Conrad — Dark Gold / Dunkles Gold

Conrad: "Dark Gold / Dunkles Gold"

Vernissage: Freitag 11. Dezember 2009, 20-23 Uhr

Austellungsdauer: 11.12.09 - 29.01.10, Mi-Fr 16-19 Uhr & nach Vereinbarung

(Galerie geschlossen: 24.12.09-01.01.10)

Als Special Guest wird Hanno Sartorius gegen 21.30 Uhr eine Auswahl romantischer Gedichte austragen.

A King Stays Alone / Ein König Bleibt Allein (2004)

Conrad Artworx, geboren 13.02.1968 in Berlin (West)

1986-1990: Studium der Kunstgeschichte und Germanistik, TU Berlin

CONRAD ist als freischaffender Künstler überwiegend in Berlin tätig, mit diversen Ausstellungen in Galerien, Kunst-Cafes, aber auch in Kulturkooperationen.Zu seinen letzten Projekten gehörten u.a.:

- "Art and Beauty", Kolonie Wedding, 2002
- Kultursommer Wedding, 2003
- Galerie Scherer 8, 2004
- Galerie Freizeitservice, 2005
- Kunst-Cafe Schmidt, 2006
- Ballsaal Glaskasten, 2007
- Kulturinitiative "Westerweiterung", Friedrich- Ebert Stiftung, 2007
- Open-Air-Gallery Friedrichshain/Kreuzberg, 2008
- Kulturfabrik Moabit, 2009

An Angel Above The City / Ein Engel Über Der Stadt (2006)

ZU SEINEN BILDERN:

Die Arbeiten von CONRAD beschäftigen sich im Grundsatz mit der Reflektion emotionaler Ambivalenz und wollen sowohl kraftvoll, als auch subversiv deren Widersprüchlichkeit vor Augen führen. In seinen energetischen Bildern werden Zustände im Spannungsfeld von Melancholie und Hoffnung, Liebe und Schmerz, kreativem Zorn und tiefer Traurigkeit thematisiert. Sie pendeln bipolar zwischen Tag und Nacht, zwischen expressiven Abgründen - aber auch tief empfundener Sehnsucht nach Harmonie.
Die Serie "DARK GOLD / DUNKLES GOLD" beinhaltet eine Auswahl spiritueller, ikonographischer und sakraler Arbeiten.

Decalog (You Shall Not...!) / Dekalog (Du Sollst Nicht...!) (2006)

Info on the Finissage.

Kurt Schwarzmeier

From 5 November to 1 December 2009, Martinski Fine Arts has two sculptures by the German artist Kurt Schwarzmeier on view. The two almost life-size sculptures reveal the artist's incisive if humorous eye for detail and his fine talent for craftsmanship.
With the darkness of the season in mind, the pieces are best viewed from 4PM to 1AM from the street, when the gallery lighting presents them to their best advantage.

Kurt Schwarzmeier / CV

Jahrgang 65, aufgewachsen bei Regensburg, Bayern

Born 1965, raised close to Regensburg, Bavaria

Ab 1980 Comix, Illustrationen, erste gestalterische Arbeit

Began doing cartoons, illustration and initial creative works in 1980

Seit 1983 Ausstellungen, diverse Bilderzyklen

Numerous exhibitions and diverse picture since 1983

Ab 1987 Weltenbummler mit Tägkeiten als Gestalter, Karikaturist, Fassaden- und Plastermaler; spontane Ausstellungen

As of 1987, a globetrotter active as sculptor, caricaturist, muralist and sidewalk artist; spontaneous exhibitions

Ab 1994 in Berlin, tätig als Illustrator, Grafiker und freischaffender Künstler; diverse Ausstellungen.

Lives in Berlin since 1994, active as an illustrator, graphic artist and fine artist; Diverse exhibitions

Seit 2005 Inhaber der Galerie "TAKE A DIVE"

Since 2005, proprietor of the gallery Take A Dive

Mehr von Kurt Schwarzmeier in der Galerie TAKE A DIVE

More about and by Kurt Schwarzmeir at the gallery TAKE A DIVE

The Sculptures:

Tropenkrankenschwester / Tropical Nurse
Schaumstoff / Foam, 2008
4000.- €


Politesse / Policewoman
Styropor / Styrofoam, 2009
5000.- €

Herrick & Eiffel: 20 Jahre Mauerfall

20 Jahre Mauerfall
Evan Herrick (Fotos) & Erika Eiffel (Mauermodell)

Eröffnung: Freitag, 09. Oktober 2009, 19 Uhr

Austellungsdauer: 09.10.09 - 30.10.09 / Mi - Fr 16 - 19 Uhr und nach Vereinbarung

THE BERLIN WALL, 1983. The very existence of a construct like the Berlin Wall, while still standing, was a slap in the face to many Germans and others as well. Most left-thinking people, though, were never able to vilify it completely. It stood there all those years as if to say, “It is not enough for ideological divisions to exist merely in people’s heads. If these barriers are important enough, why not let them be real and cast in concrete. In this way, such divisions may become visible to all, lest anyone ever try and forget them.” The Wall was to remain standing and functional until the ideological differences between Germans were overcome and such inner divisions ceased to exist.

