Julia Werhahn

Introduced in summer 2016 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, the sixth exhibition of this format will take place in summer 2024 under the now established title BLICK FANG. Works by young, up-and-coming artists from all over Germany will be shown every two years.

Today, the term "Heimat" (homeland) is used in a downright inflationary manner; at the same time, there are bitter disputes over the authority to define it, often along sharp ideological lines. But what does it actually mean when we talk about "homeland"? For some, "homeland" refers to their origins, roots and cultural identity. For others, the term is more of an abstract concept that is ambiguous, changeable and difficult to define. - In the course of globalization and not least due to numerous migration movements, a territorial understanding is increasingly leading to controversy and social tensions. Above all, aspects of culture, religion, values and customs, but also personal feelings within a society are important factors and driving forces here. However, despite all the differences, the quest for security and belonging is always a unifying driving force in the "search for home".
The artists - "BLICK FANG 2024"

Boglárka Balassa | Alex Bex | Florence Bühr | Susanne Bürner | Thesea Rigou Efstathopoulos | Mirjam Elburn | Gregor EsKa | Valerie Funk | Benedikt Gahl | Julius Gödtel | Ulrike Hannemann | Marlet Heckhoff | Markus Hoffmann | Markus Mars Hoffmann | Iska Jehl | Nari Jo | Mariella Kerscher | Lars Klingenberg | Thomas Kober | Martin Löw | Sol Namgung | Jana Sophia Nolle | Celine O'Neal | Jennifer Oellerich | Ivanka Penjak | Anne Pruy | Jens Rausch | Laura Schmelzer | Tom Schmelzer | Alina Schweizer | Mor Shauli | Julia Smirnova | Sarah Straßmann | Sven Weber | Stefan Wehmeier | Manfred Wendel | Julia Werhahn | Denise Winter

This exhibition marks the beginning of our exploration of the intricate dynamics and dialogues surrounding these topics. Berlin, with 830,000 foreign residents from 170 nations, is a cosmopolitan city that highlights the importance of addressing and reflecting on our understanding of concepts like home and the feeling of belonging.

The exhibition delves into De-Construction, probing where we stand and why. It is important to us to unpack these complexities through a people-centered approach, exploring questions like ‘Am I enough?,’ and, ‘Am I seen?’ from various perspectives gathered through our open call, sparking engaging dialogue.

Artists:

• Steffen Blunk

• Tatiana Bulanova

• Seweryn Jański

• Olga Mos

• Igor Ponosov

• Joanna Rusinek

• Raimund Schucht

• Foteini Tatsi

• Jingwen Yao

• Julia Werhahn

ArtArtist is an extraordinary art show in the former Tech Center of ZF Friedrichshafen AG in Düsseldorf - Oberkassel.

Parallel to Art Düsseldorf, only artist groups, off-spaces, art spaces, new and young formats and studio communities are presented in order to demonstrate and multiply the relevance and reach of networks for professional artists.

Since 2005, quotes from past decades (mostly from the 1980s) headlined the annual One Night Group Shows at the end of November at Spor Klübü. Other projects and especially the pandemic had led to a 4-year break of this show format. This year the thread is picked up again.

"ZERO TOLERANCE" stands as a term for many dubious strategies. Especially as a strategy of crime fighting and crime prevention. This allows the police - preventively, so to speak - to intervene or crack down hard on regulatory violations below the crime threshold, so-called petty offenses. It became known in the 1990s with the "New York Model", championed by Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his police chief Bill Bratton, who based it on the "Broken Windows Theory" that had already emerged in the 1980s.

As a result, the zero-tolerance strategy became a worldwide export hit and also partly ended up in German criminology and politics. The success and efficiency of the strategy remained doubtful and were apparently never clearly proven. The negative sides, however, were obvious: exaggerated restrictions on freedom, the emergence of excessive police arbitrariness and violence, the establishment of a control and police state, and so on. In the 1990s, running a red light on a bicycle in Manhattan or openly consuming alcohol on the street meant fearing that one could end up in jail.

Another zero-tolerance strategy was pursued by the U.S. government under President Trump many years later with regard to immigration to the United States. If legal or illegal immigrants as well as asylum seekers had, among other things, an entry in their national or foreign criminal records, they were immediately detained and deported or turned away. Families, e.g. children from their parents, were also separated from each other without consideration.

What if you turn zero tolerance around and look at it from a different angle? For example, precisely against these political intentions and actors and in the political demarcation against the right. It cannot be that, for example, a party like the AfD in Germany is given tolerance just because it reaches people and wins votes, but builds on an extreme right-wing, national socialist, racist and anti-Semitic mindset. Anyone who abandons his zero tolerance limit at this point, who enters his firewall, succumbs to complicity and makes right-wing extremism more acceptable.

Bastian Hoffmann
Julia Werhahn
Laura Dechenaud
Lukas Marxt

NOW YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE
Raum4
Michael Horbach Stiftung
Wormser Str.23
50677 Köln
02.12.18-05.01.19
FINISSAGE: 05.01.19 at 18:30

Öffnungszeiten:
Mi: 15:30-18:30
Fr: 15:30-18:30
So: 11-14

Bauvorhaben unterliegen während der Umsetzung Änderungen, es kommt zu Abweichungen und Variationen auf dem Weg von Idee zum Ist- und Sollzustand. Notwendige Handlungsimpulse und Lösung-versprechende Aktionsbereiche entstehen, Material und Werkzeug werden zu Mitteln der Kommunikation. Die Sehnsucht nach Verwirklichung, der Anreiz durch die Suche nach Perfektion und die provisorischen Lösungsversuche, die von diesem Streben übrig bleiben... In diesem Spannungsfeld entsteht spielerisch ein Regelwerk. Werhahn & Puschendorf nähern sich dem vermeintlichen Ist-Zustand und stellen sich den kollektiv konstruierten Sehnsüchten, die die Welt am laufen halten; eine Befragung des andauernden Prozesses der Konstruktion.

Julia Werhahn und Luisa Puschendorf entwickeln Skulpturen und raumspezifische Installationen. Mit unterschiedlichen Medien suchen sie Formen, die Zustände zwischen Konzentration und Ablenkung beschreiben: Aufenthaltsraumähnliche Szenarien, Videos von abstrakten Stadtfahrten, verformte Objekte und Bilder aus dem Alltag.

as part of the exhibition series 3 ½
OPENING 02/07/2015 19H