Nicole Loeser has invited artists to consider notions of spirituality and inspiration with regard to studio practice today. The choice of artists is based on SAVVY Contemporary´s aim to examine the relationship and explore the borders between Western and non-Western art, and to investigate notions of ‘otherness’. 

THE UNIVERSE IS BUILT ON A PLAN ... engages diverse cultural idiosynchrasies and perspectives to explore how these particular themes shape studio practice today. To what extent does art assume its own life, whether through cross-cultural intervention or through recording and representing life? How does art both fulfill the autonomy of the individual and address the challenges of society as a whole? Posing these and other questions, the exhibition investigates the spiritual and inspirational drives within art-making today, and attempts to formulate questions about what kind of life-quality can be developed in this collaborative era.

Jovana Popic (*1977, Zadar/CRO) explores in addition to a specific location the transcendent level of existence. Extremely impressive in its facilities is the intimate interplay between material, space and the fleeting acting work, which is composed of drawings, objects of phosphorescent polyester, videos or sound installations. The focus of her work is the visitor involved with his/her feelings and thoughts being able to empathize with dedication to the artistic and cultural history of the place and also to nature.

Jovana studied painting and multimedia at the University of Belgrade/RS and at the University of Fine Art in Belgrade. She was often awarded (recently in 2011 with the Meisterschüler Award of the University of Arts) and participated in 2003 at the Venice Biennale. 

The idea of juxtaposing one´s self with the spirituality of another person has been an instrument used by Raha Rastifard (*1975, Tehran/IR). The Iranian, Berlin based, artist looks at history through her own desires. The series ´I and...´ shows the artist melting her personality together with another person´s 

spirituality. With people who inspired her, no matter where they come from, she presents a pure moment between the past and the present.  Raha Rastifard studied photography, painting and art history at the National University of Art Tehran/IR and at the Free University of Berlin/DE. She participated in numerous international exhibitions, in 2011 her work has been shown in Berlin, Tehran/IR, Shanghai/CN and Delhi/IND.

Trained as a photographer and interested in Hindu spirituality André Wagner (*1980, Burgstädt/DE) creates photos that are informed by social movements, architecture and especially nature. He photographs the natural movement of light producing a surrealistic effect of energy that when combined with the rotation of the earth, as André puts it “leads man to delve into the mystic knowledge down deep in his soul.” His unique gift is the sensual way of perceiving internal and external phenomena of a situation.

André Wagner has entered prestigious competitions and won several distinguished prizes. Exhibitions have taken the photographer so far throughout Europe, China, New Zealand and the USA. 

Veronika Witte (*1962, Ahaus-Wessum in Westfalen/DE) creates a reflexive place, which shows identity as a complex construct. Originating in classical sculpture, Veronika Witte works on an enlarged „portrait concept“, which she pursues in a multi-disciplined scheme, thereby creating a space where art, theatre and science meet and referring to subjects like identity construction or new developments influencing our „social body“. she invents questionnaires, interviews and surveys. On the occasion of a residence on the island Phu Quoc in Vietnam she made a survey with inhabitants and tourists concerning the „concept of an island“, and the subjectively perceived ecological-social state of the island. Locals and tourists were questioned about geographical proportions and relations, as well as their personal reliable points of view on the island. They were invited to use only their internal sense of physical measurement and subjective imagination. This method was evolved into a so-called “individual mapping“. The installation “Coconut island” combines a video projected towards a rice field on the ground, representing in its shape the outline of all the drawings like a fictional island itself, onto which the projected drawings float like a fluidamorphous organism from border to border of the rice field.

Veronika Witte studied at the Ecôle Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris/FR. The multimedia artist has been invited to numerous exhibitions thoughout Europe and received several awards. Since 1999 she has been working closely with theaters (1999-2005 staatsbankberlin) and created stage design for the Saarland State Theater/DE and the State Theater Bielefeld/DE).

Michael Zhengs (*1965, Fujian/CN) Arbeiten werden sowohl von der östlichen als auch westlichen Welt inspiriert und werfen einen Blick auf gesellschaftliche Systeme, für die er vorzugsweise eine neue Ordnung schafft. So kreiert er Situationen, die etablierte Positionen herausfordern und hinterfragen, so dass neue Perspektiven ermöglicht werden. 

Am 27. Juli 2004 stellte der Künstler eine Performance an der geo-graphischen Mitte Europas in Litauen dar. Zwischen beiden offiziellen Denkmälern stehend (ein jüngeres steht etwas weiter entfernt neben dem älteren), die das Zentrum Europas markieren, pfiff er das Wort "Mitte Europas" wiederholt in Morse-Code. Als Teil des Stückes, wurde diese Arbeit im Fernsehen auf dem Sender Lithuanian National Public TV Nightly News gesendet. 

