Monthly Archives: June 2015

Requiem for a dying planet

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Requiem for a Dying Planet

Ritual performance by Christoph Both-Asmus

26 June 2015, 22h30 – 23h30, Gallery WHITECONCEPTS
as part of his solo show ‘Rivers and Trees‘

Slash and burn. The death knell of the rainforest  is sounded in the roar of the thousands of industrial chain saws. Teeming with hugely diverse life forms, the rainforests have been destroyed at such a speed over the last few decades, that the last remaining areas of primary rainforest are about to be lost forever, according to the famous botanist Francis Hallé. Artist Christoph Both-Asmus, who has been working closely with Francis Hallé on the project THE TREE WALKER, was so moved on hearing this that he was inspired to create his own poignant reponse with ‘Requiem for a Dying Planet.’

In ‘Requiem for a Dying Planet’ beautiful cut flowers are placed in a container of water which is then dug into the ground. Charcoal pieces are set alight and then placed on the ground around the base of the flowers. One by one the flowers succumb to the smouldering heat of the charcoal, wilt and collapse. For the performance of this ritual inside Whiteconcepts Both-Asmus will be using a special kind of vase and new arrangement of flowers. It can be viewed from outside the building, through the windows and door.

In contrast to the the high-speed and loud noise of the rainforest destruction, ‘Requiem for a Dying Planet’ is quiet and very slow, taking around 45 minutes for all of the flowers to collapse. This slowness creates what Both-Asmus calls ’empty moments’. Such ’empty moments’ allow the viewer to take time to experience and reflect and become more aware of what often gets missed in every day life: leaves rustling in the wind, a light breeze. When we directly experience the dying, burning flowers in front of us we can relate on a more emotional level with the otherwise unimaginable immensity of the far off burning and clearing of the rainforests.

Text by Kathrin Shephard
June 15, 2015

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Christoph Both-Asmus – Rivers and Trees

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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

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PSJM – Spanische Malerei

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PSJM – SPANISCHE MALEREI

01 April 2015 – 30 April 2015

Opening in presence of the artists: 2 April, 2015, 7 PM

PSJM is an artistic team made up in 2003 by Pablo San José (Mieres, 1969) and Cynthia Viera (Las Palmas, 1973), based in Berlin. They act as a cutting-edge art brand, raising questions about the art market, social communication and artistic quality. Making use of the communicative strategies of spectacular capitalism they demonstrate the relevance of the paradoxes being produced by its schemed, but chaotic development. 

Spanische Malerei [Spanish Painting] is a painterly portrait of Spain’s reality rendered geometrically. In this new series, PSJM develops a line of “social geometry” using statistics to determine a variety of geometric compositions. PSJM creates these pieces by strictly adhering to painting materials. In a more or less explicit manner, a reflection on painting has permeated the team’s trajectory.

Spanische Malerei is their creative output from 2013, a year immersed in the most severe financial crisis people have been forced to experience. Demands for austerity somehow make themselves felt in the production process, now removed from resplendent industrial surfaces. Thus, the hard times faced by the cultural sector are seen in a direct and honest way. Just like the political, financial and social reality which shall be brought to the fore in these mathematical reflections rendered in acrylic on canvas. Notwithstanding the handcrafted nature of these paintings, the precision and neatness of their finish reminds us of the implacable hand of the machine. The industrial primary colors are drastically applied following radical compositions that take the figure of the accurate triangle as a prevailing motif. Removed from any decorative pretence, these “paintings which can be read” suggest a harsh reality that has been objectified through the flow of impersonal information; data and colors that conceal personal dramas, hegemonic ideological trends and social unrest.

PSJM has often been invited and extensively exhibited throughout Europe and America.
On the occasion of the 56th La Biennale di Venezia PSJM is participating in the collateral event “Beyond the tropics”, a group show curated by Imma Prieto. 
The work of PSJM is included in many publications p.e. “Younger than Jesus. Artist Directory. The essential handbook to the future of art” of the New Museum of New York, published by Phaidon; and “among the 100 most representative artists of international political art” in the book “Art & Agenda: Political Activism and Art,” published by Gestalten.

Artist information and available works
www.psjm.es

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