Exhibition Openings and Film Premiere

Matilde Cassani »Floor (Surprise for the Anteroom)«
Sean Dack »Double Exposure«
Antje Kalus »Haus 3 / Tür 1–7«
Zsuzsanna Szentirmai-Joly »Woven Pathways«
(with Henriett Doczi and François Maxime Joly)
Assoua Achille Brice Eteki »Obsession« (Film Premiere)

Matilde Cassani »Floor (Surprise for the Anteroom)«
For her project, Floor (Surprise for the Anteroom), Italian architect Matilde Cassani has designed a site-specific installation for the entranceway and anteroom of the Guibal-Saal, the Akademie’s performance and presentation hall. Until now, this area has largely been overlooked, it has played an ancillary role. But now, it will finally be the focus. A newly-constructed structural level will provide a space for visitors’ and residents’ daily rituals and needs. A nearly-secret private area will be transformed into a nearly-secret public area. All are invited to share this space, to take possession of it, as desired. Fantasy is encouraged!

Sean Dack »Double Exposure«
In the video installation, Double Exposure, Sean Dack contrasts two worlds: Expo 2000 in Hannover (or rather, its relics); and the recently concluded World Expo in Shanghai. Only a small amount of the resplendence of Hannover’s Expo 2000 remains, and that which still exists is undergoing the process of natural deterioration. The World Expo in Shanghai stands for progress, unreachable utopias, and not least, for capital. While Hannover’s Expo 2000 site is a time capsule: when one looks at it, one knows what the future there holds, Shanghai’s World Expo shows the past, the present, and the future. It informs us in the here and now both about past developments, and where things are heading. But is the future as promising as we are made to believe?

Antje Kalus »Haus 3 / Tür 1–7« (House 3 / Door 1–7)
Architect Antje Kalus’s installation, »Haus 3 / Tür 1–7« ), also deals with mostly-unobserved spaces in the Akademie. The entranceways of seven studios in the »Oberer Hirschgang« (upper corridor) become part of a »flipbook«, the filmic qualities of which first become apparent at a walking speed of 600 km/h. The individual images reveal what is normally concealed: a small anteroom that leads both to the musicians’ studios on the ground floor, and up a spiral staircase to their living spaces on the first floor. The high velocity and vast image selection are, of course, generated with the help of digital media––the images are thus condensed, and presented as a »film«.

Zsuzsanna Szentirmai-Joly »Woven Pathways«
(with Henriett Doczi and François Maxime Joly)
Through a series of interwoven structures and installations, Hungarian textile designer Zsuzsanna Szentirmai-Joly, pushes the boundaries of form in her work, broadening the field of textile crafting and design to visual art. In a manner similar to weaving, a wide variety of material is combined to create sensual pieces that are also humorous, thanks to the incorporation of unexpected material. The moving, woven structures open up new perspectives for the artists, enabling them to explore new possibilities of “free form poetics”.

Assoua Achille Brice Eteki »Obsession« (Film Premiere)
In Obsession, Assoua Achille Brice Eteki tells the story of Thom, a 24-year-old painter and photographer, who, as a child, was forced to watch while his father stabbed his mother to death after an argument. But his trauma surfaces much later, when he meets Eva, a young woman, and begins to stalk her with his camera. Thom eventually reaches the point where he is willing to destroy anything that stands in the way of his obsession. Brice Eteki’s film conveys much more than a sad story of a young, traumatized stalker––it is also very much a social critique of the patriarchal nature of relationships in Eteki’s home country––something he would like to change.

The exhbition »Haus 3 / Tür 1–7« (House 3 / Door 1–7) by Antje Kalus is realized with the friendly support of Der Gebauer, Objektdesign und Werbetechnik.

On view: Fr, April 8th to Sun, May 22nd, 2011
Opening hours: Tue–Thu 10 am–12 pm & 14–17.30 pm, Fr 10 am–12 pm & 14–16 pm, Sa–So 12–17 pm
Free Entry