DER MENSCH VERSINKT IM KOSMOS - Präsentation »Neue Wände« & Finissage »Die 19. Tafel« | Happening

In the organizer's words:

About this event

"Man sinks into the cosmos"

New artistic positions on the RZ mosaic by Jim Avignon, Anna Schiefer and Björn Kühn

↱ Sunday 07.07.24 / 4 - 7 pm

Presentation "New Walls" & Finissage "The 19th Panel" | Happening

Tour with the artists, Neoangin concert, lounge and bar

↳ At the C/O RZ kiosk and on the "New Walls"

The mosaic "Man conquers the cosmos", which praises the socialist idea of progress, is the starting point for discussions about progress (criticism), transformation society, the present and future perspectives. In the project "Der Mensch versinkt im Kosmos", two current artistic positions expand the striking and listed work of art by Fritz Eisel from the 1970s with a mural and an installation.

More about the two positions:

FROM CASHIER'S KIOSK TO ART SPACE - A "19TH PANEL" FROM BROKEN GLASS

The examination of the mosaic moves from the flat wall into the four-dimensional space of a former ticket kiosk, which was built in the 1970s in West Germany and used in a soccer stadium. Since the summer of 2023, he has been standing in Dortustraße in front of the enameled tiles and panels of the 18-part glass mosaic, completed in the GDR in 1972. From June 7 to July 7, 2024, it will become an art space in which a new 19th mosaic panel will be created jointly by Anna Schiefer and Björn Kühn.

Anna Schiefer and Björn Kühn studied sculpture and psychoanalytical cultural theory in Stuttgart. After residencies in Spain, Switzerland, Iceland and Lithuania, among others, they now live and work in Cottbus. As founders of "Verlag für Handbücher", they combine bookmaking with the performative. At the C/O RZ Kiosk in Potsdam, they create landscapes out of crockery, which become landscapes out of shards, and then create a new mosaic panel together with you:

"Man conquers the cosmos. At least he tried. He rausgegangen there and wanted to fight. That was the plan. But somehow there was nothing.

Fritz Eisel's panels can be read today like Don Quixote's mission. Man did what he could, wanted glory, honor, battle. The cosmos was just as indifferent as the windmills. And to add to all the amusement and sadness, the planet, our home, was destroyed in the process. While Don Quixote still commits his deeds in the name of love for his (imaginary) Dulcinea, we 'conquerors' have lost this dimension. What remains for us is the continuation of history in retrospect.

Hence 'The 19th Table'! That's why there's a bachelor party! To make the shattering of our past pop properly.

To celebrate a small party on the eve of man's marriage to his past, bring your crockery, cart in the cups, plates and vases. Don't just destroy what you no longer want, destroy what you love. Let the crockery of domesticity break in an economy of waste on the street. Later, after we have swept up the future of the species and let it rest for a while, when the sun has risen and set a few times, then we want to put the broken pieces back together again: to form the '19th table' and imagine a Dulcinea."

NEW SPACE - "NEW WALLS"

The demolition of the computer hall (2019) from the former three-part computer center and the transformation of the plantation into a sports field (2021) have moved the eastern north side of the computer center from its backyard existence into the public sphere. Five wall segments are now accessible and visible here, whose dimensions and proportions correspond to the areas of the previous 18 mosaic panels on the south and west sides of the building. From July 3 to 7, Jim Avignon will redesign these "new walls" with a large mural.

Jim Avignon is a painter, illustrator and conceptual artist and one of the more unusual characters in the current German art scene. He constantly seeks confrontation with the establishment and rarely commits himself to being pop art, street art, a Picasso on acid or simply the fastest painter in the world. His trademarks are bright colors, occasionally biting wit, unpretentious materials - from simple cardboard to rough house walls - and a dizzying output. Avignon's works are thought-provoking and replace sublime self-referentiality with black humor and self-irony: "Good Artists Go To The Museum, Bad Artists Go Everywhere".

Avignon, who also makes music as "Neoangin", has lived and worked in Berlin for over 20 years and was also known as the "painter of the techno scene" in the 90s thanks to his numerous club decorations. In 2013, he made a name for himself when he illegally repainted his listed painting on the East Side Gallery from 1990 in a staged flash mob.

From 3 to 7 July, Jim Avignon will be creating a large mural on five wall segments on the "New Walls" of the Potsdam data center, leaving an ironic commentary on visions of the future from the past and present.

http://www.jimavignon.com/

All dates:

↱ Friday, 31.05.24 / 4 p.m.

Collection start of crockery and stoneware at the C/O RZ kiosk

↱ Friday, 07.06.24 / 5 p.m.

Start of the "19th table" by Anna Schiefer and Björn Kühn

with a stag party, dancing on the pile of broken glass and drinks

↱ Thursday & Friday, 27 & 28.06.24 / 4 - 7 p.m. each

Mosaic workshops

↱ Saturday 29.06.24 / 11 am - 4 pm

Whitewashing new walls | Subbotnik

↱ Wednesday to Sunday, 03.- 07.07.24 / during the day

The "New Walls" by Jim Avignon are created

↱ Friday 05.07.24 / 5 - 8 pm

Hanging out on walls with music and a bar

↱ Sunday, 07.07.24 / 4 - 7 pm

Presentation "Neue Wände" and finissage "Die 19. Tafel",

Tour with the artists, Neoangin concert, lounge and bar

Project team: Anja Engel, Lea Budzinski, Kristina Tschesch

Graphics: Verena Postweiler

Der Mensch versinkt im Kosmos is a project of Freundliche Übernahme Rechenzentrum e.V. and is realized with the kind support of the state capital Potsdam.

More information and the complete program:

rz-potsdam.de/soziokreatives-rzentrum/projekte/mensch-versinkt-im-kosmos/

↳ All events free of charge, donations welcome.

Price information:

Donations welcome