal to share and celebrate the photographic work of versatile roster of contemporary photographers from around the world. From young and emerging to established artists, Float features high quality and creative work with the intention to inspire and push forward our photo community. Float takes pride in collaborating with many other photo platforms to create a unique, open minded and welcoming space for photographers.’
- Float Magazine Website
- ‘Untitled’ 2019Grrl Haus Cinema
Summer Mood
(06/07/2019)July 18th - July 30th
Vernissage July 19th
7pm - 10pm
Oblomov
Lenaustraße 7, Berlin
I’m pleased to announce my participation in Summer Mood - a group show and screening at Oblomov, Berlin, alongside Daniela Torres, Caroline Heineck, Beatrice Lezzi, Lemia Monét Bodde, Ana Vodušek, Giulia Garetto Romano, Julia Feige, Rebecca Dorothy, Katya Derkse, Colette Pomerleau, and Alba Llach Pou.
You can find the event page here
I’ll be showing existing work from my Hold Up To View (2017) series and responding to the theme of summer.
‘GRRL HAUS CINEMA is an ongoing program of short films and video art made by women. A mix of local, national, and international artists present work from a variety of disciplines: narrative, documentary, experimental, and conceptual. With an emphasis on low budget and DIY, GRRL HAUS is a space for underrepresented voices in the arts today.’
- Grrl Haus Cinema Website
You can find more about Grrl Haus Cinema here
- From ‘Hold up to View’ 2018Flash Palace Collective
Urban Exploration Workshop
(26/06/2019)On Friday 5th July I will be leading a workshop in Neukölln (Berlin) with artist Rochyne Delaney McNulty. This workshop is part of the wider FLASH Palace: in city residency program taking place next weekend. We’ll be roaming the streets, collecting things and making something new.
Find the event page here
‘Artists Rochyne Delaney McNulty and Jeremy Knowles lead a workshop in urban exploration, reflection and making on Friday 5th July.
Do you like finding interesting things in interesting places and collaborating with interesting people?
In this workshop we will spend time wandering the streets of Neukölln, finding objects, documenting the journey and reflecting on our interactions. We will take Psychogeography (a term coined by Guy Debord and The Situationsists) as our main conceptual anchor, by finding ways to analyse different boundaries we face along our route. What we make will be shaped by what we find.
The act of finding objects will open our eyes to the potentiality of things, the act of exploring with intention will help us imagine the city in a different way, and the act of coming together will create a community of sharing and imagination.’
- Flash Palace 2019: Trea S c Ur lpture Hunt. Youtube
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Green Hill Gallery
In-Between #4
(21/06/2019)I’m very pleased to have been selected for a collaborative month-long residency program with Green Hill Gallery, Berlin - an initiative of Kulturschöpfer. The residency runs throughout July and culminates in an exhibition at the beginning of August.
Find the Kulturschöpfer site here
‘IN//BETWEEN #4 is not just an exhibition − it is a collaborative project that brings together artists from different parts of the world and different cultures.
Over a five-week period, the artists create, share, listen and learn from each other in order to build a unique exhibition that showcases the nexus between cross-cultural dialogue, experience and growth.’
- Kultürschöpfer Website
Liebig12
Anxiety & Minimalism
(23/04/2019)3-5 May 2019 (Private view 3rd May 7pm)
Liebig12 Atelier
Liebigstrasse 12
10247 Berlin
I’m pleased to announce my participation in an upcoming group show at Liebig12 in Berlin next month alongside artists Jan Bernstein, Nikita Zhukovskiy, Zac Endter and Darta Treimane. I’ll be showing new work from my 8am Walks series within a large installation in the gallery responding to the theme of anxiety and minimalism.
Check out the gallery website here
(Or for more details take a look at the Facebook event here)
‘Clean your room and you'll have a fresh start, it’s easier to breathe. Get rid of the clutter. In your room, in your closet, in your mind. You have less. You have enough. There is less that distracts you. There is less that you need to worry about. The minimum remains. It calms you. Focus only on what is necessary. On what really matters.’
- Darta Treimane, Curator
- ‘Quitzowstraße’ 2019Broad Magazine
Instagram Feature
(19/04/2019)Broad Magazine featured my work today in their Instagram feed as part of the magazine’s Friday Features.