I came to Berlin for the first time in 1980 and moved here permanently in 1982. For me the Wall was the city’s defining landmark throughout the 1980s until its fall in 1989. One by-product of the Wall back then was that it created West Berlin’s “Insellage”, turning half of the city into an island surrounded by East Germany. It made West Berlin a slightly depressing place to live in, and at the same time, one of the most unique places in the world. Standing on one of the many observation platforms during the 1980s and looking out over the wall into no-man’s land, I could never help but feel a sense of awe and wonderment that such a thing could exist. For an impressionable young man coming from California, where the history of one’s own country was generally ignored, it was one reminder of how truly different other places were. The Wall for me, among other things, was a tribute to the power of ideology, more real and dangerous than any historical monument could ever be.

As we know now, even ideologies do not last forever. I tried to document one section of the Wall between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate. One day it would all look different. It was an attempt to show how one stretch of the Wall looked on an autumn day in 1983 — the way the light fell on the concrete, and what people had written on it to help them come to terms with its existence.

The more recent pictures were taken in 1990, shortly before the Wall was torn down. The photo of Erika Eiffel, taken by Manuel Wilhelm, is from 2008.

gneisenau 64 — Three Day Film Event

gneisenau64

30.09.09-02.10.09

Auf Deutsch:
Am Mittwoch, dem 30. September, laufen die 64 Videos der Serie Gneisenaufilms in der Kunstgallerie Martinski Fine Arts in der Gneisenaustraße 64.
Während 64 Wochen haben drei junge Berliner Künstler eine Serie von 64 64 sekündigen Videos gedreht. All diese Miniaturfilme wurden in der Gneisenaustraße in Kreuzberg gedreht und sind somit auch zu einer Art Tagebuch der Straße und des Kiezes geworden.
Ab 19 Uhr werden die Videos projiziert und anschließend gibt es portugiesischen Wein und deutsches Bier.
Die Ausstellung läuft bis zum 2. Oktober. Wir freuen uns, wenn Ihr erscheint!

In English:
On Wednesday, 30 September 2009, the 64 videos of the series Gneisenaufilms are going to be presented at Martinski Fine Arts, Gneisenaustraße 64.
For 64 weeks three young Berlin-based artists made a series of 64 64-second videos, all of which were shot on Gneisenaustraße in Kreuzberg. What started as a framework for experimental and audiovisual studies ended up as a kind of diary in which the everyday life of the street and neighbourhood is either directly shown or indirectly reflected.
The projection starts at 7 p.m., after which we would be glad to welcome you for a sip of Portuguese wine.
The films will be screened on following Thursday (01.10.09) & Friday (02.10.09) from 4pm to 7pm as well. We look forward to see you there!

Examples:

Spaceship G. (Film 19)


Os Lusíadas (film 43)


Süpermario (film 56)

Bildwelten

Zur Eröffnung der Schau Bildwelten laden wir Sie herzlich ein.

Cornelia Glowniewski


Bildwelten
eine Ausstellung mit zeichnerischen Arbeiten aus der
Theater-Werkstatt Thikwa.

mit Arbeiten von:
Sabrina Braemer
Jonny Chambilla
Cornelia Glowniewski
Karol Golebiowski
Corinna Heidepriem
Peter Pankow
Claudia Pfeifruck

Jonny Chambilla

Eröffnung: Freitag, 04. September 2009, 19 Uhr
Austellungsdauer: 04.09.09 - 25.09.09
Geöffnet: Mi - Fr 16 - 19 Uhr

Die Theater-Werkstatt Thikwa ist eine künstlerische Werkstatt für Menschen mit Behinderung. Sie ist eine Kooperation zwischen der Nordberliner Werksgemeinschaft und dem integrativen Theater Thikwa.

Peter Pankow

Martinski Fine Arts, Gneisenaustraße 64, 10961 Berlin
U-bahn: Südstern o. Gneisenaustrasse

Ben Middelkamp — In Between Thoughts and Nature.

