The exhibition Gegen den Strich ziehen invokes the question of narrative within the geographical and political spaces of cities. The topography of our everyday sense of reality is contaminated with complex media that we struggle to see beyond its surfaces, with the most prevalent forms of representation contested within structures of power. In this regard Gegen den Strich ziehen suggests a form of redrawing this reality. The act of redrawing opens endless relations in order to question the production of image – it is a moment of self-autonomy, which creates a space of disengagement from all sorts of political hierarchies. In this we attempt to introduce a practice of disputation, a potentiality to reanimate an external fabrication of realities, by bringing together two forms of cartographical practices as methods to unfold possibilities for counter-narrative.
Samir Harb
Introduction to [Arch]comicology
Samir Harb combines his research-based investigations of the city of Ramallah/West Bank, with images of the architectural transformation which gradually took place in the urban space of the city. He though pushes the viewer to reinterpret the city as an archaeological layer resulting from different political eras and events. While the architectural movement becomes the ground of the story, the graphic novel is supposed to capture the stories of individuals who experience everyday life within these geographies.
Danny Wagner
islands
Danny Wagner questions situations where the geological and the political overlap. In his »islands« series, he explores the Western idea of paradise. He suggests that the »islands« result from geographies of civil wars, conflicts of resources, accidents, and catastrophes. As Peter Sloterdijk says »Inseln sind Weltmodelle in der Welt.« (Islands are models of how the world operates). Danny Wagner’s work features elements of printing, drawing, installation and conceptual art. By drawing he manifests a »sensory« act – from drawing to sculptural objects. Bringing it together as a kind of dialectic manner, he calls it »romantic in opposite to enlightenment«.
An exhibition on occasion of the cooperation between Akademie Schloss Solitude and HALLE 14 – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei.
On view: Friday, July 25 to Sunday, August 10, 2014
Opening hours: Sat–Sun 12–17 pm and on request