Take a look here
- From ‘8am Walks’, 2019Float Magazine
Artist Feature
(10/04/2019)FLOAT Magazine featured my work today in their online artist portfolio.
Take a look here
In July I will be taking over the FLOAT Instagram account for a few days to share new work from my 8am Walks series.
- From ‘8am Walks’, 2019Anne Bengard
Studio Visit
(28/03/2019)Yesterday I went to visit friend and fellow artist Anne Bengard in her Berlin studio to check up on some of her new paintings. Anne is showing new artwork later this week in a group exhibition (for charity) that addresses homelessness. Take a look at Anne’s work here
Quote of the day:
“By the way, I have my bubble sword with me just in case we need it”
Anne’s exhibition Light & Noise, hosted by Zwei Drei Raum in Kreuzberg, opens Friday 29th March and aims to highlight the lives of homeless people living in Berlin.
- Anne Bengard, artist based in BerlinArt Frontiere
Artist Interview
(22/03/2019)ArtFrontiere published an interview today in which I discuss recent work as well as my installation in London earlier this month at the Affordable Art Fair.
Take a look here
(Or check out the ArtFrontiere Instagram feed here)
“Earlier this month I had the pleasure of presenting new work from my Berlin series 8am Walks at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park. For this installation I wanted to find a way of hanging photographic work from the series away from the exhibition wall in order to encourage a sense of play and chance encounter – strong themes within the series itself. To achieve this I made use of plastic packing crates, which feature in my work several times as colourful focal points, as building blocks for columns and walls on which to hang unframed prints. At times chaotic (and at other times working in waves of harmonious saturated hues), the installed crates became an interesting but nonetheless challenging background for an already colourful series.”
‘Jeremy Knowles is a lens-based artist influenced by personal encounters. His work lies between documentary and conceptual photography. While pottering around the streets of Berlin, Knowles looks for abstractions in the urban landscape and catalogs everyday mundane objects.’
- Art Frontiere Website
- 8am Walks series in situ at the Affordable Art Fair, London, March 2019, within curated exhibition ‘Stop, Look, Listen, Feel’Loenke Magazine
Featured Artist
(19/03/2019)LOENKE Magazine (Paris) featured my work today on their Instagram feed alongside a simple quote.
Take a look here
“These objects disrupt the grey and the dull and give me hope”
- ‘Untitled’ 2019CreativPaper
Featured Artist
(18/03/2019)CreativPaper featured my work today in their online artist journal.
Take a look here
(Or check out the CreativPaper Instagram feed here)
‘For his latest project titled '8am walks', Berlin-based British photographer Jeremy Philip Knowles had a simple objective. Leave the house at 8 am every day with his camera and capture what he saw around him. A city that often has a reputation for being dark and gloomy, Jeremy dispels this popular myth with details of colour, pattern and shadow with a project that lasted for over two years. Born in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom in 1992, Jeremy graduated with a degree in fine art photography from Camberwell College of Art in 2015. His practice has developed into a playful photographic study of the everyday.’
‘Instagram takeover by Berlin-based photographer Jeremy Knowles. Stepping out at 8am everyday with his camera over the course of two years, Jeremy captures a more playful side to his home city. Through his project of shooting everyday at 8am for two years Jeremy sheds light on finding detail, colours and layers in the mundane.’
- CreativPaper Website
- ‘Rosenthaler Str.’ 2018Art Frontiere
Featured Artist
(13/03/2019)Art Frontiere featured my work alongside an interview with curator Becca Pelly-Fry. Take a look here
‘Jeremy Knowles seeks the unexpected in his daily walks around his Berlin neighbourhood, capturing moments of colour that stand out from the gloom.’
- Art Frontiere Website
Thanks to all who attended my brief artist talk at the Affordable Art Fair on Sunday where I discussed the themes surrounding my 8am Walks series.
- ‘Ystader Str’ 2018Aesthetica Magazine
Featured Artist
(05/03/2019)Aesthetica Magazine featured my work today on their Instagram feed. Take a look here
‘See Jeremy Knowles’ photography alongside a new installation at Affordable Art Fair Battersea Spring, 7-10 March, in the Platform Projects exhibition curated by Becca Pelly-Fry.
