DER GREIF
GUEST ROOM
in collaboration
with Jessica Backhaus
DER GREIF
GUEST ROOM
in collaboration
with Jessica Backhaus
Early in 2020, Der Greif (an organization promoting contemporary photography) invited me to curate the May edition of ‘Guest Room’ – a monthly online exhibition with open submissions from Der Greif’s community of thousands of image-makers around the globe.
‘Guest Room’ is built around collaboration and I asked Jessica
Backhaus, a distinguished voice in contemporary photography,
to partner with me. I was attracted by the purity in her work, her experimentation and adventurous spirit. Jessica selected a quote by the influential postwar artist and theorist Joseph Beuys as the theme for the exhibition: “Wer Nicht Denken Will Fliegt Raus.”
(Who is Unwilling to Think is Dismissed).
She chose it for its radicalism and relevance in these times of post-truth politics. By the time the online exhibition launched, everything had changed. We were in the midst of a global pandemic and most of the world was in lockdown – in this context, Beuys’ words resonated stronger than ever.
I began delving into links between Backhaus and Beuys’ ideologies, and found a unifying thread in how their art can be seen as a “conscious act”, inseparable from everyday life. This led to a desire to bring Jessica’s work into the curation. In the last two weeks alongside the Open Call, Jessica created a series of images responding to Joseph Beuys, made in ‘Confinement in Berlin’.
“Wer Nicht Denken Fliegt Raus.”
(Who is Unwilling to Think is Dismissed)
_ theme for exhibition,
quote by joseph beuys
MAY 21, 2020
MAY 20, 2020
MAY 19, 2020
MAY 18, 2020
MAY 17, 2020
“There is something which is prior to thinking, although we rarely recognize it. The space in which thoughts manifest.”
_ ALEXIS VASILIKOS (GREECE, 2020), IN RESPONSE TO THE THEME
MAY 16, 2020
MAY 15, 2020
MAY 14, 2020
MAY 13, 2020
MAY 12, 2020
“During the days in quarantine, unable to go to my study, the discards of everyday objects of consumption manifest properties that previously seemed invisible to me.”
_ FACUNDO PIRES (ARGENTINA, 2020), IN RESPONSE TO THE THEME
MAY 11, 2020
MAY 10, 2020
MAY 9, 2020
“Can we be dismissed from our own life by our thoughts? Humans can achieve unimaginable things because of our ability to think. But at the same time, our thoughts can confine us.”
_ ANDERS S. TOUSTRUP DARRE (DENMARK, 2020), IN RESPONSE TO THE THEME
MAY 8, 2020
“The images are not solely reflections of found situations....
They depict the silence after the storm, the remnants of turbulent events and the search for beauty in destruction.”
_ PETER HAUSER (SWITZERLAND, 2020), IN RESPONSE TO THE THEME
MAY 7, 2020
