Exotika 2013 – Concepts of the Strange, Untamed and Beautiful
A project by Christine Falk and Alfred Banze
in Kunstverein Tiergarten and Galerie M, Berlin
View in the Galerie Nord
Berlin, intercultural capital and a magnet for people with different cultural and economical backgrounds, is one of the most important cultural cities of the world, which makes it the right place to question the term exoticism in the 21st century. German and foreign cultures converge here all the time and mirror the universal problems of globalisation in its immediate urban environment. Because of this development, the term exotic, which, up to now, implied a eurocentric, quixotic view at distant countries, takes on a new and global denotation. How relevant is the term exotic today against this background? Which role does the exotic play in our time of globalisation and migration and which functions do they fulfill?
- View in the Galerie M
The exhibition – with sixteen artistic positions from seven countries – offers surprisingly different perspectives on this subject: in videos, installations, paintings, drawings, photographies and objects, the artists deal with the consequences of world-wide consumerism and tourists’ mass movements, they document the changes of evolved[?] cultural communities caused by an international “exotic” product culture and take a look at cultural hegemonic processes. In addition to their perspective on social phenomenons, they also focus the effects of fashion and codes of behaviour on subjective constructions of identity as well as ironically look at the role of the international art market and search for new forms of global artistic and political practices.
Set up in Galerie Nord with jiandyin (Jiradej and Pornpilai Meemalai, Thailand)
Exotika 2013 started in January with workshops and an extensive exhibition in the Art Lab of the Silapakorn University in Bangkok and is now continued in two locations which are exemplary for the multiethnic population of Berlin: the Kunstverein Tiergarten in Moabit and the Galerie M in Marzahn. The project is based on the long-time networking efforts of the artists and curators, Christine Falk and Alfred Banze, with the international artists, the two galleries and the Lijiang Studio in South-West China.
The exhibition Exotika 2013 is accompanied by a comprehensive series of performances, workshops, public interventions, film screenings and talks.
Performance of Skall (France) during the opening in the Galerie Nord
Participating artists: Na Yingyu und Mu Yunbai (China), Sakarin Krue-On, Amrit Chusuwan und jiandyin (Jiradej & Pornpilai Meemalai), (Thailand), Moritz R., Veronika Radulovic, Christine Falk, Jean-Ulrick Desert, Petra Johnson, Ultra Art Fair Unlimited und Alfred Banze (Germany), Duskin Drum (USA), Skall (France), Andreas Dettloff (Tahiti), Vitshois M. Bondo (R.D. Kongo)
Na Yingyu, Jay Brown and Mu Yunbai from Lijiang Studio are preparing something for the framework programm from the opening in Galerie M
Kunstverein Tiergarten | Galerie Nord:
September 8 – Oktober 12, 2013
Opening reception: Friday, September 7, 19 h
With performances by Skall, jiandyin and Duskin Drum
Galerie M:
September 16 – November 1, 2013
Opening reception: Sunday, September 15, 16 h
With performances by Skall and Duskin Drum