The images show how the colours of scaffolding, paint and other manmade materials disrupt the rhythms of a landscape. Jeremy is influenced by documentary photography, looking at how images capture a single timeframe within a day.’
- Aesthetica Magazine Website
- ‘Große Hamburger Straße’ 20188am Walks
Some Thoughts
(01/03/2019)My ongoing search for colour in Berlin (along morning walks over the past two years) has, again and again, led me to take a closer look at the bits and pieces that normally go unnoticed within our daily ramblings. Trash (mainly discarded plastic) and commercial waste, alongside all the bizarre and hilarious ‘things’ left out on the street overnight in this city by Berliners, have become a focus of this series. Even a city as clean as Berlin, and one that focuses so much attention on recycling, can tell you a lot about itself in the objects it rejects. Saturated by the light of a sun that hides above clouds for entire seasons, the müll (trash) that I find and photograph in Berlin is here given centre stage. These objects disrupt the grey and the dull, and give me hope.
Curator Becca Pelly-Fry (Griffin Gallery, ELEPHANT Magazine) puts it into an interesting perspective here in a recent article in which she discusses psychogeography (and my work).
‘In these days of high anxiety, urban overcrowding and ecological disaster, the human relationship to environment has never been more fraught or problematic. How we navigate the next century will depend on our ability to stop, look, listen and feel; perhaps it’s time for some geographical empathy.‘
I continue to be inspired by the work of Keith Arnatt, who passed away just over ten years ago (Dec 19th, 2008). In all of his works - from conceptual peices in which he buried himself alive in front of the camera to a documentary series in which he took photos of cows after the UK’s foot and mouth crisis - Arnatt saw the perculiar within the ordinary... and made us laugh. His series ‘Pictures from a Rubbish Tip’ (1988-89) is perhaps one of my favourite series of all time.
- ‘Herzbergstraße’ 2017Becca Pelly-Fry (Curator - Elephant Magazine)
The Time is Ripe for some Geographic Empathy
(23/02/2019)
Read the full article here
‘With the first Super Moon of 2019 in full, emotion-stirring effect, Becca Pelly-Fry meets the groups who are searching for constructive ways to deal with hardship, considers Debord’s psychogeography, and hunts for a new visual language that successfully communicates and opens, rather than closes, the conversation.’
‘In 1955 Guy Debord coined a new word, psychogeography, which he defined as “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals”. He was interested in the ways in which we form memory, derive pleasure or experience sadness through our surroundings and how those responses in turn affect the way we perceive the environment. In these days of high anxiety, urban overcrowding and ecological disaster, the human relationship to environment has never been more fraught or problematic. How we navigate the next century will depend on our ability to stop, look, listen and feel; perhaps it’s time for some geographical empathy.’
- Elephant Magazine Website
- ‘Quitzostraße’ 2019Affordable Art Fair
Platform Projects
(10/02/2019)7 -10 March 2019
Battersea Evolution
Queenstown Road
London
SW8 4NY
New work from my ongoing 8am Walks series will feature in this Spring’s Platform Projects at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park alongside works by artists Scarlett Bowman, Alice Wilson, Rebecca Byrne and Alice Irwin. You can find more info on the Art Fair site here
‘Whilst they don’t offer immediate answers, the artists in Platform Projects all consider the ways in which we relate to our environment and thus pose important questions for us all to consider. Scarlett Bowman takes inspiration from incidental arrangements of everyday objects, creating abstracted paintings and sculptures that carry recognisable but oblique references to place; Rebecca Byrne makes large-scale, immersive paintings that take the viewer on a journey through her own memories; Alice Irwin uses the language of childhood play to explore psychological questions and experiences; Jeremy Knowles seeks the unexpected in his daily walks around his Berlin neighbourhood, capturing moments of colour that stand out from the gloom; Alice Wilson places painted objects in the landscape to help audiences navigate, then brings them back into the urban environment bearing the traces of their previous incarnation, reconnecting nature and the man-made’
- Curator Becca Pelly-Fry
(Griffin Gallery, Elephant Magazine)
- ‘An der Putlitzbrücke’ 2019Studio Baustelle
Winter Show - 50 Under 50
(11/11/2018)7 - 8 December 2018
Berthelsdorfer Str 11
12043, Berlin
info@studio-baustelle.org
One-off limited editions (archival pigment prints, signed) will be exhibited and auctioned by Studio Baustelle in December as part of their winter program. Find the event page on Studio Baustelle’s site here
Studio Baustelle is a space for art, events and experiments in Neukölln, Berlin, highlighting analogue and accessible media. Bidding will start on Friday night with an opening party and continue on Saturday with a winter BBQ.