Kultur in anderen Teilen der Erde: Davon hat sich der niederländische Künstler Ben Middelkamp in den zurückliegenden Jahren inspirieren lassen.

Dabei entstanden Bilder und Skulpturen, hergestellt aus Naturstoffen, Erinnerungen in Gold und Silber – die jetzt in Berlin ausgestellt werden.
Zur Finissage der Schau „Zwischen Gedanken und Natur“ laden wir Sie herzlich ein.

Wann?
Freitag, 28. August 2009, 19 Uhr
Wo?
Martinski Fine Arts
Gneisenaustraße 64, 10961 Berlin

Ben Middelkamp wurde 1957 in Wijhe/Niederlande geboren. Seit dem Besuch der Kunstschule Ubbo Emmius in Leeuwarden arbeitet er als bildender Künstler und Maler. Seine Kunst wird in zahlreichen Ausstellungen in den Niederlanden, Paris, Berlin und San Diego gezeigt.
Der Künstler ist zur Finissage der Schau anwesend und steht für Interviews zur Verfügung.

Mask (mixed media, 2009)

The exhibition opening to Ben Middelkamp's exhibition Zwischen Gedanken und Natur was on Thursday, 30 July 2007.

Ben Middelkamp on his Art:
The things I see and process — images, history and geography — have always been very important to me. Combined with my strong feeling for nature and old things, this inspires me to create my statues. By preference, my chosen materials are old and half-decayed. I have used old and thrown away materials since my days as a member of the artgroup DNA Funart Vactorie. However the materials being used have changed from man-made to nature-made.

I paint in a tradition of Art Brut and Jean Dubuffet. I see the world in images and colors, and use rich colors and gold and silver. The lineage of the latter two being clearly drawn from my catholic youth, from whence I was raised in a world with statues paintings and colors. Never afraid of using colors.

Although a lot of my work has to do with nature, humans are always present in my work. You will nearly always recognize human figures and faces. I have seen a lot of human suffering during my former work in a hospital, in the terminal ward. The strength and hopelessness I witnessed are, for me, strong reminders of “the real thing”: of human life.

I like these typical humans whom you sometimes meet, a farmer, a grocer or just a guy or woman with a characteristic face. I'm very much inspired by old cultures such as aboriginals, Native North Americans and other native races. Their figurative and non-figurative paintings inspire me most.


CV Ben Middelkamp:
1957
He is born in Wijhe, Netherlands.
1957-1975
He sees stained glass windows in parish church.
1974
He starts to feel like an artist.
He paints seascapes and sunsets, sells them in the local village.
1980
Land art projects in Thurso, Northern Scotland.
Land art projects island of Terschelling, Netherlands.
1982
He writes poems, travel stories and plays.
1983
Attends the art school Ubbo Emmius, Leeuwarden, Netherlands.
1986
Founding Member of DNA Funart Vactorie (Members included: Ben Middelkamp, Jeroen Boschma, Paul Stolte and (as of 1990) Bryin Abraham).

DNA Funart Vactorie CV
1986
KGB, West Berlin, AUGEN Performance Events 1-4
Front Kino, West Berlin, "Blutnacht" Performance Party
Front Kino, West Berlin, Beschaeftigungsrherapie 1-3
West Berlin, Augen Magazine 1-4
1987
Humanistisch Centrum Groningen, Exhibition
Galerie Paranorm, West Berlin, Exhibition
Open Air Festival, Paris, Performance
Spoekepolle, Leeuwarden, Exhibition
Luxor, Arnhem, Netherlands, Painting Performance
1988
SoToDo Galerie, West Berlin, "Sex Show", Exhibition
Galerie "das Fenster'", West Berlin, Exhibition
VSCD , Drachten, The Netherlands, Exhibition and Painting Performance
Galerie Paranorm, West Berlin, Exhibition
"noord/zuid campagne" Leeuwarden /Tilburg, Painting Performance
DNA Galerie, Arnhem, Exhibition and Performance
Luxor, Arnhem, Painting Performance
1989
SoToDo Galerie, West Berlin. Tea Time 1-4, Events
Galerie "das Fenster" West Berlin, Exhibition
Galerie Bichette, West Berlin, Installation
"Wallpaper the Wall", West Berlin, a wallpapering action
on the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz.
Pike, West Berlin, "A Happening", Performance Event
Galerie Paranorm, West Berlin, Façade Painting
Central Space Gallery, London, Exhibition and Performance
Pike, West Berlin, "Attack of the Killer Wigs".
Galerie Paranorm, West Berlin, Façade Painting 2
Freie Berliner Kunstausstellung, West Berlin, Exhibition
L'Heure Maxime, Paris, Exhibition
Galerie Cebo, Paris, Exhibition & Installation
Montreuill, Paris, Exhibition and Performance
"Greetings from Holland Tour", Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin
Galerie Henkeshuis, Rotterdam, Exhibition
Galerie Paradise Regained, Rotterdam, Exhibition
"Art Amsterdam" Art Fair
Tryater Leeuwarden, Stage Design
1990
"Blatt fur Blatt", West Berlin/East Berlin, A Postering Action at 14 Locations (7 West, 7 East)
Interglotz, West Berlin, Exhibition
Dunker Club, East Berlin, Go East, Exhibition
Galerie Paranorm, Wedding Dress, exhition
ACUD Galerie East Berlin, "DNA is Here" Painting, Performance and Exhibition
Galerie De Loch, East Berlin, "The Walls of the Gallery", Painting Performance
Galerie De Loch, East Berlin, "The Walls Must Go", Painting Performance
Futureclub, West Berlin, "Broken Hearts", Exhibition
Bargelb, West Berlin, Karo, Exhibition
Dunker Club, East Berlin, "A Night to Remember", Performance Party
Kanzlei Gutzman, West Berlin, "Title Pages", Exhibition
Frysk Festival, Holland, Creative Design, Banners and Billboards
Galerie Hoffman, Amsterdam, "The DNA Ego Exhibition"
Tryater Leeuwarden, Stage Design
Ruse Gallery, San Diego, Performance
Galerie De Loch, East Berlin, "Heute keine Kunst"
1993
Last exhibition of DNA Funart Vactorie at Gallery “De Lawei”,
Drachten, Netherlands

