Christoph Both-Asmus – Rivers and Trees
June 1 – July 3, 2015
Artist Talk between Christoph Both-Asmus and David Medalla (artist and director and founder of the London Biennale): 09 June, 6 pm
Ritual performance “Requiem for a dying planet” by the artist: 26 June, 22:30 – 23:30h
Donate your blood to art. This is what Christoph Both-Asmus has done for his installation ‘Tale of River’ showing at WHITECONCEPTS Gallery until June 26.
Both-Asmus’ blood will be flowing freely over a landscape made of Japanese papier mache and soil, creating its own rivulets and tributaries and leaving an ever darker and bloodier stain. After this, the blood-river landscape will be displayed as a finished piece of art work.
Can you feel your blood pulsing through your body? When was the last time you saw your own blood, or the blood of someone else? For Both-Asmus it was essential to use his own blood rather than that of a cow or pig to demonstrate his allegiance to living creatures, human and otherwise, whose blood has been spilt unnecessarily. Blood flowing outside of the body is associated with violence, death and killing, as in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where the rivers ran red. Flowing water leaves its mark on the landscape, flowing blood its mark on our soul and psyche.
In parallel to this work the gallery will be used as a workspace for the team of THE TREE WALKER project, initiated by Christoph Both-Asmus. Based on a daydream (2009) Christoph saw himself walking over the thinnest branches of the rainforest. Since then he was convinced that he wanted to realize the poetic image „balancing between earth and sky“, going over the edge, almost flying. During the development process he has been successfully experimenting different ways of tree climbing to reach the tree tops. As the artist’s interest for the biodiversity in the canopy has grown, THE TREE WALKER has taken another dimension with the collaboration of world widely known French scientists and botanists (p.e. Operation Canopy – botanist Francis Halley und pilot Dany Clayet-Marrel and ANPN, Gabon/Africa). On the occasion of the exhibition the project team is once a week showcasing different ideas of the project and giving insight into his large-scale installations and performances portraying the sublime of nature and the uniqueness of our existence.
Christoph Both-Asmus (b. 1984, Germany) is currently living and working in Berlin. In 2010 he completed his MFA at the Sandberg Institute for Fine Arts in Amsterdam (NL). In 2011 and 2012 he got funded by the Mondriaan Fund Amsterdam. His interdisciplinary work mainly focuses on performance, video, mixed media installation and site-specific sculpture, often created with natural artifacts or even living organisms. He exhibited amongst the greatest art shows around Europe, including Art Pie Amsterdam, Istanbul Art Fair and Re:Rotterdam. In recent years the artist exhibited together with fellow documenta artist and director of the London Biennale David Medalla and Venice Biennale artist Pedro Calapez.
Information about the artist and available works
www.christophbothasmus.de
