Simon Starling
07 Feb - 18 Mar 2009
Simon Starling
Under Lime, 2009
Exhibition View: Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Photograph: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
courtesy neugerriemschneider Berlin
© Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Under Lime, 2009
Exhibition View: Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Photograph: Jens Ziehe, Berlin
courtesy neugerriemschneider Berlin
© Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin
Simon Starling
Under Lime
February 7 to March 18, 2009
The installations of Simon Starling (b. 1967, Epsom/GB) deal with natural and cultural processes of transformation. Each installation develops from a series of mental and practical steps that recall an experimental setup and at the same time describe a metamorphosis. The objects in space and the artist’s comments on their history constitute a unity. Central to the exhibition Under Lime at the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin are plants and depictions of plants, motors and energy sources, physical and cultural transfers. In three installations machines unconventionally used illustrate locomotion and energy flow. The ensembles show how vital a stable room climate is for the natural cycles of plants and for the presentation of artworks and just how delicate the balance is.
In one installation the artist has transplanted a cactus from the Andalusian Tabernas Desert to Berlin’s winter, converting the vehicle used to transport it into a heater to provide the right climatic environment (Kakteenhaus, 2002). In another a mud-brick chamber provides the appropriate conservational conditions for the presentation of sensitive historic plant photographs by Karl Blossfeldt (Plant Room, 2008). For the title work (Under Lime, 2009) the artist cut a lime branch from the nearby Unter den Linden boulevard with a chainsaw, then used the saw as a means of fastening the branch under the Kunsthalle ceiling girders. The result is an absurd reciprocity of interior and exterior, culture and nature, technology and art. The link Starling forges between the temporary, artificial art space and Berlin as a place is itself almost organic.
Exhibition curator:
Julian Heynen (K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf)
Under Lime
February 7 to March 18, 2009
The installations of Simon Starling (b. 1967, Epsom/GB) deal with natural and cultural processes of transformation. Each installation develops from a series of mental and practical steps that recall an experimental setup and at the same time describe a metamorphosis. The objects in space and the artist’s comments on their history constitute a unity. Central to the exhibition Under Lime at the Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin are plants and depictions of plants, motors and energy sources, physical and cultural transfers. In three installations machines unconventionally used illustrate locomotion and energy flow. The ensembles show how vital a stable room climate is for the natural cycles of plants and for the presentation of artworks and just how delicate the balance is.
In one installation the artist has transplanted a cactus from the Andalusian Tabernas Desert to Berlin’s winter, converting the vehicle used to transport it into a heater to provide the right climatic environment (Kakteenhaus, 2002). In another a mud-brick chamber provides the appropriate conservational conditions for the presentation of sensitive historic plant photographs by Karl Blossfeldt (Plant Room, 2008). For the title work (Under Lime, 2009) the artist cut a lime branch from the nearby Unter den Linden boulevard with a chainsaw, then used the saw as a means of fastening the branch under the Kunsthalle ceiling girders. The result is an absurd reciprocity of interior and exterior, culture and nature, technology and art. The link Starling forges between the temporary, artificial art space and Berlin as a place is itself almost organic.
Exhibition curator:
Julian Heynen (K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf)