Group ExhibitionLeaping Over a Bush to Surprise a Quail1 – 29 February 2016

Opening Reception: Monday February 1st, 6 – 10 pm

with:

Alejandro Almanza Pereda
Jérémie Gindre
Rodrigo Hernández
Heike Kabisch
Katharina Kiebacher
Zora Mann
Rallou Panagiotou
Vanessa Safavi
Tyra Tingleff

A leap year is a year containing one additional day, inserted into the normal calendar to avoid the slipping of seasons and regulating the ordinary administration of time.

In some traditional cultures the leap year is considered unlucky, in some others it was the only year in which woman could ask a man in marriage. In others a marriage in a leap year would be considered unfortunate.

The normal course of life is often – or even always – affected by changes in the calendar, solar system, seasons and extraordinary events.

The group show Leaping Over a Bush to Surprise a Quail takes place from February 1st to February 29th, it opens on a Monday and closes on a Monday. It follows its own special calendar and presents nine artists, known or unknown to the gallery program, whose works create an unusual circumstance into the year program. It is a show out of schedule, taking over this special leap month.

The exhibition title is an extract from the new novel book One Helluva Hole, by Jérémie Gindre, which will be presented as the artist’s contribution to the exhibition. This decision remarks the double activity of the artist and author, whose work swings between visual art and writing, where one complements the other: “That wasn’t quite all. When people hear this story they usually think it ends there. But as we know, things rarely finish in one hit” (from One Helluva Hole, Jérémie Gindre).

This Novella is one of the outcomes of a residency the artist undertook in 2011, at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, where he studied the effects of brain damage in Neuroscience. Focusing on the emotional side of experiences and how this affects human behavior and society, this short fictional writing describes the vicissitudes of Bill Ronson, whose life changed dramatically after a terrible accident that perforated his brain

It is this inexplicable mix of feelings, together with the occasion of an extra day – extra chance – in the year, that gave motion to the exhibition, where different artists present works somehow connected with the idea of emotions, experiences, sensitivity and personal perceptions.

Alejandro Almanza Pereda’s work presented in the exhibition Taking the lid off is a black and white photograph. It is part of a big series of prints documenting actions in water tanks. Thanks to the different buoyancy of objects underwater, Almanza assembles surreal environments and compositions, whose mechanisms remain obscure and let the public wander between the absurdity of the scene and the realistic visual impact given by the quality of the photo.

Rodrigo Hernández shares the idea of fragile equilibrium and delicacy similar to Almanza’s approach, resulting in a subtle tension between the material and its use. One of the two works presented in the show, Moonlight, is a rice paper sculpture hanging on the wall. As many of his projects, the piece remains very evocative and cryptic, bringing a vague recollection of memory and imaginary that one is free to clip together with his own personal experience.

Heike Kabisch’s sculpture Kelim offers another figurative element. A risqué self-portrait of the artist standing in a provocative position, the sculpture hides within a glass cabinet like a disturbing presence winking at the whole exhibition.

Katharina Kiebacher’s ceramic objects lay on the floor of the space. An abstract-anthropomorphic composition holds up geometric sci-fi photographs, stating her interest in the tradition of photography as well as abstract painting and monochrome colour fields. All together her work appears in the exhibition as an architectural landscape, whose imaginary presence embraces the same ambiguity and vagueness.

Zora Mann’s presence is much more figurative but no less blurry. A surreal scenario typical of her work, where different references emerge: tribal art, African decorations, intuitive patterns, subconscious and dreamy-like images, colourful motives, ornamentals models, all stylized and arranged together into this symbolic oil painting.

Rallou Panagiotou creates three-dimensional forms and plastic installations, again providing a moment dedicated to the private memory and experience of the viewer. In her sculptural topologies, assembled from highly mediated fragments of built and natural environments, anatomised commodities and traces of gestures, Panagiotou looks at modes of display, conduct and self-presentation within the ever changing notions of leisure and luxury.

Vanessa Safavi’s project Each colour is a gift for you presents a series of exotic taxidermy birds, laying on oval pedestals. The piece articulates the contradiction of Western passion for exoticism and its obvious outcomes of failure, fatality and disillusion. Their nature is completely removed, to give place to an abstract display of colours and the shameful emotions originated by their presence.

Tyra Tingleff ’s big painting Crimson complements this idea, closing the whole exhibition concept with a celebration of powerful and colourful abstraction, where layers and gestures remain clearly visible, bringing the viewer inside a surreal, metaphysical scenario.

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Alejandro Almanza Pereda (b. 1977, Mexico City, Mexico) lives and works in Mexico City.

Recent solo exhibitions include: “Everything but the kitchen sank”, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco, 2015; solo presentation at Zona Maco, Mexico City, curated by João Mourão e Luis Silva, with Churro & Poncho; “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”, Stanley Rubin Center, El Paso TX, 2014; “Las Quince Letras”, Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City, 2013; ”El Diente Dorado del Caballo Regalado, Revolver Lima, Peru, 2013; “Something for Nothing”, Chert, Berlin, 2011. Recent group exhibitions include: “Club of Matinée Idolz”, CO2, Turin, 2015; “Delirios de declive”, Curro y Poncho, Guadalajara, Mexico, 2014; “Game changer”, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado, 2014; “About a Mountain”, Aysa Geisberg, New York, 2014; “What goes there?”, Y Gallery, New York, 2014; “Common ground: Earth”, Borusan Contemporary, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014.

