ORNAMENT UND VERBRECHEN 4 — LAGE EGAL CURATORIAL PROJECT #202

ORNAMENT UND VERBRECHEN 4 — LAGE EGAL CURATORIAL PROJECT #202

ELMIRA IRAVANIZAD
TORSTEN RUEHLE 

Opening Saturday, SEP 16, 2023, 7pm — 9pm
SEP 17 — OCT 14, 2023
THU — SAT, 3pm — 6pm
Also open by chance or appointment

LAGE EGAL CURATORIAL PROJECTS
Strausberger Platz 19, 10243 Berlin
Contact: sonderlage@lage-egal.net

We are pleased to present the fourth exhibition of ORNAMENT UND VERBRECHEN with a selection of recent sculptures, ceramics and paintings by the artists ELMIRA IRAVANIZAD and TORSTEN RUEHLE. The series of exhibitions takes place at our temporary space at Strausberger Platz 19, located within one of the historic neoclassical Hermann Henselmann towers, also known as “Haus des Kindes”. The title of this series takes inspiration from the renowned essay by architectural theorist Adolf Loos, who asserted that ornament was a sign of decadence and violence in modern society. 

ELMIRA IRAVANIZAD’s sculptures are based on her fundamental confrontation with technique and materiality. They coexist with their environment as an organic and temporary part of it, freed from any narrative content or context. Iravanizad uses materials that are also employed in construction and architecture, with a predilection for black and bright yellow colours, a contrast that has become increasingly apparent in her artistic development since living and working in Berlin, and which symbolizes for her the cultural differences between Iran and Germany. By categorically refusing any narrative moment in her work, Elmira Iravanizad achieves a strong formal abstraction. 

TORSTEN RUEHLE captures and traces the world through his paintings, shapes appearing in broad strokes to plunge the viewer between calm and agitation, then finally contemplation. His illuminated paintings with their elaborate collages continue the theme of the line — once again, this strong outline is the determining element in strange constellations. As in the oil paintings, a very particular tension is created between the plastic pictorial content and the artificial two-dimensional line; between the two lies a particular and unique effect. The lighting creates an atmosphere in the room beyond the boxes — the line fades away.


The selected works compose again an unique landscape of objects and architectural elements that reflect the narratives of modernity and minimalism and the role they play in contemporary society. This prompts us to question our own conceptions of ornamentation and the underlying complexities of our built environment.