ELECTRIC DREAMLAND pt. 1
31 January - 09 February 2020
Catharina Szonn & Daniel Neubacher
ELECTRIC DREAMLAND PT. 1
31 January - 09 February 2020
INVITED BY FRANZ REIMER
ELECTRIC DREAMLAND is an exhibition series, of which part I stages a truly astounding spectacle. ELEC- TRIC DREAMLAND aims to explore the relationship between event- and high culture, to savour the eternal love-hate relationship between staged mass spectacle and elaborate art enjoyment, and to explore the extent to which the entertainment industry and art production have always needed each other, how much they condition and stimulate each other, and envy each other, while secretly loving each other so deeply.
In their close connection with the imaginative technologies of the machine age that have so rapidly developed over the past century, both the entertainment industry and art production are indispensable pressure valves for a society that must continuously reconcile itself with ever-new technological promises and their eternal failure.
In our society of permanent spectacle, which dreams in vain of fulfillment, imagination remains a painful but also a healing promise. ELECTRIC DREAMLAND pt. I casts a sceptic and dreamy glance at an art production that produces meaningful works primarily in empty, literally inflated shells. With the works of Catharina Szonn and Daniel Neubacher, ELECTRIC DREAMLAND pt. I shows vivid childhood dreams that tell of the visionary power of artistic ideas as well as the constant loss of all illusions and promises.
CATHARINA SZONN
Bedeutung ohne Garantie / Meaning without Guarantee (2020)
Installation | Kiddie Ride, LED screens, rollup display, various materials
Das Potenzial ist die Funktionslosigkeit
It ́s like advancement, but made for human Dienstleistung der eigenen Abnutzung
It‘s not the end of the world
als zentrale Strategie
come back to rise up again
The potential is the functionlessness
Es ist wie ein Aufstieg, aber für den Menschen gemacht service of own wear
Das ist noch nicht das Ende der Welt
as central strategy
komm zurück, um nochmal von vorn aufzusteigen
CATHARINA SZONN stages a kiddie-ride helicopter as an archetypical imagination machine.
Like a dream of ascent that has fallen out of time, she breathes new life into the disused service machine and transforms it into a radical artistic financing model::
#cashonly #50cent #rideordie #flywithme #childhooddreams #flippingcoins #takeyourchance
CATHARINA SZONN (*1987) lives and works as an installation artist in Frankfurt am Main. She studied at the Academy of Design Offenbach, the Iceland Academy of Arts Reykjavik and the Academy of Fine Arts Vien- na. In her painterly and poetic installations, she focuses on current sociocultural topics such as the vacant relationship between humans and machines. Her works have been shown in Germany and internationally, including exhibitions at Kunstverein Konstanz, Frankfurter Kunstverein, European Media Arts Festival Osna- brück and Museum Goch, among others.
DANIEL NEUBACHER
Template (2016)
Luftschloss / Castle in the Air
Special structure bouncy castle, color: black according to customer design, size: 5.4 x 5.1 x 4.24 m, incl. blower, free delivery, artificial air
The work Castle in the Air takes the template as its absolute starting point. An inflatable designed by the artist is merged with the production company’s standard template and subsequently produced, delivered and displayed. A hybrid art product is the result. This product cyclically fills with the air of the exhibition space, expanding in its full might to reach its spectacular maximal size and then immediately collapsing into itself again, gently and silently.
DANIEL NEUBACHER (*1985) lives and works in Bremen. He studied at the University of the Arts Bremen with Prof. Jean-Francois Guiton, where he completed his Master’s in 2016. At the interface of digital and physical space, Neubacher‘s artistic work is dedicated to current problems and problems with the conditions of artistic creation in terms of production, representation and reception. Neubacher‘s works have been shown in exhibitions in Berlin, Cologne, Schaffhausen, Helsinki, Bucharest, Detroit and Toronto, among others, as well as in several online exhibitions. Castle in the Air was recently presented in Neubacher’s solo exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bremen.
