begEHREN ::: thematische Gruppenausstellung zeitgenössischer Kunst

In the organizer's words:

HONOR

in the xpon-art gallery

Thematic group exhibition of contemporary art

open from December 5, 2024 to January 12, 2025

...a passionate moment ::: two strangers, filled with longing ::: moments meet ::: in silence or singing aloud ::: their desire flickers, their gazes graze each other. an accidental touch ignites a fire of homage ::: in the midst of darkness, a sketchy connection emerges, longing for more :::

so we exclaimed, desiring artistic confrontations, not knowing who would honor us, and with what...

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Reverence. Exaggeration or justified appreciation? When two hearts belong together and seem to fit perfectly, an irresistible attraction arises. But a bond is also subject to tensions. From the outside and from the inside, neither is fixed but subject to change and must be fought for, sometimes even against oneself. These tensions can also be attractive, perhaps because they are unpleasant, perhaps because they can be a challenge. But they also bring suffering, pain, can hurt us deeply. We do it anyway. And if we succeed? Then we can achieve what we are all looking for. So shouldn't we recognize these tensions and hurdles as opportunities to grow?

ANDRÉ H. BERNHARD writes.

"The Opposite of Love is Abandonment" by HEEJUNG CHOI examines the current trend of 'plant investment trading', also known as 'plant speculation'. The film documents the process of commercialization of plants, in which they are no longer seen as individual preferences, but as a pure investment product and instrument. It reflects the prevailing mood in today's society of a neoliberalism that is increasingly moving away from the empathic human being. Heejung Choi studied film at the HfbK Hamburg. When she returned to South Korea after years away, the first thing she wanted to do was plant a tree. Contrary to the trend she was confronted with, she decided to grow a bonsai from the plum tree of a neighbor who had to give it up unintentionally and gave it away - to give it back to him one day when he was back in more stable circumstances.

JACQUELINE CHRISTIANSEN 's objects were created in the tradition of the 'objet trouvé' and show the theme of 'begEhren' as a fragmentary possibility in the form of a condensed reification that can also be experienced by the senses.

The seven deadly sins originate from a centuries-old Christian moral doctrine that names the fundamental inclinations and passions of man, which for JOHANNES HUININK above all emphasize his covetous character. They became the subject of a pictorial exploration in three series of works and, with a selection of exactly seven, he brings them once again into our current consciousness.

"As wet as yellow powder" is a wall installation by LORENA RODE that merges filled glass calyxes and plaster elements into a hybrid flora. She imitates the interspecific desire between pollinators and nightshade plants and invites us to be seduced by their scents. A song of scent and manipulation. Stunning, fertilizing, desirable.

"There is little information about the number of genders of the Dheee0-dhgdffgrdKRZ people - but it is known that their tens of thousands of years old culture knows only one theme: the many varieties of their highly complex eroticism. A few depictions of their mysterious sexual acts are in circulation - they are among the most beautiful works of art in the known universe," says MICHAEL PERLBACH, who provided us with one of his works.

MICHAEL WILKE has chosen a differentiated blue as the defining color for his work "The Touch", as the color of feeling. With its support, he wants to convey feelings such as passion, longing, hope, communication, harmony and security in his choice of motif.

With the words "When a smile is the beginning of desire..." MONIKA HAHN applied with her 38cm high object. She sees the positive side of the whole topic and, despite its length, keeps it short: "The smiley gives a positive signal in these exciting times. It is festive and gives hope."

STEFFEN GEHRDAU, writes Johanna Bank in a longer text, studied "all known and named advanced civilizations in human history. [...] As different as the various advanced civilizations may seem at first glance, they all follow the same patterns: it doesn't matter whether our gods are called Zeus or Capitalism and our demons Succubus or Pornography. What matters is their function: to give life meaning and to get a grip on the fear of losing control. The history of our advanced civilizations runs chronologically. They always describe the same cycle: emergence, rise, zenith, decline, fall."
Steffen Gehrdau develops "a fictitious and artificial advanced civilization that knows no chronology" in his work cycle "The Architecture of the Vicious Circle of Human History ". Rise and decline always exist simultaneously, balance each other out, and thus become a perfect image of every advanced civilization that has ever existed and will ever exist."

A DIY construction kit from which we are showing the drawings "The sexuality of the vicious circle of human history" and an installation that Steffen Gehrdau created for the exhibition.

