Inner Landscapes, Anna Swagerman and Marié Nobematsu-Le Gassic Saturday, 14 May 2022, 13:00-18:00 Sunday, 15 May 2022, 13:00-18:00, w/ a musical performance by Marko Ivic at 15:00. go to the Facebook event
With the exhibition Inner Landscapes, Anna Swagerman and Marié Nobematsu-Le Gassic reflect on the notion of interconnectedness. When we look around, at the landscape, at others, or even when studying our own physical body, we encounter mirror images that confront us with our human condition. The exhibited works in photography, video, and sculpture are inspired by two quotations that illustrate this notion:
“A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.” - Jorge Luis Borges
“I know how fragile these ideas can be, how the landscape you are cautiously approaching can disappear behind shadows with a single false step.” - Ayşegül Savaş
The photographs shown in the chapel are subtle observations; silent moments in time, not prescriptive but openly inviting. A white textile, a dust protection net which is normally used to cover building facades that are being constructed or renovated, hangs from the ceiling of the chapel with the text “eyes behind eyes,” encouraging the visitor to immerse themselves in attentive observation. The fragile material, suspended from the ceiling, flows freely with the wind from the chapel’s back door. In the cinema downstairs, the 10-minute video Inner Landscapes, which was filmed on the private property where renowned Spanish painter Antonie Tàpies lived and worked, is being screened. Swagerman was granted permission by Tàpies’ daughter to document the artist’s studio, which is surrounded by nature and faces the Black Mountain. The voice-over represents various people she encountered on the way, sharing their observations: “Matter is like a mirror. When I watch the landscape, there’s a change inside.”
During the finissage on Sunday, 15 May, Marko Ivic treats the space to a musical performance. Ivic has a particular interest in creating environments where music improvisation can support reflection and meditativeness. This ongoing performative exploration is carried out through events called Reflective Music. Born in dark wintery Berlin when Ivic and Swagerman first collaborated, the work has been successfully adopted in different cities across the world, from Maracaibo to Amsterdam.
Anna Swagerman and Marié Nobematsu-Le Gassic are in the final stages of their studies at Kunsthochschule Berlin Weissensee. With an academic background in psychology, Swagerman uses the camera as a transformative tool to explore more of the human inner landscape and find its reflections outside, in nature. She recently exhibited in the National Museum Kupferstichkabinett and Kühlaus in Berlin. The interdisciplinary work of Marié Nobematsu-Le Gassic (DAAD Scholar) is informed by her previous academic studies in architecture and anthropology, as well as her training as a classical ballet dancer. In relation to the body, belonging and in-betweenness concern her photography, movement, and temporary text-based sculptures. Nobematsu-Le Gassic recently exhibited at Beaux-Arts Paris and during the PEP New Talents show at Kommunale Galerie, Berlin.
This short duo-exhibition of two days is a try-out for a larger exhibition, exploring the various shapes that the concept of Inner Landscapes can take.
