EXHIBITION WAS WÄRE WENN #2
Józef Robakowski, View From My Window, 1978–1999/2000, film still
With Anna Degenkolb, Andreas Grahl, Peter Piller, Józef Robakowski
Curated by Doreen Mende
Opening event Saturday, November 26, 7–9pm:
freitagsküche at apartment, Memhardstrasse 8, across the street from JET
WAS WÄRE WENN #2 discovers visions and scenarios in the world as found. In different ways, the works in the exhibition focus attention on the unfolding of everyday observation that leads to a decision and which bears within it the potential for change.
The video projection From My Window 1978 –1999 by the Polish artist and experimental filmmaker Józef Robakowski (*1939) marks the point of departure for the exhibition concept: over a period of twenty years, Robakowski filmed the view from his window in a high-rise block onto a square in the "Manhattan of Lodz". Solidarnosc manifests itself in the course of incidental events and leaves traces that are most visible in the construction of a new hotel that eventually obscures the panoramic view from the window. Everyday and political events merge on a subjective level whose social dimension can be observed worldwide.
In work developed specially for the exhibition space at JET, Anna Degenkolb (*1969) concentrates on the particular conditions of the gallery with its spatial and symbolic implications. In her “Raumzeichnungen” (space/room drawings), as she herself calls them, situative intuition and precise observation are central recurring strategies.
Andreas Grahl (*1964) is realizing a site-specific installation for the show: an advertising lightbox hangs in the entrance to the exhibition space. The advertisements have been replaced by colourless transparent window glass and the box equipped with standard neon tubes. From time to time, the lightbox changes its appearance. It lives a life of its own on the inside of the house’s facade.
The drawings in the Vorzüge der Absichtslosigkeit (advantages of non-intentionality) series by Peter Piller (*1968) process the un-productive and fleeting moments in a routine working day at the Hamburg media agency Carat where Piller has been earning his living for years. Piller avoids complete alienation by taking precisely these moments as the raw material for his art: “Ich arbeite bis ich es mir leisten kann zu gehen” (I’ll work until I can afford to leave).
Peter Piller’s office drawings Vorzüge der Absichtslosigkeit have been published in book form by Revolver Verlag.
JET is an exhibition space founded by Lena Ziese in Berlin Mitte in September 2005 whose program is shaped by a series of guest curators. A special feature of JET is that the first year’s shows share a common theme: WAS WÄRE WENN (What If?), enquiring into visions and alternative scenarios for personal and social problems.
JET/Lena Ziese
Memhardstrasse 1
10178 Berlin
www.j-e-t.org