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Berlin Art Week

At a whole host of venues dotted around the German capital, the fifth Berlin Art Week will be showcasing the latest works of national and international artists who play with different art forms. A brief portrait of three artists.

09.09.2016
© Halil Altındere - Berlin Art Week

The Neuer Berliner Kunstverein is dedicating a solo exhibition to Halil Altındere. He will be presenting his “Space Refugee Project” there, a work that plays on European fears of their countries being “swamped” by foreigners and does so with an undertone that is almost sarcastic: in his project, space itself as suggested as an alternative safe haven for refugees. The exhibition also features a film about the former Syrian astronaut Muhammad Ahmed Faris, who flew to the Mir space station in 1987 on board a Soviet space ship. Today this former hero of the Soviet Union and supporter of the democratic movement that opposes Assad is living as a refugee in Istanbul.

The Kreuzberg “Hebbel am Ufer” (HAU) theatre complex is showing Altındere’s latest work “Köfte Airlines”, in which a group of refugees can be seen on the roof of an aeroplane; a metaphor for the often extremely dangerous journey that many refugees undertake to escape war, poverty and a lack of any prospects. A Turkish multimedia and performance artist of Kurdish descent, Altındere works with video, sculpture, installations, photography and performances, and currently features prominently in German media.

At the point where art, science and technology overlap

Born in Aachen and working in Berlin, the artist Andreas Greiner is showing an exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie. He is this year’s winner of the art prize bestowed every two years by the Berlin-based energy provider GASAG. Greiner’s works take place at the point where art, science and technology overlap; his sculptures, some of which are living and therefore temporary, explore our relationship with nature, art and ourselves in today’s industrialised and media-based society. His work focuses on phenomena in the worlds of science and the humanities, medicine, anatomy and music. He takes photographs and films of microorganisms such as algae and bacteria, insects and broiler chickens, moving between the distinct poles of scientific experimentation and artistic presentation.

Anne Imhof lives and works in Frankfurt and Paris. For Berlin Art Week, she is presenting an exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof entitled “ANGST II”, an opera in three acts that combines choreographed performances, painting, sculpture and music. A German performance and multimedia artist, Anne Imhof frequently pairs choreographed art with music she composes herself. Last year, she won the Nationalgalerie’s Prize for Young Art in Berlin. After training as a pianist, she studied visual communication at Offenbach University of Art and Design before switching to the Städelschule in Frankfurt, where she studied in Judith Hopf’s master class.  

Berlin Art Week from 13 to 18 September 2016

www.berlinartweek.de

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