Expanding Universe

The Saarland is the smallest region in Germany. That doesn’t prevent its inhabitants from making art, of course. In fact, a couple of renowned German artists were born there (Gregor Hildebrandt being just one of them), and one could consider it a little art universe with the HBKsaar, the school of fine arts in Saarland’s capital Saarbrücken, as its epicenter.

This universe is expanding. It is taking over Berlin, the German art capital. At least that’s what the title of a fun little exhibition at KWADRAT in Berlin suggests. “Das Universum expandiert – Das Saarland in Berlin” features 23 artists. Most of them are art students at the HBK that have developed this exhibition together with their professor Gabriele Langendorf and Shila Khatami, a Saarland native artist living in Berlin. A sound installation in the project space’s bathroom explains to the listener the exact car navigation instructions from the school in Saarbrücken to the gallery space in Berlin – in Saarland’s dialect. After having made their way to the capital, the students conquered Kwadrat’s gallery space by throwing coal at the wall. The Saarland is famous for its coal mines, and this marking system was a democratic way of choosing who got to hang their work where. The coal marks function as a pattern that combines the various pieces. Most of them are figurative paintings, but the sculptural installations are also worth a second look: Laura Frising shows a smaller version of her diploma project, a communication slot machine made out of cardbord which she was standing in, talking or listening to people on demand. Her recordings are a mapping of the communication demands of Saarbrücken’s inhabitants. Alexander Minor glued together two used urinals, forming a regional re-interpretation of Duchamp’s famous work.

The exhibition is on display until tomorrow, Tuesday, August 30th and definitely hunting ground for new discoveries – from a different universe.

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  1. nicheberlin posted this