MAPPINGS
Exhibition: 22.11.2008 - 16.01.2009
Preview: 21.11.2008, 7 - 9 pm / Artist Talk - Marius Watz 7:30 pm
Marius Watz, NOR


Animation, Object, Print, Laser-Cut, Sound-Installation
Marius Watz has created software that interprets data sources, manipulating stock
market data and patterns from electronic music to evoke narratives of abstract form.
He uses simple geometric forms and rule-based compositions to visualize the
evolution of complex ideas.
The exhibition is open by appointment only from 22.12.2008 - 03.01.2009.
KLANGFARBEN
Exhibition: 27.09 - 15.11.2008
Preview: 26.09, 7 pm - 9 pm
Manfred Mohr, D
winner of d.velop digital art award [ddaa] 2006
Installation: software, PC and LDC-screens, prints

This new work-phase entitled "klangfarben"
(2006-07), is based on the 11-d hypercube. The work itself consists of
two square LCD screens, a computer and my own custom software. The
structure of the 11-d hypercube contains a graphic repertoire of an
unimaginable 40 Billion possible "diagonal-paths". (A diagonal is the
connection between two opposite points in the structure of a hypercube.
"Diagonal-paths" are all the combinatorial possibilities of connecting
two such opposite points through the network of the 11-d hypercube
passing through each dimension once).
From
this repertoire four sets of eleven diagonal-paths with three distinct
line widths are chosen as basic elements for each work. Every time this
screen work is switched on, one out of the four sets are randomly
chosen. The right screen shows a graphic construct consisting of 2 to
10 diagonal paths rotating in slow motion and all colors change
randomly every 10 seconds. Single diagonal-paths fade in or out during
the color changes in a cyclic but random order so that the back most
diagonal-path always moves to the front. The last image, before each
color change, is sent from the right screen to the left screen and
stays there until the following image is received 10 seconds later. The
moving image on the right screen shows, so to speak, the making of a
sign and the receiving left screen shows a fixed and therefore
contemplative sign. Both screen-images should not be seen
simultaneously but observed independently. The screens are therefore
presented in a 90 degree angle to each other, so that the observer is
encouraged to choose one or the other event.
The
underlying logic of this work is similar to the rules of "serial music"
in which each element of a series of elements has to appear at least
once before the series can be repeated. The reference to "klangfarben",
refers to a composition technique of playing one musical note but
constantly changing the instrument which plays that note. A subtle
sound modulation or "klangfarbemelodie" appears because of the inherent
differences in upper and lower frequencies which create the character
of each musical instrument. The random modulation of colors on each
diagonal-path render exactly that subtle quality to my work.
Manfred Mohr, New York, 2007
THE REMOVAL FROM THINGS
Gerhard Mantz, D
Exhibition: 19.07. - 20.09.2008
Opening: 18.07.2008, 7 - 9 pm
(The gallery is closed for summer holidays from 29.07.2008 - 16.08.2008)
"Just
as the images passing before a drowning man's eyes tell of the beauty
of the world, or a swimmer finds himself in a treacherous medium that
can be his pleasure as well as his death, so the cloud images tell of
an ephemeral, beautiful and yet totally inhospitable world on the other
side of the sea. A world that lies, if not on the other side of death,
then on the other side of the tangible world, the other side
of things."
(Gerhard Mantz, July 2008, Abstract of the exhibition catalogue)
The
first human being in this world or the last – the new works from
Gerhard Mantz are gliding between these two perspectives. Some could
represent the first glance from the first human being onto the earth in
its primitive state with only water and the sky, a bird' s flight at a
time, when human beings did not even exist. Others reflect the last
glance of a drowing man on this world, in which the water already rises
above him threatening and grey like a mountain formation.
They all
evoke an impression of the Earth being an emotional landscape, mighty
and of a merciless beauty, since without a place for human beings –
there only is water or air. An emotional game: we wish to experience
the Earth like this knowing we would not be able to survive at such a
place.
Artworks dealing with water and
clouds are the main theme in the new exhibition of Gerhard Mantz. He
therewith deepens a subject on which he has already been working few
years ago. Concerning his new works a development is clearly visible:
the approach is more free, more abstract in composition and colouring.
There often is no horizon, no line on which your gaze is gripped.
Gerhard Mantz suceeded in adding a very contemporary postion to the
subject of landscape.
His artworks are
characterized by an extraordinary emotional density and a
compositional skill. The pictures remind of the paintings of the
German Romanticists like Caspar David Friedrich, at the same time they
dissociate with the feeling of nostalgia as well as the forming and the
presence of human beings in nature.
The
scenaries which Gerhard Mantz presents on large-format prints on
canvas, are again completely generated on the computer. Apart from the
pictures we also show a new animation also dealing with clouds.
Gerhard Mantz lives and works in Berlin and New York. He studied Fine Arts at the Kunstakademie Karlsruhe.
THE EARLY BEGINNINGS
plotter drawings from 1969 - 1990
Vera Molnar, F
recipient of the d.velop digital art award [ddaa]2005
Exhibition: 31.5.-12.7.2008
Preview: Friday 30.5.2008, 7 PM – 9 PM
“Everything concrete though, is only itself”
Max Bense, 1965
[DAM]Berlin
shows early plottersketches in colour or black & white of the
Grande Dame of Digital Art, a selection which was exhibited at the
museum show: “monotonie, symétrie, surprise” at the Kunsthalle Bremen
in 2006. In addition to the art works we present 2 rare short-films:
one in which the artist demonstrates her working procedures on the
beach and another which was shown on metropolis (Arte).
Vera
Molnar is considered a progressive thinker and pioneer in the field of
Digital Art. In 1959 she created the „Machine imaginaire“ to carry out
algorithmic calculations at a time when computers did not even exist
and concentrated early on the aesthetic possibilities of Digital Art.
She mixed her constructivist approach with intentional interferences in
the mathematic system and experimented on a often humorous way with the
occurring irregularities („1% disorder“ she called one of her essays).
Her admiration for Paul Klee is present in her artworks as well as in
her essays concerning art. In 2005 Vera Molnar was awarded the first
d.velop digital art award [ddaa] for her life's work and importance for
Digital Art. The [ddaa] is presented by the Digital Art Museum[DAM] in
Berlin.
„Vera Molnar was born in Budapest in
1924 and there, she grew up as the only child of her parents in
sheltered and intellectual, middle-class circumstances. Quite early,
she was infected by the “virus of visual experimentation”. The artist
remembers that, at the age of about ten, she drew the view from her
parental home across the Lake Balaton to the opposing waterside every
night for some time. Every time, she used the same five colors: Green
for the meadow leading to the water, blue for the lake, brown for the
mountain range at the opposing waterside, blue for the sky and orange
for the sun-set. After a certain time, the approximately same picture
did not satisfy Vera Molnar any more and she decided to use the
respectively adjacent color in the paint box for every image area.
Already at this early point in time, the first systematic investigation
was conducted which was guided by principles that still impact the work
of the artist: The analysis is followed by the systematic
image-artistic experiment which generates image series and thus,
variations.“
Excerpt from the essay by Barbara Nierhoff „Vera Molnar and the Computer“, Catalogue Vera
Molnar, „monotonie, symétrie, surprise“, Kunsthalle Bremen, 2006
SHE
Tapestries and more
Opening: Friday March 14th 7 – 9 PM
Exhibition: 15.3.-17.5.2008
Margret Eicher, D