1994
He marries Marja.
1995
Exhibition ‘De lieve vrouw” Amersfoort, Netherlands.
1996
Paintings on trees and in caves on the island of Terschelling and
Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands) and Karpathos (Greece).
1996
Exhibition “Open Gallery” Groningen.
1998
Arte limitado, Den Haag, Netherlands.
2001
His son Tren is born.
2003
His daughter Eerin is born.
2009
Exhibition in Berlin: “In Between Thoughts and Nature”.

Lewis Forever & Joanna Seitz — Opening

Lewis Forever & Joanna Seitz
(USA/Berlin)

Friday, 25 July 2009
&
Saturday, 26 July 2009
@ 8 pm

LEWIS FOREVER is a performance collective of four siblings: three sisters and a brother, a director, two dancers and a musician. LF is a family living half in New York and half in Berlin, half Dominican and half Jewish-American, a performance collective and a bloodline. LF makes new performance work for both theatrical and non-theatrical spaces. LF also throws parties and creates other social situations that provide the opportunity to embody ideas and questions surrounding collective versus individual vision, emigration, post-American identity, transient identities, “transnationalism”, belonging, longing, and dislocation.
Taking on the configuration of a collective LF proposes a new model for the family structure reconfiguring traditional notions. Family being the first society we acclimate to and the way we begin to understand the organization of our communities, we are interested in the family structure as a site for recasting the molds that shape our understandings of the world. LF is the taproot from which stem the various incarnations of our work. LF is comprised of Ligia, George Jr., Isabel, and Sarah Lewis.
Together we create a magnetic charisma produced by four individuals whose united cultural and familial fabrics come together in an expression of LOVE towards one another to be shared with our audience. Can we realistically share this ’magic’ created by four siblings whose intricate cultural fabric is so deeply interwoven? We think so.
We embrace the spectator's gaze knowing the undeniable separateness of the LEWIS FOREVER. This separateness is not a static state however. LF believe in blurring the lines between the familial and alien, communicating in a reciprocal exchange between ourselves and the audience.
We propose situations that enable the audience to not only watch but join in on the Lewis's communing, gesticulating, eating, etc... We serve as agents working to achieve a united admiration for the magical present where truth lies in the off-the-cuff, in-the-moment fabrication of immediate circumstances. Everyone and everything is subject to the whims of now. LEWIS FOREVER host a space where logic subsides. We infect the space with our generosity and openness so identities can merge and LF becomes more than just a bloodline, but also a malleable familial and cultural fabric that can extend, embrace, wrap, unwrap, twirl, simply hang, or be hung onto. Bound by this fabric, we LF extend to you.

