For the third part of the exhibition series SONDERLAGE, LAGE EGAL presents a selection of new works by EGGERT / RICKLEFS, PAULA CARRALERO BIERZYNSKA und ADIB FRICKE and focusses on the ongoing project THE WORD COMPANY® (1994–2004) by Adib Fricke.
In a series of 5 exhibitions presenting each 3 artists and one independent publisher, SONDERLAGE wishes to reply to the changing conditions for art production and the urgency to suggest other forms of mediation, distribution and exhibition making. Therefore and in addition to the physical exhibition space, a digital presentation with 3D viewing rooms and online exclusive shows are proposed.
Special emphasis is given to the interaction with limited editions and artists’ books in the form of a temporary store dedicated to an art publisher. Each exhibition will be extended with the production of limited editions by the participating artists. The usual openings are replaced by an open discussion every Tuesday at 7pm in the App Clubhouse.
SONDERLAGE are Pierre Granoux, artist—curator, founder and director LAGE EGAL, Wayra Schübel, cultural producer and moderator, Sarie Nijboer, curatorial assistance and Michelle Rojkov, project assistance.
The exhibition series SONDERLAGE is supported by Stiftung Kunstfonds and NEUSTART KULTUR.
With the kind support of ARTBUTLER Art World Solutions and LE FLÂNEUR
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
In contrast to other text-based artists, ADIB FRICKE’s art is word-based. Since his first exhibition in 1986, Adib Fricke has mainly created language-based works. He founded The Word Company® in 1994 and worked artistically for 10 years with this enterprise, which sought to subversively decenter the field of visual art.
For SONDERLAGE he shows the work SMORP, a protonym from the early days of The Word Company, which is presented together with certificates printed on original paper. Protonyms, according to Fricke, are words that are still in the stage of innocence: One does not know whether they are nouns, verbs or adjectives.
In addition, new works by the artist can be seen, also text-based and conceived especially for the exhibition series SONDERLAGE. The basic idea is that all text contents are completely fragmentary, with the aim of finding out how much information can be depicted on the image carrier, so that an effectiveness is unfolded. As a consequence, a thought process begins that can be continued.
Two editions will be available, one from the series “Superwords” and a work entitled “beautiful”, in which the word in its quadruplicity is combined with adverbs. The Word Company, as the name suggests, specializes in words. In TWC, Fricke opposes a visualized view of language according to which “words are no more than pictures of things”. In SONDERLAGE 3/5, we not only provide an insight into the archive of the artistic venture that ended 10 years ago: the artist Adib Fricke will temporarily relocate his workplace in the exhibition spaces and share current work processes.
Janine Eggert and Philipp Ricklefs aka EGGERT / RICKLEFS have developed their own formal language, which often manifests itself in a very playful way in space-related and space-consuming works. In doing so, they understand the concept of artistic research as an experimental exploration of materials. The basis of their artistic practice is on the one hand the appropriation of industrial and technical production processes, which they transform into artistic processes, as well as a speculative-scientific approach to concepts such as time and the future or the relationship between man and machine. Janine Eggert and Philipp Ricklefs studied fine arts at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg and at Ar.Co Çentro de Arte & Comunicaçao Visual in Lisbon. They have been working together since their studies.
The working bases of PAULA CARRALERO BIERZYÑSKA are startlingly as well as obviously contemporary: mobile phone displays and laptop screens. The images seen on the displays are created directly in front of the artist’s eyes – what she sees through the glass is applied to the display in reverse glass painting using a transfer grid technique. Her works bear the coordinates of the places where they were created, and for SONDERLAGE the artist has developed special editions that happened in the vicinity of LAGE EGAL’s current address. The artist comes from different cultures and lives in Berlin. She studied at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee from 2013 to 2019 and received the Mart Stam Förderpreis in her final year.