Shadow/Existence
26 Jun - 05 Sep 2009
SHADOW/EXISTENCE
ScheiblerMitte Charlottenstr. 2 (in the alleyway), 10969 Berlin
Duration: 26 June - 5 September 2009
Private view: 25 June 2009
Group show with: Jonathan Bragdon, Tom Chamberlain, Öyvind Fahlström, Neil Gall, Nico Glaenzel, Mark Lombardi, Alexander Schellow, David Schutter, Jorinde Voigt, Michael Wutz
Curated by Rebeccah Blum and Jennifer Bork
Crisis—whether personal or global—is the quintessence of a breakdown of a previously established and allegedly stable order. It is the expression and outcome of doubts in values, goals, maxims of orientation, and thus a direct threat to the individual. A significant imbalance in favor of chaotic forces can lead to the need for a secure system of order, a clear observance of rules. The loss of an organizing principle triggers the fear of a loss of orientation or even personality, making continual balancing of chaotic, liberal, and anarchic tendencies with structural order essential.
Chaos and order thus need not be understood as an antagonistic dichotomy; rather, they are interdependent and in this way related to Chinese philosophy’s
complementary principle of yin and yang. Yang reflects the principle of the sun, yin that of the shadow. They alternate rhythmically yet form a whole that refers to the ambivalence of all that is. Shadow/Existence addresses this ambivalence in its notion of presence and absence. One’s own shadow cannot exist alone but
requires a source of light and an object. It is not representational and not present yet carries the trace of presence within. The shadow requires a referent, which it simultaneously produces by confirming its existence. Often the expression of the mysterious, the unknown, the unknowable, the shadow nevertheless functions as evidence of our humanness.
All of the works in Shadow/Existence operate according to a structuring principle that should offer definite order, yet are characterized by an ambivalent, shadowlike existence. The works are situated between chaos and structure, appearance and dissolution, figuration and abstraction. They depict reconstructions of memory that defy representation, depict moral and social limbos, or create structural possibilities of orientation in abstract visual and acoustic spaces.
ScheiblerMitte Charlottenstr. 2 (in the alleyway), 10969 Berlin
Duration: 26 June - 5 September 2009
Private view: 25 June 2009
Group show with: Jonathan Bragdon, Tom Chamberlain, Öyvind Fahlström, Neil Gall, Nico Glaenzel, Mark Lombardi, Alexander Schellow, David Schutter, Jorinde Voigt, Michael Wutz
Curated by Rebeccah Blum and Jennifer Bork
Crisis—whether personal or global—is the quintessence of a breakdown of a previously established and allegedly stable order. It is the expression and outcome of doubts in values, goals, maxims of orientation, and thus a direct threat to the individual. A significant imbalance in favor of chaotic forces can lead to the need for a secure system of order, a clear observance of rules. The loss of an organizing principle triggers the fear of a loss of orientation or even personality, making continual balancing of chaotic, liberal, and anarchic tendencies with structural order essential.
Chaos and order thus need not be understood as an antagonistic dichotomy; rather, they are interdependent and in this way related to Chinese philosophy’s
complementary principle of yin and yang. Yang reflects the principle of the sun, yin that of the shadow. They alternate rhythmically yet form a whole that refers to the ambivalence of all that is. Shadow/Existence addresses this ambivalence in its notion of presence and absence. One’s own shadow cannot exist alone but
requires a source of light and an object. It is not representational and not present yet carries the trace of presence within. The shadow requires a referent, which it simultaneously produces by confirming its existence. Often the expression of the mysterious, the unknown, the unknowable, the shadow nevertheless functions as evidence of our humanness.
All of the works in Shadow/Existence operate according to a structuring principle that should offer definite order, yet are characterized by an ambivalent, shadowlike existence. The works are situated between chaos and structure, appearance and dissolution, figuration and abstraction. They depict reconstructions of memory that defy representation, depict moral and social limbos, or create structural possibilities of orientation in abstract visual and acoustic spaces.