geSCHLECHT ::: thematische Gruppenausstellung zeitgenössischer Kunst

In the organizer's words:

Participating artists:

Anabel Jujol, Anna Rose, Bardia Esmaeilloo, Bianca Müllner, Detlef Lemme, Fanny Hübner & Malin Müller, Frieder Falk, Johanna Liebsch, Katharina Langer, Lars Röper, Lola Vorläufer, Maja Wietfeldt, Paula Freitag, René Scheer, Reza Arabgari, Stephanie Hüllmann

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Perhaps the best way to describe it is this: The exhibition offers a kaleidoscope of works on the theme, overlapping, multi-layered, contradictory, united, simultaneous. The artists often deal with concepts and attributions; "identity" is a theme for many of them. "Gender" is not as simple as it seems, and simply leaving it alone is not a good idea.

On October 30, we will be hosting Flexible Schmøkern for a literary introduction to the topic (please register at moin@flexiblesschmoekern.de)

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"For ANABEL JUJOL, gender is an error. In her artistic work, she playfully creates erotic reinterpretations of gender representation and responds to the identificatory compulsion to genderize with an open, aesthetic exploration of sensualities, boundaries and ways of relating." (Curator and artist Xenia Ende on Anabel Jujol) The construction of gender identity is made visible and at the same time interpreted as a connection. The inner erotic experience should be made tangible to the eye and mean that sensual perception frees us from gender classification in binary systems. It is the freedom of sensuality that invents itself in beauty.

ANNA ROSE shows a series of works in an embroidery frame, diameter 16 - 26 cm: Online dating not only promises the possibility of finding a new partner or acquaintances, but is also a playground for oversexualized contacts. And the man advertises with his best piece. Just as birds of paradise perform dances or decorate their nests, men stage their penises. Sometimes large and powerful, sometimes playfully protruding, sometimes supposedly harmless and natural. The man behind it remains faceless. The self-exposure as a simultaneous demonstration of power. He has a penis, he is the penis, what more do you need?

For BARDIA ESMAEILLOO, the question is always why we cannot live as we are and why we need names and categories in order to be properly recognized. His most recent works are embodiments of this debate. They show dismantled bodies enclosed by objects and products. Bodies that are hopelessly assigned definitions and names.

Various bodies were filmed: people, surfaces of paintings, leather. Visually, the forays merge into an endless tracking shot that often goes into a blur. The staging is accompanied by overlapping sounds. Heartbeat. Loops. Bass sound. Rhythm. It's about our senses, about contact with our own bodies and those of others and about the loss of physical and sensual perception through attributions and visual overwriting. "close 2.0" by BIANCA MÜLLNER.

DETLEF LEMME gives his work "Black spot on white chipboard" the following interpretation: If we see a sphere in the circular surface of the stain, with a drop as its cause, the stain is reminiscent of the shape of the planets. In Plato's Symposion (416 BC), the comic poet Aristophanes tells the story of the early spherical people, whose three genders, male, female and the common, were derived from the sun, earth and moon. They had four legs and four arms and a head with two faces; "they were mighty in strength and power". But they wanted to make their way to heaven, which is why Zeus cut them in two to curb their arrogance. He ordered Apollo to turn the new bipeds' faces towards the cut and tie them together at the navel to show them that they had been cut in two. The myth interprets erotic desire as an expression of the bisected humans' desire to be reunited with their missing half.

"The work "knowing you, knowing us" documents our friendship and our life together on a website created for this purpose, which is continuously updated. As female artists, we counter a male-dominated view in art with our own, female view. Our work transports the private and intimate into public space." FANNY HÜBNER & MALIN MÜLLER

FRIEDER FALK writes about the work "Geschlecht der Graise": "The gender of a surface is defined as the maximum number of possible cuts along disjunct, simply closed curves, so that the surface is still contiguous after the cutting process, i.e. after all the cuts made. Topology."

JOHANNA LIEBSCH 's photographs from the series "Carneval de Barranquilla", taken in 1995, document the courage for freedom of expression of many Colombians. Despite the introduction of marriage for all in 2016, which made Colombia one of the most LGBTIQ*-friendly countries in South America, it is still a dangerous place for the trans* community. In 2022, it was the country with the fourth highest number of murders of trans*, non-binary and gender-nonconforming people in Latin America.

KATHARINA LANGER'sartistic practice is closely intertwined with her personal history, illuminating unheard and invisible stories that she brings to light in her work. In her painted and collaged notebook, she reveals intimate glimpses into a world of shadowy characters hidden between delicate, almost transparent pages.

Facebook's 60 gender symbols still do not capture the diversity of genders. Gender seems to be permeable, changeable, sometimes rock-solid. Of the utmost importance for some, almost arbitrary for others. LARS RÖPER places his installation in precisely this area of tension: tablets crushed and mixed in mortars, administered during sex changes, sound files of porn films. Alongside the invitation to visitors: "Guess the gender!"

LOLA VORLÄUFER 's work "ge(h)SCHLECHT" opens up the space for all bodies and their possible needs in public space. "It is a fact that people move differently in cities with differently read bodies and also that it is worse there with certain genders. Many bodies want to be considered, seen and included more in urban planning decisions."

MAJA WIETFELDT works mainly with woodcuts and carvings and deals with memory, collective memory and the tension and difference in between. For her, the lengthy creative process, the subtractive element of carving and the finality of the wood reflect a negotiation process of memory and identity.

"rude boys" by PAULA FREITAG is a video and sound installation on the subject of sexism and abuse of power. The artist confronts the viewer with her experiences of sexual violence through voice, sound, visual overstimulation and self-presentation.

A pile of rubble from old dismantled wooden boards was the inspiration. RENÉ SCHEER'swork for the exhibition geSCHLECHT consists of these wooden beams and the remains of a dilapidated house. Postcards that have been transformed into stencils, in combination with the fragile structure of the material, refer to 5 places where major abuse scandals in religious institutions have become public in recent years.

For REZA ARABGARI, portraits have always been among the most fascinating subjects in art history. He is concerned with the question of the extent to which a portrait can deviate from an exact representation without losing the essence of the identity of the person portrayed.

STEPHANIE HÜLLMANN 's "Stettiner Haff" consists of hundreds of Baltic Sea snails, sewn by hand onto delicate paper, the distribution with clearly and less clearly visible gaps. It shows the fragility of life and the silent disappearance of these creatures, which are increasingly laying only deaf eggs and reproducing less and less due to climate change and pollution.

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If you have any questions, please contact us, if you are thirsty, too. We don't offer anything that 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. The narratives in this exhibition were created by the artists. The different writing conventions were deliberately left as they are and not standardized.

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Special date:

Wednesday, 30.10.2024 at 7.30 pm for Flexible Schmøkern

(please register at moin@flexiblesschmoekern.de)

Finissage:

Sunday, 10.11.2024 11 am - 4 pm

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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.