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| Alicja Kwade, ENTITAS, Exhibition View, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2018; Photo: Roman März |
ALICJA KWADE
ENTITAS
KÖNIG GALERIE, BERLIN
UNTIL 11 NOVEMBER 2018
Time is a monster. An undefeatable ouroboros snake with no beginning and no end. Always identical in the form and different in the content. Time is a monster because is eating us up. It is an endless chain of irreversible instants. But it is also the key to happiness.
A huge clock and a big stone, hanging from the ceiling in a perpetual motion have been the heartbeat of St. Agnes Church for the last weeks; Die Bewegte Leere des Moments ( 2015-2018 ) is the installation by Alicja Kwade central piece of the exhibition ENTITAS at König Galerie.
The exhibition is evolving around the philosophical idea of being. ENTITAS means “what it is”, the substance of everything, what is lying underneath and that is the same for everything.
Starting from a reflection about Time and Being, Alicja Kwade is developing a very ambitious exhibition, putting her work in comparison with the history of modern art but also with what has been her research to date. In fact, the big clock-pendulum is a quote of her own work exhibited in the same place but in 2013. Same but different, as time in itself.
In the installation Trans-For-Men 8 (Fibonacci), 2018, a queue of different large stones embeds a row of mirrored glass. Each block, a stone between two glasses, reflects only itself but is indissolubly and precariously linked to the next block. The huge stone, the matter, is the anchor. it brings time down with the gravity. In this perpetual chasing between spirit and matter.
abarchairisabarchirisabarchair (2018) and awalkingstickisawalkingstickisawalkingstick (2018) are two halved tree trunks with a chair and a stick sticking out in relief. The two objects are trapped in the wood as every moment of our life is indelibly fixed and yet it slips away.
In 9 seconds, (2018) a sculpture reproduce every single movement of a falling ring; in the three Fall (2018) sculptures, the frozen movements of a falling stick show the liquidity of time in contrast with the solidity of the materials that compose them.
As in the movie Interstellar, the protagonist at some point falls into a black hole where he finds a network that allows him to act on the past and change the future.
So, looking at the series of sculptures Multi-Teller (2018), a structure made of polished stainless steel pipes fixed by concrete and macauba balls around them, we also find ourself wondering about our possibilities and freedom to move in the grid of time.
It reminded me of something.
Have you ever had the strange experience of going in a place that used to be familiar but everything is suddenly estranged. It is the same but it is totally new at the same time.
Like in a dream, when you think you are talking to someone but in the physical features he is actually someone else. Or in a memory where you can look at the past as a movie spectators.
This dazzling feeling between scattered identities and overlapping time ( past, present, future ) maybe scary at first but also extremely amusing.
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| Alicja Kwade, ENTITAS, Exhibition View, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany, 2018; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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| Alicja Kwade, Eigenbahn, 2018, bronze, wood, steinless steel, storne, 2 parts, 250 x 210 x 50 cm; 98 1/2 x 82 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (chair down); 253 x 121 x 40 cm; 99 2/3 x 47 2/3 x 15 3/4 in (chair up); 250 x 210 x 50 cm; 98 1/2 x 82 2/3 x 19 2/3 in (chair down); 253 x 121 x 40 cm; 99 2/3 x 47 2/3 x 15 3/4 in (chair up); unique
253 x 121 x 40 cm; 99 2/3 x 47 2/3 x 15 3/4 in (chair up
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| Alicja Kwade, Die Bewegte Leere des Moments, 2015/2018, clock, stone, stainless steel chain, electric motor, LED, audio equipment, clock: t = 30, Ø 70 cm; d = 11 3/4, Ø 27 1/2 stone: 65 x 45 x 30 cm; 25 2/3 x 17 3/4 x 11 3/4 in Overall dimensions variable; unique |
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| Alicja Kwade, Trans-For-Men 8 (Fibonacci), 2018,
mirror, copper, brass, bronze, bronze patinated, granite, sandstone, concrete, marble,
117 x 77 x777 cm, unique
Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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Alicja Kwade, Multi-Teller (30) (Orgel), 2018,
polished stainless steel pipes, concrete, macauba balls,
184 x 147 x 210 cm, unique
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| Alicja Kwade, 9 Seconds, 2018, stainless steel, 300 x 160 x 160 cm; unique
Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März
stainless steel
300 x 160 x 160 cm; 11
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| Alicja Kwade, Fall, 2018, copper, 250 x 68 x 303 cm; unique; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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| Alicja Kwade, Fall, 2018, copper, 203 x 75 x 297 cm; unique; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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| Alicja Kwade, Fall, 2018, copper, 112 x 100 x 306 cm; unique; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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| Alicja Kwade, awalkingstickisawalkingstickisawalkingstick, 2018, wood, 185 x 55 x 50; unique; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
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| Alicja Kwade, abarchairisabarchirisabarchair, 2018, wood, 185 x 52 x 47; unique; Courtesy of the artist and KÖNIG GALERIE Photo: Roman März |