Theodor di Ricco – Die letzte 12 grosse Arbeit auf Papier / The Last 12 Big Works on Paper

Eingelegte-Kirschen

74x105

Theodor di Ricco
Die letzte 12 grosse Arbeit auf Papier

Vernissage: 02 Juli 2009 um 19 Uhr
Ausstellungsdauer: 02.07.09 – 22.07.09
Mi. – Fr. 16 – 19 Uhr und nach Vereinbarung
(unter 030 / 69 53 48 36)

Theodor di Ricco
The Last 12 Big Works on Paper

Opening: 02 Juli 2009 um 19 Uhr
Exhibition Length: 02.07.09 – 22.07.09
Wed. – Fr., 4pm – 7pm or by appointment
(at 030 / 69 53 48 36)

Dates of Note / Termine:

02. Juli um 19 Uhr / 2 July at 7pm:
Opening + Performance: Color Shop Local 3
(Further details at the bottom of this page)

10. Juli um 19 Uhr / 10 July at 7pm:
Reading (in English) from the book Sick Sacraments
(Further details at the bottom of this page)

16. Juli um 19 Uhr / 16 July at 7pm:
Theater: Pat Lanagan performs Samuel Beckett's Molloy
(in English)
(Further details at the bottom of this page)

22. Juli um 19 Uhr / 22 July at 7pm:
Closing night with performance: Yellow Pages
(Further details at the bottom of this page)

berlin-ist-schmutzig-aber-glücklich
105x74cm

Der Künstler über sein Werk:

Drei Monate nachdem die Mauer fiel, war ich einer der erste Pioniere von der West-Seite von Berlin, der sich traute, im Osten zu leben. Ich bin in die Lychenerstrasse umgezogen und dort geblieben für die folgenden fünfzehn Jahre, meine Miete stieg von 90 Mark auf 800 Euro. Jetzt wohne ich in Kreuz-Kölln.

Während der Aufbruchzeit 1990 – 1995: was mich am meisten in dieser Übergangszeit überraschte, war, wie ich aus einer Wegwerf- Gesellschaft kam und sie in eine einstiegen. Innerhalb der Monate wurde meine Wohnung ein Museum für ihre "verworfene", Wegwerf- Gesellschaft.

Unter ihrem Müll war eine hohe, gestapelte Palette mit starkem Papier, das benutzt wurde, um Tintenreste von Seidendruck abzusaugen. Ich benutze noch heute dieses Papier für meine Arbeit. Ca. 105x74cm groß, schneide ich das Papierblatt in vierzig Segmente, mit denen ich eine Serie von kleinen Arbeiten auf Papier male. Einige von ihnen sind zu sehen unter: www.sotodo.org.

Da ich soviel Papier hatte, male ich auch einige großformatige Arbeiten, einige sind schon verkauft worden. Was ich hier ausstelle, ist das Letzte dieser großen Arbeiten während dieser Periode. Die Arbeiten stellen diesen fluxus innerhalb der Kulturen dar, die mich zu der Zeit faszinierte und für mich immer noch ein Motivationsfaktor in meiner Arbeit darstellt. Die Schönheit eines großen Glases voll von eingelegten Kirschen unter dem ganzem Schmutz um mich in Berlin, die Ironie von Gerechtigkeit symbolisiert durch dem amerikanischen Dollar. Mein Kritiker auf dem europäischen Anschluß und der kommenden Wegwerfgesellschaft in Osten, sowie abstrakte Studien und Collagen.

1992, als ich diese Serie malte, lebte ich im vierten Stock in einer Wohnung mit drei Räumen mit meinem amerikanischen Geliebten und der Katze Jupiter. Ein Raum für das Bett, die anderen zwei für unsere Studios. Wir hatten Kohlenheizung und mussten eine Einbau- Dusche installieren. Wir spielten Karten in der Küche nach dem Abendessen mit Freunden, die vorbei kamen und gaben wilde Parties gegeben, in denen der Westen den Osten traf.

Eine Welt geteilt durch einen Eisenvorhang war alles, das ich kannte und jetzt lebte ich auf der anderen Seite und sie verschwand vor meinen Augen. Ich hätte das Gefühl, daß ich einen Zeitschritt zurückgenommen hatte und die Stereotypen, die ich erlernt hatte, verlernen musste. Ich war durch die Änderung fasziniert ,weil ich wußte, was kommen würde. Es war eine Zeit der vielen Möglichkeiten (Gelegenheiten), wenn man sich traute. Jetzt, lebe ich als Künstler.

Erich-in-Tüte
71x105, 1992

Artist's statement:

I was one of the pioneers from the west side of Berlin who dared to live in the east. Three months after the wall came down, I moved to the Lychenerstr and stayed there for the next fifteen years. My rent went from 90 mark to 800 euros. Now I live in Kreuz-Kölln.

During the Aufbruchzeit 1990-95, what amazed me most during this transitional period was how I was coming from a weg-werf gesellschaft ("throw-away society") and they were entering one. Within months, my apartment became a museum of their discarded society.