Two pieces of paper describe the soft pulsation of a duo in space. An "epicritical-protopathic form of sensibility". The works by STILLA SEIS were created as photograms of two ventilation fans. The light-sensitive surfaces transformed the air flowing through each into an indeterminate physical form that can be interpreted as an organ of longing.

The video work "Dear Ghost" by TATE KWAN is a love letter. It reflects a long-distance relationship that is only maintained through texts and video calls. The extended digital connections are simultaneously intimate and illusory, comparable to a ghostly presence that has shifted in time and space. Through romantic rose-colored glasses, a love affair is depicted that transcends the physical realm and thus physical intimacy. Tate Kwan lives in Hong Kong and studied in Lüneburg.

Desire manifests itself in TIM KUBACH'sworks not only as a desire for material things, but also as a striving for emotional and aesthetic experience. He explores the theme through abstraction: three-dimensional objects are transformed into works with a flatbed scanner using factors such as time, movement, light and chance, the same factors that influence our perception of desire. They emerge processually from a dynamic interplay between the objects and the scanner, capturing fleeting moments that contain both attraction and distance. The works invite the viewer to be guided by fleeting moments of desire, to immerse themselves in a world of visual sensations and to question familiar perceptions, but also to awaken new desires.

The works of UZMA SULTAN show a longing in quiet moments of contemplation. The light plays with the curtains or the awning of a flower store. "I would think that these pictures have more to do with "honor". Flowers and flower stores are there to "honor" loved ones. Uzma Sultan commutes between Pakistan, London and Berlin and is currently living in Hamburg-Harburg on a scholarship.

VASSO TZOUTI'sbodies, which we have taken over from her previous solo exhibition, are unruly bodies that refuse to be confined, spreading out and stretching: wounded bodies, pocket monsters, portraits of disgust and a gigantic phallus. Her work mobilizes the grotesque to draw our attention to the acts of resistance against the ever-increasing responsibility for bodies' conformity to normative standards: appearances, practices and desires are all tightly controlled. These monsters offer the promise of resistance and defiance. Pleasure, like recalcitrance, becomes a revolutionary form of resistance: Tzouti's monsters embody the freedom to defy hegemonic rules through practices of pleasure. She lives and works in Athens, Greece...

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If you have any questions, please contact us, if you are thirsty, too. We don't offer anything we wouldn't drink ourselves. Drinks are available for a donation. Free admission, because everyone should have access to culture. However, you are welcome to make a donation if you would otherwise honor it.

We conceive these exhibitions and run this space because we think it is important that there are constant and challenging positions between state museums and commercial galleries on the one hand and changing platforms for emerging art on the other - on the one hand to better promote artists who are not yet established, and on the other to create a more vibrant culture for communication between art and the public. If you would like to support this work, please contact us.

The narratives of this exhibition were created by the artists. The text was edited by Gerald Chors.

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Participating artists:

André H. Bernhard, Heejung Choi, Jacqueline Christiansen, Johannes Huinink, Lorena Rode, Michael Perlbach, Michael Wilke, Monika Hahn, Steffen Gehrdau, Stilla Seis, Tate Kwan, Tim Kubach, Uzma Sultan, Vasso Tzouti

Vernissage:

Thursday, 5.12.2024 at 7 pm

Duration:

Thursday, December 5, 2024 to Sunday, January 12, 2025

Opening hours:

Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays from 6 - 9 pm and n. V.

Public holidays:

Closed from December 24 - 31

Finissage:

Sunday, 12.1.2025 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Location: xpon-art gallery

Repsoldstraße 45

20097 Hamburg

www.xpon-art.de

We will inform you about deviating opening hours on our homepage, our Instagram account @xponartgallery and our Facebook page facebook.com/xponart

In the course of the exhibition, 360° views will be added to the homepage, especially for those who still have to avoid a visit.

Despite everything, we ask you to think about Corona and the flu epidemic and to behave accordingly.

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With the kind support of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media

Price information:

Free admission, because everyone should have access to culture. However, you are welcome to make a donation if you would otherwise honor it. Drinks are available for a donation. We don't offer anything that we wouldn't drink ourselves. We conceive these exhibitions and run this space because we think it is important that there are constant and challenging positions between state museums and commercial galleries on the one hand and changing platforms for emerging art on the other - on the one hand to better promote artists who are not yet established, and on the other to create a more vibrant culture for communication between art and the public.