FROST –
A TRANSITION FROM NATURE TO ARTEFACT

Aristotle equated the cold with acuity of perception. And indeed, winter trains our gaze over the course of its frosty days. Horizons seem to stretch further, boundaries dissolve. The world becomes graphic as it transforms into emblematic black-and-white. At the same time, the dynamic between the states of fluids and solids works as a model of the artistic process, mirroring the fragile transition from conception to reality, idea to object. It is through this metaphor that Frost brings two different worlds together on a retreating horizon. The exhibit, conceived by architect Judith Haase and political scientist Melanie dal Canton, orders objects, images, and the everyday in a captivating new classification. Even within the clear precision of their presentation, the pieces and the spaces between them unite autonomously in a living, sensory domain. Just as the processes of melting and freezing lend themselves as a metaphor for life-giving energy, so do the objects produce a pulsing, vital harmony of different media.

Judith Haase's contribution to the exhibit comprises a design that transmutes between furniture, space and architecture. A sequence of five individual stools acts as a "room divider," operating less as an isolated object than as architectural element. Like frozen ice, in matte white, the object seems to float, reminiscent of the suspension of locality caused by the polar phenomenon of whiteout.

Beni Ouarain berber rugs from the collection of Michael Bossecker tread over the sculptural object. On different levels, the carpets oscillate between abstraction and the concrete meaning of their patterns, between archaic tradition and subjective perception of their graphic, severe print, which never actually solidifies, instead simultaneously preserving and renewing momentum.

Though Stephanie Schneider studied textile- and fashion design, she has been designing her own jewelry collection for the past eight years. Through a self-developed technique similar to weaving, chains of precious metals are wound together over a weft thread of mohair or silk to become pieces whose texture more closely resembles a textile than a conventional piece of jewelry. For the Frost exhibit, a scarf was developed that accompanied the designer on her travels and to whose creation many people have contributed.

Thomas Wörgötter's photographs show a dense yet loose sequence of frozen tree trunks, looming, splintered, cold, beautiful: an organic grid that doubles over on itself multiple times, simultaneously surrounding and excluding us. Indeed, just as paradoxically, glaciation does not exactly signify the torpidity of all life, but embodies its own kind of vitality, encouraging, demanding a more active perception.

It is this constructive outlook that links the objects of Frost: Just as ice clarifies quality of sight by depriving the habitual view, so do these wondrous objects project perceptive interspaces that must become unlocked.

Text: Dorothée Willert
Translation : Marin Reeve

Opening: September, 18, 2015, 6 pm – 9 pm
Exhibition: September 19 – October 31, 2016 

Bossecker
Potsdamer Strasse 77 – 87 Haus H
10785 Berlin  

Michael Bossecker, Judith Haase, Stephanie Schneider, Thomas Wörgötter

VALENTIN –
28 ARTISTS, INVITED BY ISABELLE BAINES, CREATE THEIR IMAGE OF THE ‘VALENTIN’

28 artists
Lucile Bertrand, Eric Baudouin, Lidia Czynkiewisz, Roby Comblain, Diana Didier, François de Conick, Arpais du Bois, De Vylder - Vinck - Taillieu, Marine Halna du Fretay, Juan d'Oultremont, Elisabeth Horth, Aarich Jespers, Aida Kazarian, Samuel Gassmann, Viviane Klagsbrun, Stephan Goldrajch, Rieko Koga, Pascal Lemaitre, Diana Kollia, Fabrice Samyn, Pascal Malilo, Pascale Malilo, Dennis Tyfus, Tinka Pittoors, Alexander Van Slobbe, Stephanie Schneider, Bob Verhelst, Arlette Vermeiren, Daniel Von Weinberger.

They are following the thread of their imagination on the blue knit that built the reputation of the designer over 30 years.
‘Valentin’ is the name of a simple sweater, a sweater that is precise, ‘right’ - almost self-evident. This model, conceived and made without finishing and without useless or superfluous additions, is the distillate of a search for the essential that characterizes the work of Isabelle Baines. From thought to thread and back, it is and remains the benchmark and signature-style of her creations.

www.isabellebaines.com

Opening: February 14, 2014
Exhibition: February 15 – March 3, 2016

La Quincaillerie
Rue du viaduct, 66
1050 Bruxerlles

BETWEEN YOU AND ME ­­–
A COLLABORATIVE WORK CREATED FOR GALLERY VALERIE TRAAN, ANTWERP

Artits, designers and architects about Berlin:
Annemie Augustijns, Marian Beschoner, Isabelle Krieg, Haleh Redjaian & Stephanie Schneider, Benedikt Terwiel, Something Fantastic, Benjamin Deboosere & Wouter De Raeve

The duo Haleh & Stephanie consists of an artist, Haleh Redjaian, and a jewelry maker, Stephanie Schneider, who worked together for the exhibition ‘Berliner Mood’ at Valerie Traan gallery. They share a similar inspiration, use similar materials, but operate on very different scales. Haleh draws, Stephanie weaves with silver and silk. In their geometric installation for Galerie Valérie Traan the different scales of their work meet for the first time. Together they make big ‘woven’ compositions in which they bring together opposing elements. The idea of collaboration and cooperation is important for both of them: “We believe that the more we open up to other people’s ideas and to other disciplines the stronger is the output.” This project is therefore about exchanges, both intellectually and as shared experience. A nice detail is that both artists have lived in Antwerp, but only met in Berlin.

between you and me, 2013,
drawing by Haleh Redjaian, pencil on paper, 30 x 40 cm & acrylic glass; object by Stephanie Schneider, 925 sterling silver, silk thread, brass, 25 x 30 cm

Opening: November 21, 2013
Exhibition: November 22 – January 4, 2014

Valerie Traan
Reyndersstraat 12
2000 Antwerpen

www.valerietraan.be

LE CABINET DE CURIOSITÉS DE THOMAS ERBER –
3rd EDITION AT ANDREAS MURKUDIS, BERLIN

A Contemporary Jazz Age Beauty
She is wearing a blue-black shaded silk dress embroidered and draped with 925 sterling silver and silk woven jewels, highlighted by the perennial elegance of black diamonds and blue sapphires.

November 22, 2012 to January 19, 2013

Andreas Murkudis
Potsdamer Strasse 81E
10785 Berlin

www.lecabinetdecuriositesdethomaserber.com