Janice Kerbel
Kill the Workers!
Atrium
Ana Roldán
Forms of Contemplation,
Ideal Forms in Compositions
1 July–11 September 2011
Waldstraße 3
76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
Kill the Workers!
Badischer Kunstverein presents the first comprehensive institutional solo exhibition of the Canadian artist Janice Kerbel in Germany. Janice Kerbel’s exhibition at the Badischer Kunstverein centres around the work ‘Kill the Workers!’ (2011), newly produced in cooperation with the Chisenhale Gallery, London. ‘Kill the Workers!’ is a play that the artist has written solely for stage lights. This light installation is accompanied by other existing works by the artist, such as the poster series ‘Remarkable’ (2007/2010) or the audio work ‘Ballgame’ (2009).
Kerbel’s works frequently take the form of plans or scripts. Although they refer to existing systems and structures of order, she alters them in such a way that new imaginary spaces emerge. Fictive narratives and cultural desires are mingled in Kerbel’s projects with close examination of political or social conditions of the imagined object. The media that Kerbel uses range from book projects, drawings and prints, all the way to light and audio works.
Over the past few years the artist has been interested in the language of dramaturgical actions and forms. The central work ‘Kill the Workers!’ is a continuation of Kerbel’s interest in theatrical performance. There are no actors or sets; the dramaturgy and plot are portrayed solely through the various intensities, colours, light beams and directions of the stage lighting. The protagonist of the play is a spotlight that goes on an epic odyssey to abandon its serving role and be seen as a light in its own right instead.
Janice Kerbel (born 1969 in Toronto) lives and works in London.
Solo shows (selection): 2011 Chisenhale Gallery, London; 2010 Art Now, Tate Britain, London; 2009 Ballgame, greengrassi, London; Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, Canada; 2008 European Kunsthalle, Cologne. Group shows (selection): 2010 KW69 #2 cactus craze, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; Best Laid Plans, The Drawing Room, London; 2009 Poor. Old. Tired. Horse, ICA, London; 2008 Janice Kerbel, Silke Otto-Knapp, Allen Ruppersberg, Galerie Karin Günther, Hamburg.
“Kill the Workers!” is co-commissioned with Chisenhale Gallery, London.
Supported by the British Council and the Embassy of Canada, Berlin.
Friday, 1 July, 7 pm
Artist Presentation with Janice Kerbel
Followed by a performance of Kerbel’s radio play
Nick Silver Can’t Sleep (2006, approx. 16 minutes).
Atrium
Ana Roldán
Forms of Contemplation,
Ideal Forms in Compositions
Ana Roldán’s exhibition “Forms of Contemplation, Ideal Forms in Compositions” is the first solo exhibition of the Mexican artist in Germany. The artist works with such diverse formats as photography, sculpture, video, installations and performance. She is especially interested in processes of Modernism and questions revolving around identity and nation.
For the exhibition at the Badischer Kunstverein Roldán has designed a spatial installation, in which she integrates various references to the cultural history of Mexico, but she modifies them so that they purposely undermine the notion of national affiliation and identity. The architect Luis Barragán and the artist and film director Adolfo Best Maugard are central to Roldán’s exhibition at the Kunstverein: Barragán’s architecture exemplifies the history of Modernism in Mexico, conjoining modern forms with a more conservative association with nature, folkloristic objects and a profound religiousness. Best Maugard also drew from Mexican folk art for his drawing methods, combining elements from it with modern and rational forms.
Ana Roldán (born 1977 in Mexico City) lives and works in Zurich.
Solo shows (selection): 2010 Dolores, Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; 2009 Kunsthalle Arbon; Kunstmuseum Bern; annex14, Bern; 2008 Art Palace, World Trade Center Beijing; Garash Gallery, Mexico City. Group shows (selection): 2011 Merz World, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich; 2010 Distant Memory, Kunstmuseum Solothurn; 2009 Made In China, Kunstmuseum Bern; Gipfeltreffen, KIT (Kunst im Tunnel), Düsseldorf; 2008 Stopover, SESC Pinheiros, Sao Paulo.
Supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.
Thursday, 14 July, 7 pm
A Conversation That Becomes Something Else
with Ana Roldán and Pablo León de la Barra
