BerlinTendenzen

The initial euphoria that set in after the fall of the Wall and subsequent disappearance of the GDR had turned into widespread disillusionment by the late-1990s, when hopes for change harboured by the "mentality of the East" (with paternalist/socialist state leanings) had been frustrated by the logic of neo-liberal capitalism. This feeling of socio-cultural unrootedness, this space-time despair, caused by changing country (and world) without leaving home, lies at the heart of the ideological and aesthetic phenomenon known as "Ostalgie".

The socio-cultural transformations resulting from this contradictory reunification have generated a creative breeding-ground that has placed Berlin amongst the most intense and original centres in today’s international art scene. This impressive creative atmosphere, fuelled by the presence of artists from all over the world, is provoking a redefinition of the traditional margins in the field of cultural production, with profiles constantly modified by systematic critique of artistic/cultural meaning and function within the social space.

BerlinTendenzen is a collective exhibition featuring works by 16 artists (Martin Dammann, Jovan Balov, Kerstin Drechsel, JM Pozo, Charif Benhelima, Alexei Kostroma, Stu Mead, MK Kähne, Peter Kees, Shin il Kim, Sofia Hultén, Assaf "Safy" Etiel, Elke Marhöfer, Tere Recarens, Stephen Wilks and Shahram Entekhabi) from eleven different countries (Germany, Spain, Russia, Israel, Sweden, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Cuba, Macedonia, Iran and Belgium). All produced their most recent works in Berlin and have made the German capital their permanent place of residence. The body of works featured, basically produced over the last four years, embraces painting, photography, video art, installation and sculpture, configuring a discourse intended to provide a glimpse, a flash of light thrown onto this extraordinarily active art scene, giving the lie to the cliché of German art made by Germans, the vision traditionally held of art in Germany by those looking in from the outside.

BerlinTendenzen is, then, a show exploring a constantly-changing creative scene, one that opens its doors to artistic expression, nuanced by multiple aesthetic and conceptual touches, its spirit implicitly imbued with the controversy nurtured by the very city itself. The exhibition takes these touches, these brush strokes, as its reference points, attempting to reconstruct the artistic trail the city is blazing. Aware, however, that without Berlin present, in the words of Wolger Pölmann, BerlinTendenzen can only hope to brush the tale of this rainbow.

Dennys Matos

Exhibition curators: Dennys Matos and Lorena Pérez Rumpler

BerlinTendenzen
Ort: La Capella, Barcelona
Kuratoren: Dennys Mato, Lorena Perez Rumpler

Künstler: Martin Damman, Jovan Balov, Kerstin Drechsel, JM Pozo, Charif Benhelima, Alexei Kostroma, Stu Mead, MK Kaehne, Peter Kees, Shin il Kim, Sofia Hulten, Assaf Safy Etiel, Elke Marhöfer, Tere Recarens, Stephen Wilks, Shahram Entekhabi