Among their artifacts was a palette stacked high with thick paper used to soak up ink from silk screen prints. I am still using this paper for my work. Measuring ca. 105x74cm, I cut the paper sheet into forty segments with which I make a series of small works on paper. To see some of them go to www.sotodo.org.

Since I had so much paper, I also created several large-sized works, some of which have been sold. What I am exhibiting here are the last of these large works during this period. The works represent this fluxus within cultures that fascinated me at the time and is still a motivating factor in my work. The beauty of a large jar full of preserved cherries amongst all the dirt around me in Berlin, the irony of justice symbolized by American dollar. My critic on the European Union and the emerging wegwerf gesellschaft in Osten, as well as abstract studies and collages.

In 1992 when I painted this series, I was living on the fourth floor in a three-room apartment with my American lover and the cat Jupiter. One room for the bed, the other two for our studios. We had coal heating and had installed a portable shower. We played cards in the kitchen after dinner with friends who dropped by and threw wild parties where the west met the east.

A world divided by an iron curtain was all I knew and now I was living on the other side and it was vanishing before my eyes. I felt I had taken a step back in time and had to deal with the stereotypes that I had learned. I was fascinated by the constant change because I knew what was coming. It was a time when the opportunities were readily available if one dared. Now, I live as an artist.

Colorado-Utopia
74x105, 1992

Artist's CV :

Education:
1983-85
La Sorbonne, ParisStudied under Mondo Huygelen
1983-84
(paris)
University of California, DavisStudied under Rebeca Gozion
1979-83
(Sacramento)
California State University, Sacramento

Performances Art:
2009
16. Kongress für Performance Art, Sacramento
K-Salon, Berlin
2008
Puti Club, La Rauella, Berlin
Espacio Menos 1, De Fijo a Móvil, Madrid
2007
KoPAS Korea Experimental Art Festival, Seoul
Gallery SoToDo, 15. Kongress für Performance Kunst, Innsbruck
Urban Disorder, Performance Art Symposium, Marseilles
5 Meter Bar, Berlin
Recontre Reillaine, France
2006
Poor Artists in Residence, Lahti Suomi Castle of Imagination, Schloss Bröllin, Slupsk, Poland
Gallery SoToDo 14. Congrés d’Art Performance, Montréal, Quebec
Gallery SoToDo 13. Congress for Performance Art, ‘america, America, AMERICA’, Sacramento California
2005
eBent Festival Performance Art, Barcelona
‘Feed Back’, Marseilles
Infr’action Festival International d’Art Performance, Séte, France
M.A.I.S. Ausstellung, ‘Die Freie Wille’, Berlin Arena
Gallery SoTodo 12. Kongress für Performance Art, ‘Münster und Frauen’, Münster, Germany
2004
Gallery SoToDo 11. Kongress für Performance Art, ‘Welcome Gold’, Berlin
Anyang River Project Art Festival ‘Flow’, Anyang, South Korea
Kwang-Ju Art Biennale, Kwang-Ju, South Korea
10. Congress for Performance Art, Art Space Hue + Gallery SoToDo, Seoul, Korea
14. Intuitive Art Festival, Zamosc, Poland
2003
9. Kongress für Performance Art, ‘Open Space’, Berlin
M.A.I.S. Ausstellung, Berlin Alexander Platz
2002
Gallery SoToDo 8 Kongress für Performance Art, ‘Terror’ Open Space, Berlin
Gallery SoToDo + Apu2M, 7. Congrés d’Art Performance, Paris
2001
Galerie Katze, Berlin
Amorph! 01, Perfomance Art Festival, Helsinki
Gallery SoToDo 6. Kongress für Performance Art, ‘Politics’, Schoss Bröllin, Germany
2000
5. Gallery SoToDo Kongress für Performance Art, Schloss Bröllin, Germany
4th Congress for Performance and Visual Artists, Sacramento
1999
Navinki. 1. Festival of Performance Art, Minsk 3. Festival Junger Experimenteller Kunst, Kulturhof, Berlin
Galerie Kyra Maralt, Berlin
Berlin Stadt/Land im Kunsthof, Wünsdorf, Germany
Spuren, Projekt für Kunst und Kommuniktion, Dresden, Germany

Exhibitions:
2007
No Propoganda, ZMF, Berlin
2006
Neus Problem, Kunstamt Mitte, Berlin
2005
Neues Problem +30, Kunstamt Mitte, Berlin
2004
Open Space, Berlin
M.A.I.S. Exhibition: Paradies, Berlin Alexander Platz
2001
Galerie Katze, Solo exhibition
'Zeitlos' Künstler-Symposium, Paulinhof Brandenburg, Local 19, Berlin
M.A.I.S. Ausstellung, Berlin
2000
Galerie Am Prater, Solo exhibition
M.A.I.S. Ausstellung, Köln
4. and 5. International Congress for Performance Art, Sacramento und Schloss Bröllin