- Studio Baustelle Website
- ‘Schonhauser Allee’ 2018BLOOOM Award 2018
Shortlisted
(11/09/2018)Very excited to be shortlisted for BLOOOM Award 2018 for my series Dresden nach Prag.
Read the press release here
- From ‘Dresden nach Prag’ 2018Postcards From Home
Instagram Takeover
(03/06/2018)Tune in to the Postcards From Home Instagram platform here from June 4th till June 8th during my account takeover, when I’ll be sharing work from my 2014 series 48 Wingfield Drive.
Postcards From Home is an art community that brings together local communities, refugees, immigrants and artists to reflect on the idea of HOME.
- Postcards From Home Website
Earthlings Magazine
The Language Farm
(01/06/2018)Read an article featuring work I made at the Language Farm in Germany here in Earthlings Magazine.
‘From April to October I would find myself away from the stressors of the modern world, immersed in a place of which nothing else outside it existed. In the heart of Germany a little country of its own has been formed, where the English language is preferred, fires keep you warm at night and technology is non-existent.’
- Earthlings Magazine Website
Art Reveal Magazine
Issue #37
(23/03/2018)Read my interview here for Art Reveal Magazine.
‘Art Reveal Magazine is dedicated to promoting and publishing independent artists from all countries and all genres of visual art. Each issue of the magazine presents several contemporary artist portfolios and their artistic statements.’
- Art Reveal Magazine Website
- ‘Herzbergstrasse’ 2017DOCH Project
Interview
(10/02/2018)Read my interview here with DOCH.
‘8am Walks’ opens at HOM, Berlin, 17th February.
DOCH Project
8am Walks
(31/01/2018)Private View:
17 February 2018
5-10pm
@ HOM Berlin
I’m very excited to be delivering a solo show with DOCH Project this February in Neukölln. This first comprehensive display of works from my ongoing series ‘8am Walks’ will be on show at HOM Cafe alongside a small batch of limited newspaper editions produced for the exhibition.
‘We're kicking off this year's exhibition program with '8am Walks' - part of an ongoing series by photographer Jeremy Knowles.’
- DOCH Project Website
'8am Walks' is built upon one simple instruction: Leave the house at 8am with a camera and walk. For Jeremy it is both the beginning and end of a journey, and fulfils a major role within his ongoing and playful photographic study of the everyday. By bringing greater prominence and visibility to the accidental, the miraculous and the comical, we are challenged by the artist to reconsider the weight of our daily interactions with things and people, and meditate on what happens when we think nothing is happening.
- Image used ‘Wilhelmstrasse’ 2017Unexpected @ Hoxton Arches
Exhibtion Announcement
(09/12/2017)I’ll be showing work this month during a one-off group show in Hoxton Arches, London, with organizers Stomach. Recent work from my ‘8am Walks’ will be on display.
‘Stomach is a London-based company and artist-run event providing a platform for innovative artistic practice in all disciplines. We offer a gallery space based in the Hoxton Arches to the artist or group of artists so that they are free to engage with the space without the usual pressure of commercial gain that restricts the freedom of the artist’s work. The event ranges from artistic shows (photography, design, painting, sculpture and mixed media) to live art performances and screenings.’
- Stomach Website
- ‘Hausburgstrasse’ 201793 Magazine
Interview
(05/12/2017)Read my interview here with 93 MAGAZINE.
93 MAGAZINE is a projection of visual content for makers of all disciplines, published in the medium of print.
In association with No More Human
- ‘Zur Marktflagge’ 2017