Evoking reality - konstitution von wirklichkeit in fotografie und videokunst
The exhibition ‘Evoking Reality’ is devoted to contemporary strategies that distance themselves from established principles of representation and popular narratives of photojournalism. These divergent visual strategies create an open image of reality that aims for a critical sensitization in the observer.
Based on a re-reading of “Regarding the Pain of Others” (2003) by Susan Sontag, ‘Evoking Reality’ deals with current media and conceptual approaches to political, public, and resulting private conflict situations. The interweaving of fiction, staging, construction, and reality creates uncertainty in the observer, who experiences each strategy of alienation as unexpected and at the same time as an instance of reality creation. Openness and ambiguity encourage observers to work through the occurrences on their own, to reflect upon visual impulses, and sometimes even to perform intellectual expurgation. Reality is experienced as a fragile construct that continuously changes its form from different perspectives. The works in this exhibition evoke a moment of reality that makes it possible to grasp the global reality of our lives through ambiguity, contradiction, interconnectivity, and relativity.
In many of the works on display, national identity is expressed as a construct that is both fragile and desired. In her publication ‘Regarding the Pain of Others,’ Susan Sontag formulates this observation movingly and concisely: “To the militant, identity is everything.” In reference to the thoughts of Sontag, the exhibition ‘Evoking Reality’ explores how crises and conflicts on both personal and political levels are contemplated aesthetically today and invites us to reflect on how contemporary photography and video art address “the documentary”.
Participating Artists:
Mustafah Abdulaziz (USA), Jane Alexander (ZA), Clément Cogitore (F), Tacita Dean (GB), Alia Farid (KWT), Cao Fei (CHN), Abrie Fourie (ZA), Pieter Hugo (ZA), Sigalit Landau (IL), Richard Mosse (IRL), Viviane Sassen (NL), Oskar Schmidt (D), Berni Searle (ZA), Guy Tillim (ZA), Sharif Waked (IL/PS), Maya Zack (IL)
Reviews (selection)
Artnet
Exhibition review by Mebrak Tareke read here
“A more ambiguous, aesthetic gaze can, at times, distance us from a sense of lived reality—but it can also offer new possibilities for experiencing identity. One work in “Evoking Reality” was particularly thought-provoking: Snow White by Berni Searle taught me that we can feel and embody the pain of others. In this two-screen video installation, the artist, who is also South African, uses her own naked body to complicate how we perceive her. (…) saw both these shows, “Spinning Triangles” and “Evoking Reality,” on the same day. One thing seeing them juxtaposed taught me is that there are several histories and, indeed, multiple ways of seeing ourselves and those around us. Although neither show claims to have the answers on how to exist outside the grip of modern European history, they both go some way in ensuring that we are made fully aware, as Zadie Smith once said, that “every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”” (Mebrak Tareke)
Kunstforum International
Exhibition review by Ingo Arendt read here in German
“Evoking Reality“ ist eine ebenso intelligent wie subtil kuratierte Schau. Sie glänzt mit forcierter Zeitgenossenschaft – sowohl im Hinblick auf die Künstler wie auch die angesprochenen Themen. Und sie kommt ohne die üblichen Verdächtigen in Sachen globalen Elends aus. Der Titel der Schau ist von schöner Ambivalenz. Denn die Wirklichkeit wird hier sowohl gespiegelt, wie sie konstruiert wird. Dadurch beantwortet die Ausstellung auch die derzeit vielerorts heiß diskutierte Frage nach einer zeitgemäßen politischen Ästhetik. (…)” (Ingo Arendt)
Monopol Magazin
Exhibition review by Jens Hinrichsen read here in German
“Die Gruppenschau mit Foto- und Videoarbeiten aus der Daimler-Sammlung – acht Künstlerinnen und acht Künstlern sind beteiligt, darunter Cao Fei, Tacita Dean, Pieter Hugo oder Viviane Sassen (…) Der französische, im Grenzbereich von Kino und Kunst tätige Filmemacher und Fotograf zeigt in seinem Video "Les Indes galantes" eine Aufführung der gleichnamigen Ballettoper von Jean-Philippe Rameau. Die jungen Pariser, die die barocke Partitur 2017 im Freestyle aufführen, filmen sich mit ihren Smartphones gegenseitig beim Tanzen. Das Video ist aus diesen multiplen Blicken montiert. Die dort praktizierte Tanzform K.R.U.M.P. entstand während der Los Angeles Riots 1992 – als Form des Protestes gegen rassistische Polizeigewalt. Die Geburt des Tanzes aus dem Geist gewaltlosen Widerstands: Cogitore zeigt in der Tat – wie Menschen Wirklichkeit herstellen.” (Jens Hinrichsen)
Exhibition catalogue PDF in German for Download
Exhibition catalogue PDF in English for Download
Image: Installation View Evoking Reality at Daimler Contemporary Berlin, works by Guy Tillim
Photo: Hans-Georg Gaul, Courtesy Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart/Berlin.