Territorien (Territories)
Exhibition 15/02/20–21/03/20
Opening: 14/02/20 from 7–10 pm
Artists: Carla Åhlander, Thomas Brinkmann, Juliane Duda, Anna Fiegen, Kenny Garzón, Claudia Grünig, Kris Heide, Anne Hoelck, Rieko Hotta, Karin Kerkmann, Patricia Lambertus, Petra Lottje, Maria Olivares Alfaro, Sharon Paz, Christian Pilz, Sandra Ratkovic, Bettina Schünemann, Katja Staudacher, Sencer Vardaman, Anke Westermann, Clemens Wilhelm, Anne Wölk, Hana Yoo
Territories are fiercely contested, they are being appropriated, marked out and secured, they express affiliations and power structures. SCOTTY wants to artistically challenge and investigate these relations in a number of ways. The aim here is to tackle issues such as possession and appropriation and subversively transcend them, through artistic interventions. Borders are being questioned to transform territories into spaces of possibility. Free spaces are utilised and created so that new mental and social spaces can evolve.
100 artists have submitted their work, on the occasion of the open call for this year’s theme Territories, of which 23 positions can now be viewed at SCOTTY.
Be it the entitlement for residence, for boundary, for freedom or for autonomy- the exhibited artists explore our relationship to territories on many different levels.
Whilst tourists self-evidently venture into any territory, enjoy their freedom and their right to go on holidays on luxury liners, whilst they document this freedom in common places and share it with the world, the access to freedom remains shut to others.
Surfaces are subtly separated by differing textures. Territories and paths are marked out and made visible by lines. They separate one from the other and offer protection.
Construction projects displace native animals from their territory, a child guards its brother who is buried underneath debris.
In the juxtaposition of these experiences, the question on the concept of territories continually arises.
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Clemens Wilhelm’s “SIMULACRA” (2015) will be featured in “Territories”: “SIMULACRA” was shot in the “Window of the World” Entertainment Park in Shenzhen (China) which presents 140 copies of the world’s most famous tourist attractions. A tour through the park simulates a journey around the world: the Gizeh Pyramids, Stonehenge, San Marco, the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, the Taj Mahal, Mount Fuji, etc. However, all of them are dwarfed by the replica of the Eiffel Tower. What do these iconic buildings mean when they are taken out of their original contexts?