Ralf Ziervogel
04 Nov - 09 Dec 2006
RALF ZIERVOGEL
"Mamaterial"
On November 3 at 07.00 p.m., in the midst of the Art Cologne, we inaugurate the exhibition Mamaterial by the Berlin-based artist Ralf Ziervogel. Ziervogel, born in 1975 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, graduated from the University of Fine Arts, Berlin, as a student of Lothar Baumgarten. While he had already exhibited videos and drawings during his studies, he will present for the first time in our exhibition to a larger public a large-scale installation in which he uses all kinds of media.
For the construction of this work which consists of three rooms connected by a tunnel an a double door, the gallery has been totally reorganized. The installation takes off with the apparently empty gallery space off which the tunnel leads down into the depth. In front of the entry to the dark path downstairs we see a skateboard on which is mounted a fresh boiling fowl that has been branded with the KaDeWe-Logo (famous Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin). It had flown into a knee-high pile of flour. From downstairs we hear muffled techno-rhythms that lure the viewer into the basement. Step by step, the sound is gaining more physical presence. Once the viewer is in the basement, he is totally submerged in the monotony of the deafening sound produced by four subwoofers and four hornes. The musis accompanies a large projection of a videoloop with the title Mit der Bahn zur Arbeit (Taking the Train to Work). The video shows the distorted face of Ziervogel sitting in an early commuter train, being carried towards a lousy day. Image and sound erge the viewer towards the next room (and the last part of the installation) which can be reached through a sluice of two doors; gone through these doors, the viewer leaves behind the loud music and enters a room cooled down to 5° (Celsius). By closing the second door the sound is silenced, the viewer is standing in the cold air and is confronted with an almost 4 m long map table. Behind that table can be seen a dimly glowing light bulb; below that bulb is situated a flickering candle. Both sources of light are– again – just a projection. Once the eyes have adjusted to the darkness the viewer recognizes a universe drawn with salt on the black felt of the table top; in addition to the universe we detect a dry sausage from France and a satchel of the brand Scout leaning against one of the legs of the table.
For Ziervogel, the installation is an important step in his career since it combines all media he had used upto now: objects, drawings and videos are brought together in just one piece of art that seems to raise the essential questions on the meaning of life or, better, on the meaninglessness of individual biographies. The artist is playing with ordinary clichés as for instance the viewer ́s or the general human being ́s longing to do something meaningful and with the process of de-ciphering of hidden meanings which is so important in the context of art. The "conglomerate of the clichés" (Ziervogel) starts in the first room: the white cube of the gallery, which is loaded poetically by the KaDeWe-chicken on its skateboard. The monotony of work-life, made tangible in the video Taking the Train to Work shown in the second room, invites the viewer to a socially conscious interpretation. However, in the end, that is not meant, as is made obvious by the way the artist himself – being in the real world a representative of a generation of young, creative people – ironically is shown as a captive of daily life. The projection of the candle and the light bulb is equally deceptive as far as it leads the viewer to deep thoughts about the different steps of cognitive evolution, however, in the end, they just shed the light which is necessary to see the universe made of salt on the map table.
While the different items of the installation (flour, chicken, salt, skateboard, satchel and dry French sausage) all come out of the context of normal households (they are: mama-material), they offer to the viewer totally different approaches of an understanding of the work. And because it is not possible to understand the whole as a conglomerate, the disparate parts in the end have one overall-theme: the seducibility of the viewer.
For further information and images please contact the gallery.
© Ralf Ziervogel
Installationsshot 'Mamaterial' Raum 1
"Mamaterial"
On November 3 at 07.00 p.m., in the midst of the Art Cologne, we inaugurate the exhibition Mamaterial by the Berlin-based artist Ralf Ziervogel. Ziervogel, born in 1975 in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, graduated from the University of Fine Arts, Berlin, as a student of Lothar Baumgarten. While he had already exhibited videos and drawings during his studies, he will present for the first time in our exhibition to a larger public a large-scale installation in which he uses all kinds of media.
For the construction of this work which consists of three rooms connected by a tunnel an a double door, the gallery has been totally reorganized. The installation takes off with the apparently empty gallery space off which the tunnel leads down into the depth. In front of the entry to the dark path downstairs we see a skateboard on which is mounted a fresh boiling fowl that has been branded with the KaDeWe-Logo (famous Kaufhaus des Westens in Berlin). It had flown into a knee-high pile of flour. From downstairs we hear muffled techno-rhythms that lure the viewer into the basement. Step by step, the sound is gaining more physical presence. Once the viewer is in the basement, he is totally submerged in the monotony of the deafening sound produced by four subwoofers and four hornes. The musis accompanies a large projection of a videoloop with the title Mit der Bahn zur Arbeit (Taking the Train to Work). The video shows the distorted face of Ziervogel sitting in an early commuter train, being carried towards a lousy day. Image and sound erge the viewer towards the next room (and the last part of the installation) which can be reached through a sluice of two doors; gone through these doors, the viewer leaves behind the loud music and enters a room cooled down to 5° (Celsius). By closing the second door the sound is silenced, the viewer is standing in the cold air and is confronted with an almost 4 m long map table. Behind that table can be seen a dimly glowing light bulb; below that bulb is situated a flickering candle. Both sources of light are– again – just a projection. Once the eyes have adjusted to the darkness the viewer recognizes a universe drawn with salt on the black felt of the table top; in addition to the universe we detect a dry sausage from France and a satchel of the brand Scout leaning against one of the legs of the table.
For Ziervogel, the installation is an important step in his career since it combines all media he had used upto now: objects, drawings and videos are brought together in just one piece of art that seems to raise the essential questions on the meaning of life or, better, on the meaninglessness of individual biographies. The artist is playing with ordinary clichés as for instance the viewer ́s or the general human being ́s longing to do something meaningful and with the process of de-ciphering of hidden meanings which is so important in the context of art. The "conglomerate of the clichés" (Ziervogel) starts in the first room: the white cube of the gallery, which is loaded poetically by the KaDeWe-chicken on its skateboard. The monotony of work-life, made tangible in the video Taking the Train to Work shown in the second room, invites the viewer to a socially conscious interpretation. However, in the end, that is not meant, as is made obvious by the way the artist himself – being in the real world a representative of a generation of young, creative people – ironically is shown as a captive of daily life. The projection of the candle and the light bulb is equally deceptive as far as it leads the viewer to deep thoughts about the different steps of cognitive evolution, however, in the end, they just shed the light which is necessary to see the universe made of salt on the map table.
While the different items of the installation (flour, chicken, salt, skateboard, satchel and dry French sausage) all come out of the context of normal households (they are: mama-material), they offer to the viewer totally different approaches of an understanding of the work. And because it is not possible to understand the whole as a conglomerate, the disparate parts in the end have one overall-theme: the seducibility of the viewer.
For further information and images please contact the gallery.
© Ralf Ziervogel
Installationsshot 'Mamaterial' Raum 1