Publications:
Kranke Sakramente (Roman) 2007
Sick Sacraments, (Fiction) 2004
Katalogs für den 1., 2., 4., 5., 7., 8.,10.,12.,15. SoToDo Congresses for Performance Art
Gallery SoToDo 10
Gallery SoToDo Hauptstadt/Capitol
Gallery SoToDo The Book

Activities:
2009
Curator K-Salon, Berlin
2005
Performance Art Workshop, Innsbruck
1997 bis 2007
Organisation of the 1 - 15 Congresses for Performance Art
1992
Founding of Gallery SoToDo e.V. in Berlin
1987
Founding of the artists group Gallery SoToDo in Sacramento, California

Relevant Websites:
www.sotodo.org
www.k-salon.de

Autohaufen
74x104cm, 1992

Performances & Events of Note:

02. Juli um 19 Uhr / 2 July at 7pm:
Opening + Performance: Color Shop Local 3

mit Christa Frontzeck
Jahre Lang folge ich dem Mythos um der Performance Kunst Gruppe Black Market International. Trotz all ihre Grund liegende Innovationen in der siebziger Jahren in Bezug auf Kunst und das Konzept von Performance Kunst ist es erstaunlich das diese Performance Kunst Gruppe noch solch ein Mythos umgibt. Ich vermute er ist vergleichbar mit der Situation zu erste mal in einem Museum ein bewundertes Gemalte zu sehen, über das man vorher nur in Kunstbüchern gelesen und darin gesehen hat.

Black Market International wirkt wie ein Film aus den siebziger Jahren. Der Kontrast zu davor hergestellten Filme ist sehr auffällig. Man sieht heute in den Filmen der Siebziger die Neuerungen: die realistische Fabel, die einzigartige Kameraführung, Innenarchitektur und die bunte Mode. Zu der damalige Zeit, wiesen die Filme in eine Zukünfte die noch verwirklich werden sollten. Anderseits ist die Sozialmoral der Filme sexistisch, rassistisch und etwas Elitär geblieben. Und so empfinde ich es wenn ich mir Black Market International anschaue.

Wir schaffen der Mittel für unsere Tätigkeit. Es ist verständlich, dass was vor dreizig Jahren geschaffen wurden, und Kontroversen bewirkt hatte, bewundert werden sollte. Die Scharfer haben es verdient. Das Publikum respektiert sie. Jedoch schafft Respekt, der in übermäßige Bewunderung ausartet, eine Elitär Situation.

Was das Publikum vor dreizig Jahren provozierte und Caberet-Volatire-ähnliche Situationen hervorrief und dazu führte, dass eine Gruppe schwarz gekleidete Männer, aber mit individuellen Kunststil, was man heute mit dem Begriff Fluxus bezeichnet, rief eine fruchtbare Diskussion innerhalb des westlichen Kunstwelt über die Rolle von Kunst und Kunstschaffende in der gegenwärtigen Kultur.

Wie oft wollte ich in eine Black Market International Darbietung mit einem Farbanschlag einbrechen. Wie oft habe ich selbst wie sie provozieren wollen. Ihretwegen darf ich es jetzt. Jedoch mache ich es nicht. Warum? Die Mauer des Respekts für Black Market International und für ihr Publikum kann nur schwer durchbrochen werden.

Color Shop Local: als Gegensatz zum Black Market International.

Fast zwanzig Jahre lang, trage ich schon die Farbe gelb. Diese Aktion bezeichne ich als dauerhafte Performance Kunst. Unter dem Motto: Performance Kunst hat weder Anfang noch Ende, soll es geschehen.

Wundern, Denken und Sich Erinnern
Wenn mich Leute zum erste Mal treffen, fragen sie sich warum ich Gelb trage. Wenn wir uns zu zweiten Mal treffen, frage sie nach dem Grund und ich erkläre Ihnen mein Konzept. Sie denken über das, was ich mache, noch. wenn sie wieder die Farbe Gelb sehe, erinnern sie sich an mich. Also, war ich mit meiner Kunst erfolgreich.

Folglich bin ich ein wahrscheinlicher Kandidat dies auszudrucken und diese gegensätzlicher Performance Kunst Gruppe zu schaffen.

