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By John
McGee
Quobo: Art
in Berlin 1989-99
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| Albrecht Schafer, florina,
1998 |
This diverse show captures the artistic zeitgeist coming
out of Berlin's recent metamorphosis via Maria Eichhorn's
irregular eight-ball installation, Game on a Sloping Billiard
Table (1989), and other unexpected works.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, great political
and cultural upheaval occurred as the two halves of the formerly
divided city rejoined. Artists began to move into the cheap
housing and studio space in the eastern Berlin district of
Mitte. Over the next decade, bars, clubs and galleries sprang
up, transforming Berlin-Mitte into an art center not only
for Germany, but for all of Europe. In 1998, the city held
its first Biennial. And in 1999, the German capital moved
from Bonn to Berlin.
"Quobo," organized by the German Institute for
Foreign Cultural Relations, compresses this decade of energy
into a modest touring exhibition of work by 14 artists and
art collectives. The generation of artists (most in the show
were born between the early '50s and mid-'60s)
that emerged during Berlin's '90s cultural rebirth
eschewed the bombast of '80s big paintings for concept-based
production. Crossed-cultures, pop-sculpture, perception-thematically,
nearly all the works are different. Most of the show's
sculptures, installations, and videos, however, either invite
viewers to interact or describe a dynamic flux.
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| Twin Gabriel, Lemonade.
From Africa, 1996 |
Carsten Nicolai entertains visitors' DJ fantasies
in his simple but addictive noto kit ° (1997-98). Four
turntables create an analog sequencer that lets you play at
being a pattern musician, experimenting with layered tracks
in real time. The pale translucent records contain multiple
short tracks of pops, hisses, sine waves, wa-was, and other
electronic noises. Play one, two or all the records. Adjust
the speed. Choose the hole in the center of the record for
regular effect or the secondary, slightly off-center hole
to produce a warped effect of the same sound. Each element
has a narrow range of functions, but the combinations are
limitless.
A pair of installations take spectacular visual command of
MoT's huge, open lower-floor gallery. Monica Bonvicini
covered the entire floor with gypsum wallboard, raising it
on bits of styrofoam placed here and there underneath. As
visitors tramp along the top, they punch through the thin
gray construction panels into the white gypsum center and
the floor below. Over time, the pockmarked surface resembles
a road in a war zone. At one end of this floor, glass cube
plankton incubation chambers sit on top of cement blocks.
The plankton in Lemonade. From Africa (1996), by the duo (e.)
Twin Gabriel, grows under overhead sunlamps, slowly changing
the color of the liquid to a dark, increasingly opaque green.
For florina (1998), Albrecht Schafer enlarged a basic
children's building toy-notched discs-into
white styrofoam units the size of garbage can lids. He fit
the pieces together to create a tunnel, an ice cave of oversized,
uniform snowflakes. Light filters down, bouncing off the surfaces
in sensual shadow play.
There are a few duds, like Nina Fischer and Maroan El Sani's
update of a Warhol screen test. And a couple of pieces lose
viewers in their Ÿber-concept. But the thematic variety
and general lighthearted spirit of "Quobo" offer
a positive glimpse inside Europe's thriving new art
capital.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Until Nov 24. Kiba stn (Tozai line); Kikukawa stn (Toei Shinjuku
line). Miyoshi 4-1-1, Koto-ku. Tue-Sun 10am-6pm. Tel: 03-5245-4111.
Adm: Adults ¥800, students ¥650, children and
seniors ¥400. www.tef.or.jp/mot
Photo credit: 1) Albrecht
Schafer; 2) (e.) Twin Gabriel
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