Niko Abramidis & NE, Cana Bilir-Meier, Keto Logua
Niko Abramidis & NE, Cana Bilir-Meier, Keto Logua
October 7, 2018 to January 20, 2019
Curator: Julia Höner
KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION is hosting the exhibition for this year’s ars viva award winners: Niko Abramidis & NE, Cana Bilir-Meier and Keto Logua. The exhibition is based on a cooperation between KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION and the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e. V. Since 1953 the Kulturkreis has awarded the annual ars viva prize for visual art to young artists living in Germany, whose works are marked by high artistic quality and an awareness of questions that echo the complexity of our present times. In addition to two exhibitions accompanied by a corresponding publication, first at KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION in Düsseldorf and in the summer of 2019 at the Kunstmuseum Bern, the artists will receive a residency on Fogo Island (Canada) and a stipend of 5,000 euros each.
Niko Abramidis & NE (*1987) studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich and art at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. In his artistic work he explores topics such as power structures, utopian future scenarios or global urban development. He creates complex spatial installations that comment on contemporary working environments by playing with traditional symbols of power, fictive corporate identities and the increasingly interchangeable face of major cities. His drawings, objects and digital prints reveal a subversive sense of humour and offer various references, for example to science fiction, philosophy or economic processes.
Cana Bilir-Meier (*1986) studied art and digital media at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, among others. Starting point and essence of her films and sound-based works is the preoccupation with material from her family’s archive. Based on sources from her personal surroundings, the artist, herself a grandchild of Turkish immigrants, inquires into universal narratives and the collective memory. The process of reviewing material, comprising image and sound recordings, letters, newspaper articles and documents, is itself of central importance and denotes her specific artistic perspective on the archives.
After studying painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of the Arts, Keto Logua (*1988) followed up with studies at the Berlin University of the Arts. Recurring references in her sculptures and films are natural phenomena and socio-cultural themes. Processes of densification and conversion are deployed on both found and self-produced objects. This has resulted in works such as a 3D print of the world’s first flower, which had been scientifically reconstructed last year, or a large-scale sculpture made of elements from a beehive. In another work the artist uses everyday objects to design possible survival strategies in an increasingly complex world.
The exhibition of this year’s awardees marks the beginning of the tenth anniversary of KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION, which will be celebrated with several exhibitions and events.
in cooperation with:
The exhibition is supported by:
Exhibition views
![[Translate to English:] Cana Bilir-Meier, Ses Alma Rehberi, Bildcollage, Lecture-Film-Performance, 2016](/fileadmin/_processed_/0/d/csm_02_Ses_Alma_Rehberi_Cana_Bilir-Meier_429b8d3a1e.png "[Translate to English:] Cana Bilir-Meier, Ses Alma Rehberi, Bildcollage, Lecture-Film-Performance, 2016")
Accompanying program
, 7 pm
Ars Viva: Opening
speakers:
Monika Schnetkamp, chairwoman Arthena Foundation
Hans-Georg Lohe, head of cultural affairs department, Düsseldorf
Ulrich Sauerwein, chairman visual arts comitee at Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e. V.
Julia Höner, curator of the exhibition
, 1 pm
It’s All About Money?
Strategies for the support of contemporary art exemplified by the programmes of KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION and the Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy.
A talk between Mathilda Legemah, Head of the Visual Arts Department, Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy and Julia Höner, Artistic Director, KAI 10 | Arthena Foundation in the context of the ars viva 2019 exhibition at KAI 10.
Please register at: info@kaistrasse10.de
, 7 pm
Prof Jürg Schönenberger (University of Vienna): The reconstruction of the ancestral flower and the power of images in science communication
Using the features of flowers living today, an international team headed by Jürg Schönenberger reconstructed the visual appearance of the ancestral flower. The lecture presents the research project and reflects upon the use of images in science communication.
, 3 pm
Public guided tour
free of charge
, since 11 am
Active Threads: Video Welcome
Video Welcome by Julia Höner, Artistic Director KAI10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION
since May 8, 2021 on: www.kaistrasse10.de/ausstellungen/active-threads & Instagram @kai10_arthenafoundation
, 12 – 8 pm
Active Threads: LONG SATURDAY
1 pm: Welcome by Julia Höner, Artistic Director KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION
2 pm: IT COMES IN WAVES. TEXTILES ON THE RISE IN CONTEMPORARY ART
Conversational tour through the exhibition with Julia Höner und Sabine Maria Schmidt, curator of Examination of a case. Pop and Politics in Contemporary Textile Arts at Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz.
1-6 pm: Ice cream for everyone from Eis Licious, Düsseldorf
, 7 pm
Active Threads: WHAT IS AT HAND | Thoughts on Textile Activism
KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION cordially invites you to a lecture by Leena Crasemann and Anne Röhl (in German).
The use of textile materials and techniques in activist protests and contemporary art is currently experiencing a boom. As textiles are always "at hand", they were always predestined to be a political means of expression in art and society. Referring to the discussion on "textile politics" (J. Bryan-Wilson) and "craftivism" (B. Greer), the lecture concerns not only the critical potential of textile handicrafts but also the basic textile-work actions of rolling out, unfolding and spreading out.
, 2 pm
Active Threads: Artists talk
On the occasion of the group exhibition Active Threads, curator Julia Höner talks to artists Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa and Cian Dayrit about their work and the significance of fabric and textile techniques in the context of political statements. The conversation will be held in English.
, 7 pm
T/A00220MINNA
JONAS MONKA AND MINNA WÜNDRICH
In their jointly developed performance T/A00220MINNA, the artist Jonas Monka and actress Minna Wündrich combine theatre and visual art. They apply characteristic methods and aesthetic concepts of both to each. In the resulting spaces for manoeuvre, the human body gets evaluated: as material, as narrative, as statement, as emotion.
In cooperation with Düsseldorfer Schaupielhaus, KAI 10 | ARTHENA FOUNDATION presents this episode of the PERFORMING/ARTS series, in which actress Minna Wündrich works with different Düsseldorf artists to explore forms of collaboration between the performing and visual arts. The text for the performance was developed in collaboration with Ania Czerlitzki.
Please bring a negative test result, proof of vaccination or proof of recovery to the events. Registrations are not necessary.
, 12 – 6 pm
Pictured as a Poem: Opening
2 pm
Welcome Monika Schnetkamp, Chairwoman Arthena Foundation
Introduction Marion Eisele, Curator of the exhibition
4.30 pm
Reading by Himali Singh Soin (with David Tappeser)