Three
large-format tapestries form the heart of the exhibition, which Margret
Eicher has dedicated to different aspects of femininity. Whether she
takes on the “Desperate Housewives” as icons of modern media culture,
or ladies of luxury, wrapped in fur and heedless of the natural
environment, as in the tapestry “Fauna and the Impostors”, or young
bored couples – her works are always sensual, ironic and provocative.
Margret Eicher skillfully holds up a mirror to our modern society with
its media and consumerism phenomena and embeds this mirror image in the
seemingly traditional medium of a woven tapestry. In the history of art
this medium carries connotations of wealth, power and education. It is
a medium whose representative appearance and repetitive design render
it an ideal template for Margret Eicher’s intelligent digital collages,
in which she compiles pictures with a political background from
advertisement and lifestyle magazines into mature psychological
studies: In which contexts do people present themselves and how do they
appear? These depictions of the modern human being show prototypes and
unveil structures of power just as the original tapestries did. Despite
their toned down colours that remind us of faded historical pictures,
Margret Eicher’s tapestries are refined industrial products, woven by a
computer – the illusion of old manufactory work is perfect. The artist
invites us to take a closer look, so as not to be tricked by
traditional images and techniques, but to become aware of the fault
lines, and she always does this with a wink.
Marget Eicher is a
well-established artist. Her tapestries are of a high intellectual and
aesthetic quality, and of a timeless beauty. By means of her
characteristic combination of modern content, digital construction and
the use of a historical medium Margret Eicher has created a very
distinct style.
The artist was born in Viersen, Germany. From
1973-79 she studied Fine Arts at the Staatliche Kunstakademie in
Düsseldorf and won several scholarships and awards. She lives in
Ladenburg, Germany.
BEYOND THE SCREEN
5. February - 8. March 2008
Opening: Saturday, February 2, 6 - 8 PM.
Commonwealth, US,
Leander Herzog, CH,
Jared Tarbell, US,
Theverymany, US,
Marius Watz, NO and participants of the Generator.x 2.0 workshop. In cooperation with club transmediale and Marius Watz.
Digital
fabrication technologies also called "fabbing" allow for the production
of structures and surfaces exceeding the limits of conventional mass
production. By using specific software to control these tools, artists
and designers are able to realise unimaginable complex objects.
Digitally
fabricated sculptures seem to be a contradiction in terms, still the
computer is mainly a medium for a two-dimensional space.
The
exhibition ”Beyond the screen“ reveals unexpected possibilities:
sculptures that are created on a computer as three-dimensional
CAD-files and are converted into real objects via a laser technique
called “digital fabricator”. This kind of technique enables artists to
translate precisely digitally constructed highly complex and fragile
creations. The range of materials is wide - synthetic materials,
cardboard, ceramic, plaster etc - and so are the different techniques:
milling, building up, dismantling, forming. The workshop of Club
transmediale is dedicated to this new highly interesting technique,
already used in industry in the fields of medicine and design to
develop individual and precise plastic forms of products and opens up
huge potential possibilities for three-dimensional works in digital art.
The
exhibition offers a forum to this art form and shows apart from the
results of the workshop for “fabbing” – digital fabrication – art works
created beforehand which are representative of that technique and mark
established positions:
Works of Marius Watz, who has initiated and
run the workshop of Club transmediale, and who has been working
intensively on the possibilities offered through fabbing. The Norwegian
artist is known for his colourful organic software art works and prints
as well as for large projections and is very actively working on the
field of Net Art. A contract work for the Norwegian government was
shown for two years on their homepage. In 2005 he founded an Internet
platform for digital art and design.
The design studios
Commonwealth, New York, and Theverymany, France, already use fabbing in
their daily work for custom orientated design solutions apart from mass
productions. They have also realised exhibition projects on that
subject f. e. in New York. Apart from architects also in the digital
art scene well established artists such as Holger Lippmann are
participating at the workshop attracted by the creative possibilities
that this technology might offer in the future and voluntary prepared
to experiment with a new medium. The results can be awaited full of
suspense.