What's on in Berlin: exhibitions

Futuristic videogame landscapes, intriguing shelving structures and the clichéd representation of women within the context of the German National Socialistic regime make up this week’s art picks.

This week's events: 30 Nov-7 Dec 2011

Snapshots Of A Generation (Group Show)

Wentrup, until 30 Dec

On a completely different note, the group show Snapshots Of A Generation presents the photographs of Ryan McGinley, Anna Gaskell, Hannah Starkey, Angela Strassheim, Mohamed Bourouissa, and Zanele Muholi, each picturing their peers in either near dream-like sequences or in direct, raw portraits. The protagonists are photographed in their everyday lives, staging themselves in their own clothes and poses, yet in a setting where violence is always latent. The convergence of these different approaches raises particular questions. How much does the author influence his subject? Does the artist become part of the project, as for example in the case of McGinley, who travels with his protagonists for several weeks - or rather, is the photographer an observer in an opportune moment? Hedonistic, open, and timeless scenes encounter a concrete everyday reality. The result is a broad and diverse picture, a snapshot of a generation from many different perspectives, yet with no clear answers to those questions.

Wentrup, Tempelhofer Ufer 22, 10963 Berlin. (030 4849 3600, www.wentrupgallery.com). U1 Möckenbrücke. Open 11am-6pm, Tue-Sat; until 30 Dec. Admission Free.

Juliette Bonneviot “Pink Pink Stink Nice Drink”

Circus, until 17 Dec 2011

Circus is a gallery worth visiting at any given time, its location in an auto mechanics yard providing a dramatic contrast with the gallery’s very French, very minimalist elegance. The current exhibition by young French artist Juliette Bonneviot fits right into this atmosphere, although the saucy title doesn’t quite prepare you for the futuristic videogame landscapes weaved within a web of Abstract Expressionism and American Modernism references (or misappropriations as the artist calls them). Two De Kooning - or rather Bonneviot - reproductions appear, in the middle of the desert, in a painted rendering of the CGI landscape of Medal of Honour. Then again, there’s a Bonneviot reproduction of a Joan Mitchell’s painting on a ‘Struc-Tube’ installation (a system devised by George Nelson in 1948, in order to abolish walls and democratise exhibitions spaces). Only they aren’t Struc-Tubes, really, but – you guessed it - Juliette Bonneviot’s re-make of contemporary artist Martin Beck’s re-make of Nelson’s original structures. Confused? Maybe all you need to know in the end is that, in the language of Koko the gorilla,  ‘stink’ means flower and ‘drink’ means water.

Circus, Obentrautstrasse 21 Haus 17. 10963 Berlin (030 25 80 06 67, www.circusberlin.de). U6 Mehringdamm. Open 11am-6pm Wed-Sat, until 17 Dec 2011. Admission Free.

Sean Edwards “Remaining Only”

Tanya Leighton Gallery, until 28 Jan 2012

In his debut Berlin show, young Scottish artist Sean Edwards’ sculptural installation ‘Remaining Only’ consists of one continuous shelving structure along the gallery’s wall. Not taking into consideration the split-level space, the construction follows the floor of the upper level ending up obstructing the gallery door in the level below. The structure supports a collection of art leftovers - the remains of objects made for a specific purpose, or found/stolen/left behind from random activities over the last year and a half. Most of the objects are tiny, forcing the viewer to bend over them on the floor in the upper level or on the lower level, leaning in towards them as if they were in a museum vitrine. The objects and object-compositions, which in places give the impression of forming 3D collage, are scattered on the continuous shelving structure in what seems like a random frequency. Edwards views his structures as singular elements within the whole of a circular narrative, dictated by the exhibition space, time and chance. 

Tanya Leighton, Kurfürstenstraße 156, 10785 Berlin. (030 2216 07770, www.tanyaleighton.com). U1 Kürfurstenstr. Open 12pm-6pm Wed–Sat (and by appointment), 26 Nov-28 Jan 2012. Admission Free.

Andrea Salvino: “La Mer en Hiver”

Grimmuseum, 26 Nov – 15 Jan, 2012

In another first for Berlin, Italian artist Andrea Salvino presents drawings, paintings and photo collages exploring the clichéd representation of women within the context of the German National Socialistic regime. In what seems to be the result of long and fixated research, Salvino’s archive material ranges from propaganda posters of female farmers, dutiful hausfraus, Wehrmacht women, to drawings of women as victims of war atrocities and the ubiquitous stereotype of the “Nazi-woman”, sexualised in films and comics in the ’60s porn industry. The material is presented as photo-drawings, collage installations or used as a point of departure for near-realist, pale-toned paintings. Bringing the show up to date is a portrait of one of the players from the German women’s national football team, photographed for Playboy earlier this year. A sensitive, carefully-orchestrated – and at times heartbreaking - show, that manages nevertheless to pull back from the brink of cliché.

Grimmuseum, Fichte Str 2, 10967 Berlin (www.grimmuseum.com). U7 Südstern. Open 2pm-7pm, Wed-Sun, 26 Nov-15 Jan. Admission Free.

Henning Bohl, Cornet of Horse

Johann König, Until 17 Dec 2012

“To show something already-made into something already-done” explains Henning Bohl cryptically, in the text accompanying his new show. The ‘already-made’ object in this case is a variation of the ‘Zuckertüte’ - the sweet-filled paper cornet children traditionally carry with them on their first day at school. A reflection upon the notion of lifelong learning, Bohl’s work discusses the fact that despite years of shows, catalogues and stipends, an artist’s CV generally remains free of any ‘marketable’ knowledge. Another interpretation sees the work freeze-framing the beginning of a lifelong control of institutions, but literally sugar-coated with sweets and oversimplified imagery of fairies, fishes and horses.

‘Cornet of Horse’ is Bohl’s third solo show this year and in referencing the work featured in his recent exhibitions acts as a sort of self-sampling of his latest sculptures. Bohl feels his strategy of putting the works in a public loop helps to cope with the pressure of constantly producing new pieces, especially in an economy that cannot absorb them and might be better off for a period of rest, self-reflection and putting some time aside for the equally important things in life.

Johann König, Dessauer Straße 6-7, 10963 Berlin (030 2610 3080, www.johannkoenig.de). U2 Potsdamer Platz. Open 11am-6pm Tue-Sat; 19 Nov-17 Dec 2012. Admission Free.

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