Sophie Erlund: Newa
17 Jan - 01 Mar 2008
Berlin’s recent history is characterized by radical transformations brought on by politics, ideology, cruelty, destruction, fear and ultimately hope – an assaulting and often uncomfortable process of transformation that has left physical reminders of the various ‘Berlins’ that have been. Berlin is a monument to a plural history. With each subsequent sea change, roads are renamed, ruins are rebuilt, and materials from destroyed buildings are reassembled, unrecognizable and mute to the stories of the past.
Berlin-based Danish artist Sophie Erlund has been developing a practice that both dissects and celebrates the presence of past narratives in a contemporary world. For Newa, Erlund has created a sculptural installation with pieces that reference and continue the history of Hotel Newa, the former Russian-owned hotel that is the current home of PROGRAM in Berlin. The building’s colorful history, from its time as Hotel Nordland at the beginning of the 20th century, to the pageantry of the interwar years, to the 1950s and 60s when it housed the Russian secret police, provided the material for a series of sculptures that find their origin within or alongside these histories. Archive images, interviews with previous guests of the hotel, and on site research became both the medium and material with which Erlund expresses the poetics of physically experiencing space (Gaston Bachelard), while acknowledging the constructed nature of this experience (Jeff Wall).
about the artist
Sophie Erlund (www.sophieerlund.com) was born in Denmark in 1978 and currently lives and works in Berlin. Recent exhibitions include "A Timely Revival", Biorama-Projekt, Joachimsthal, Germany (2006), "Sophie Erlund & Nobuhiro Fukui" Joachim Gallery, Berlin (2006), "Thin Cities", Joachim Gallery, Berlin (2005), "Spring Salon Berlin 2005" Salon AG, Berlin (2005) and "It's personal" Red Gate Gallery, London (2004). She received her BA Fine Art degree with Honours from Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London.
Special thanks: Nate Peter, Sabine Schmidt, Renate Bronnen, Lene Lavtsen.
Berlin-based Danish artist Sophie Erlund has been developing a practice that both dissects and celebrates the presence of past narratives in a contemporary world. For Newa, Erlund has created a sculptural installation with pieces that reference and continue the history of Hotel Newa, the former Russian-owned hotel that is the current home of PROGRAM in Berlin. The building’s colorful history, from its time as Hotel Nordland at the beginning of the 20th century, to the pageantry of the interwar years, to the 1950s and 60s when it housed the Russian secret police, provided the material for a series of sculptures that find their origin within or alongside these histories. Archive images, interviews with previous guests of the hotel, and on site research became both the medium and material with which Erlund expresses the poetics of physically experiencing space (Gaston Bachelard), while acknowledging the constructed nature of this experience (Jeff Wall).
about the artist
Sophie Erlund (www.sophieerlund.com) was born in Denmark in 1978 and currently lives and works in Berlin. Recent exhibitions include "A Timely Revival", Biorama-Projekt, Joachimsthal, Germany (2006), "Sophie Erlund & Nobuhiro Fukui" Joachim Gallery, Berlin (2006), "Thin Cities", Joachim Gallery, Berlin (2005), "Spring Salon Berlin 2005" Salon AG, Berlin (2005) and "It's personal" Red Gate Gallery, London (2004). She received her BA Fine Art degree with Honours from Central St. Martins College of Art and Design in London.
Special thanks: Nate Peter, Sabine Schmidt, Renate Bronnen, Lene Lavtsen.