Opening: Friday, 22 April, at 7 pm
Artists: Reinhold Engberding – Sulafa Hijazi
Curated by Charlotte Bank and Salah Saouli
Exhibition dates:
23 April – 8 May, Friday – Sunday, 4 – 7 p.m.
The exhibition Gefangen raises the question of how images are perceived and circulated on the internet in the 21st century and how we relate to them. What happens to images that are freely accessible online? What particular significance can they have for us as viewers? How are images and social and political activism related?
Reinhold Engberding’s installation SUDARIUM (Is that my Son?/Mugshot) (2013) shows portraits of young men that the artist collected from the internet. The portraits are mugshots of people arrested in the USA who are branded as criminals even before being convicted and proven guilty. In each picture the artist asks what relationship there might be between himself and the portrayed. Childless himself, the artist wonders if any of these young men could be his son and thus opens up for possibilities of a special tie between the himself and the portrayed.
The Syrian artist Sulafa Hijazi has been commenting on the events in her country in graphic and multimedia works since the beginning of the Syrian uprising. She comments on violence and state arbitrariness and repression. The image Untitled (Prison) (2012) from the series Ongoing highlights the brutality and desperation of imprisonment. In other images, she criticizes the weapon fetishism and machismo that characterizes situations of war and armed conflict. As clear statements against the brutal suppression of the Syrian revolution, her images were shared and disseminated widely on social media, giving them an iconic character.
The exhibition Gefangen is part of a new series of events at Art-Lab Berlin with a focus on activism, protests and revolutionary movements.
NB.: safety measures due to the COVID 19 pandemic: Please note that access to our space remains subject to certain safety measures. We ask all our guests to wear a mask and keep a minimum distance of 1.5 m.
Venue: Art-Lab Berlin im iPhonedoctor – Perleberger Straße 60, 10559 Berlin
http://www.artlabberlin.wordpress.com
Facebook: Art-Lab Berlin
Art-Lab Berlin is supported by the program for basic support of the Senate for Culture and Europe
artlabberlin 