Michael Zheng ist ein Performance-und Konzeptkünstler. Nach  seiner Tätigkeit als Software-Ingenieur bei Silicon Valley, studierte er am San Francisco Art Institute und der Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Ausstellungen führten den Künstler bereits durch die ganze Welt, wichtige Stationen waren die Einzelausstellung 2010 am Marina Abramovic Institute in San Francisco sowie seine Teilnahme 2009-2011 an der Vancouver Biennale in Kanada.

WHITECONCEPTS is proud to present a selection of the Berlin-based Spanish duo’s works under the title, Red Concepts for Right Collectors, a solo exhibition which combines powerful theoretical content with careful formal execution, leading the audience towards social reflection. In many cases, PSJM’s ironic and aesthetic objects belong to larger projects, but now they are presented alone, demonstrating their autonomy as independent artworks and preserving the strength of their meaning. For example, their wallpaper titled, Marx®, refers to a project in which the artists registered a particular wallpaper design as a brand and displayed a full selection of comparably branded products. Likewise, the light-boxes of the censured Project Asia and Made by Kids for Kids series each question the corporate underlying practice of exploiting workers and children in developing nations, and the drawings from a series titled, Struggle, depicts citizens as insignificant individuals fighting against powerful trademarks. You are a commodity, the outcome of a PSJM public intervention in Berlin (2010) will also be shown on the gallery’s wall.

Brand marketing and global economics play a critical role in PSJM´s work. Their pseudo-Hollywood Corporate Armies trailer describes a world ruled by corporations: marketing and totalitarianism unite in a dystopian scenario which shows how the world would be if capitalism was unconstrained and liberated from any limit that democratic institutions impose upon it. Corporate Armies also features a sculpture obtained through 3D digital technology. Next to the 3D animation, a black and white ´historical drawing´ further pushes the reference to mass culture and its fascination for the so-called beauty of war. The video-animation, Capitalism, shows two towers made of coins; one tower is permanent while the other continuously topples and is rebuilt. Its clean and minimal execution makes clear reference to issues of economic fluctuation, perpetually impending crises and most obviously 9/11, the tragic event that has come to define the new century and incite global terror. This video, which has been shown on large screens as a video-installation before, is now presented as a small video-object made of stainless steel. The exhibition is completed with works of two series belonging to a line of visual investigation that PSJM calls ‘social geometry’, where they create arrangements with an emphatic formal reduction based on statistical data: two fine art prints on cotton paper from their series, American Colors, that use the 5 conventional colors applied to the races of the world. Its composition is based on the population census percentage, the percentage of populations in prison and the poverty percentage in the USA as organized by race. Another 3D animation, Class Geometry, in which divisions are established between rotating schematic volumes, represents different social classes (upper class, middle class, and lower class). The video shows two possibilities for the development of the global social object: one is utopian and the other is dystopian. Perhaps not surprisingly but no less discouraging, it is the latter that matches the current trend toward eradicating the middle class population.  

31.08.2011, Opening |18 - 22h

Performance - Michael Zheng | 19:30h 

until 03.09.2011 18 hours-Perfomance | Hajnal Nemeth (performed by István Dankó / singer and Thomas Fischer / car mechanic

31.08.2011  Opera: “The Semele Project” | 20:00h 

01.09.2011  Concert "OLGAR Intermedial Doubletrio : ANALOG vs. DIGITAL" | 21:30h

02.09.2011  Concert „Artists on Horses“ | 21:30h

later on "Sleep Laboratory" with Johanna Thompson

03.09.2011 Sunrise-Performance „Esaetpirts“ | Johanna Thompson

Workshop "Artist Village" | 17h

An invited project "Prints" curated by Maud Piquion and Judith Souriau with Jérémie Bennequin / Sébastien Delvaux / Megumi Fukuda / Jenny Michel / Michael Zheng

An invited project curated by Jung Me Chai with Youngjoo Cho / Seoung Won Won

Coordination: Nicole Loeser, Iris Gamradt-Ruge, Berlind Wagner, Esther Kratz

Katrin Korfmann focuses on the apparently ordinary. Her emphatically neutral vision suggests a high degree of objectivity, while at the same time taking us into a fictional world. In a process embracing a variety of materials and media, she documents daily situations with the photographic or video camera and combines the individual shots subsequently into a complete work. A carefully planned choreography makes it possible for the artist to control the perception of her pictures. She places the evanescence of an event at the centre of observation, brings different moments in time to a single point and so gives the impression of a kind of ‘magical moment’. The viewer becomes the victim of illusion – the more secure you imagine yourself to be, the more persistently effective the artist’s manipulation. The fascination of Korfmann’s pictures lies in her creation of an illusory simultaneity, which unfolds into a world of details. 

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by 

d´jonge hond, Amsterdam/NL.

The full colour catalogue is published in English and consists of 128 pages with texts by Tina Rahimy, Nicole Loeser, Rogério Taveira.

Available for 28 EUR. Order here