Theo di Ricco

10. Juli um 19 Uhr / 10 July at 7pm:
Reading (in English) from the book Sick Sacraments
Sick Sacraments by Theodor di Ricco
Micky and Denver are atheists, anarchists, feminists, hedonists, humanists and socialists but they do not know it. For them, the ideal is dead and history is over. They live in the democratic, capitalist society and the rest of the world is already there or moving politically in that direction. There is not much more for which to fight for, let alone get excited about. For them, life is about getting through the day, keeping the collection agency at bay and trying to live a meaningful life. So it is for Micky and Denver in Sacramento, a metropolitan city that could be any small city on this planet.

A year in the life of two artists deciding that something to do is better than going along to get along.
Denver always striving to appeal, but only willing to do it his way. Micky, lost in a galaxy, his life is focused on the concept and the realization of the art work. Nothing else really matters to him. Their story is trapped in a time-loop between the virtual and reality. Where something does happen almost and when finally something does, it borders on slap-stick. For which, Micky and Denver have to constantly remind themselves that their reality is the truth.

About the book:
Sick Sacraments tells the story of a year in paradise. Time is told through the seasons. It can be read in a-round manner, started at any chapter and followed through.

In societies dominated by capitalism, the person and the product are the most important. Merchants have no country. To enhance this belief, I have only capitalized personal and company names. Place names appear in the lower case.

We are all connected, for most of us there are only one to three degrees of separation between us. It is for this reason that every character in the book appears at least twice. Either in the story itself or in the various Talk Shows throughout the book. Of course, any similarity between those living and the characters in this book is simply a coincidence.

Sara Shissler
(Editorial Coordinator at Dorrance Publishing Company, Pittsburgh)
on Sick Sacraments:

Sick Sacraments is a work of fiction that is written in a surreal, experimental style. Sometimes it reads like a transcript of conversation, sometimes a prose poem, and other times like narrative.

Mr. di Ricco employs satire to expose the vanity, hypocrisy and pedantry in contemporary society. Particularly effective is his presentation of the art world through characters and details that are meant to expose its pretentious nature. For example, one of the characters says: “Do you want a bundle of dead flowers for your opening? I don’t know for sure if I can come to your show. I’ll be in town for my psychiatrist appointment, and I’m showing my designer beer coasters at Big Art.”

Mr. di Ricco affects a literary manner that blends a critical attitude with humor and wit. Sick Sacraments is a unique book that seems to indicate a desire to expand the reader’s perceptions and world view.


16. Juli um 19 Uhr / 16 July at 7pm:
Theater: Pat Lanagan performs Samuel Beckett's Molloy
(in English)
The Scottish actor Pat Lanagan, who in the past has graced the stages of both the ETB and the Berliner Ensemble, will be performing Samuel Beckett’s Molloy for one night only on July 16th, starting at 7pm. At the ETB, the Berlin-based actor has been seem in productions of Harold Pinter's Caretaker and David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Fans of less intellectually inclined entertainment might enjoy seeing him being impaled on a steel rod mid-sex by an ecstasy-tripping young lady in the 1998 Tatort episode Berliner Weiße.


22. Juli um 19 Uhr / 22 July at 7pm:
Closing night with performance: Yellow Pages

Performing Yellow Pages in Seoul, Korea

Yellow Pages (performance art image and concept statement)
by Theodor di Ricco

What happens to all those books containing information: dictionaries, transcripts, logs, legal and telephone books? Most if not all reference information produced today is digitalized. Research is done at a keyboard. The physical presence of the book is disappearing. With it, the sound of the turning pages. The smell of musty books or well worn pages. The feel of paper, the weight of the book. The taste for adventure or the thrill of a detective searching the aisle of a library. Even the light to read the book is supplied by the source itself, the computer.

Performing Yellow Pages in Seoul, Korea

The imagery of this performance is easy to understand. It is about communication. How people connect and communicate. It also relates to a mode of information that is vanishing: the reference book, in particular, the yellow pages. The concept of this performance is about the control and access to information.

In these yellow pages are millions of names and numbers. They connect me to all the people on this planet within one or within several degrees of separation. Talk is cheap, language is dear. Hello to good-bye, good-bye to hello and all that in between. We exchange information: from a birth to a death, from the weather to the moment in which we find ourselves.

Performing Yellow Pages in Seoul, Korea

With this performance art action I symbolize visually one way we connect with each other: the telephone booth and the yellow pages, from the first word of contact to the last word of separation.

I begin the performance by preparing the telephone book with scotch tape and proceeding to cut its spine. I entangle myself in the yellow pages of a telephone book. Once covered and have become a large fluttering mass of paper and slowly descend to the ground and start rolling towards the entrance and onto the street.

Martinski Fine Arts / Gneisenaustrasse 64 / 10961 Berlin