Jérémie Gindre (b. 1978 in Geneva, Switzerland) lives and works in Geneva.

To date, he has published around twelve books of different forms – novel, short stories, essay, diary, graphic novel, photo story – and put together numerous exhibitions with drawings, sculptures and texts. His works clearly show his interest in geography and history, and focus in particular on questions in the domains of geology, archaeology, conceptual art, neuroscience, apiculture and tourism. His works have been presented at the Kunsthaus Baselland, the Kunstmuseum Thun, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, the Kunsthalle Fri-Art in Fribourg and at the Centre d’art contemporain La Criée in Rennes, among others. He has been published by Fink, Boabooks, Rollo Press and Motto. Upcoming solo show “Camp Catalogue”at LA KUNSTHALLE – Centre d’Art Contemporain Mulhouse.

Katharina Kiebacher (b. 1974 in Freising, Germany), lives and works in Berlin.

She earned a MA at the Glasgow School of Art. Recent exhibitions include: “how the hand softens the mind”, Stadtgalerie Waidhofen, Austria (solo), 2015; “Smiling Objects, Friends of Time”, Düsseldorf Photo Weekend (solo),2015; “The Devil is in the Detail”, Westwerk Hamburg, 2015; “Maisonette, The Room”, Gallery Weekend Berlin (with Fred Pedersen), 2014; “Rendez-vous der Freunde”, HB55, Berlin, 2014; “Never more alone”, Standards, Rennes, 2013; “Rosebud”, TEAPOT, Cologne, 2013; “Cutting a Cake”, Galleri Format, Malmö (with Kristina Bengtsson), 2012; “Unheimliches Heim”, Corridor, Reykjavik, 2012.

Zora Mann (b. 1979 in Amersham, United Kingdom), lives and works in Berlin.

She studied at Academy of Contemporary Art and Research “Villa Arson” in Nice and graduated with a Masters of Art. Solo exhibitions include Fiac – Foire International d’Art Contemporain, La Fayette Sector, Paris, (2015); “Coagula”, Chert, Berlin, (2015); “Open-Field-Test”, Chert, Berlin, (2014); “Tequila Sunrise”, Fine Furniture Gallery, Berlin, (2014); “Sundown”, Cussler, Berlin, (2012). Group Exhibitions include “Lügen”, Atelier in der Oranienstrasse 189, Berlin, (2015); “Iao Oo”, Studio Hodori & Studio Niculescu, Berlin, (2014); “Hotspot Va”, Commissariat À Treize, Paris, (2014); “Interior 301”, Galerie Alain Gutharc, Paris, (2013); Reits, Schaufenster, Berlin, (2013); “Where The Wild Things Go”, Fine Furniture Gallery, Berlin, (2013); “Ballungsrum”, Kosmetiksalon Babette, Berlin, (2012); “J’aime Les Femmes Et Je Le Prouve”, Espace À Débattre, Nice, (2011); “Coulis De Framboises, Kit Invite”, Palais De Tokyo, Paris, (2010); “Hic”, Villa Arson, Nice, (2010); “Birds Love Fish”, Chert , Berlin.

Rallou Panagiotou (b. 1978 in Athens, Greece), lives between Glasgow and Athens.

Solo exhibitions include “Between Shampoo and Snakes”, Ibid., Los Angeles, (2014); “Second Plateau”, Melas/Papadopoulos, Athens (2013); “Liquid Degrade, Galleri Riis”, Oslo (2013); “Artists and Engineers”, Ibid. at ReMap, Athens (2011); “Exaggerate the Classics”, Ibid., London, UK (2010); “Heavy Make Up”, AMP, Athens (2010); “4×4:Rallou Panagiotou”, Transmission, Glasgow (2009). Group Exhibitions include “ArtNow: Vanilla and Concrete”, Tate Britain (2015- 2016); “The Transparent Tortoise Shell and the Un-Ripe Umbrella”, Glasgow Sculpture Studios,(2016); “Super SuperStudio“, PAC, Milan (2015); “Hell As Pavilion”, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); “One Person’s Materialism Is Another Person’s Romanticism”, Glasgow International, Glasgow (2012); “Monodrome / 3rd” Athens Biennial (2011); Deste Prize, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2009). Forthcoming shows include: “Rallou Panagiotou, Radio Athènes”, Athens (2016) one-person show; “Proto Copies”, Glasgow International (2016), one person show.

Heike Kabisch (b. 1978 in Münster) lives and works in Berlin.

She studied at Kunstakademie Münster and graduated in Glasgow at the Glasgow School of Art, with a Master of Fine Art. Her work has been exhibited in several solo and group exhibition in Europe, including locations such as Wewerka-Pavillion, Münster; Nomas Foundation, Rome; MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Rome; Kunstverein Langenhagen; Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem; Tramway, Glasgow; Cornerhouse, Manchester; Kunstverein Mönchengladbach; Kunsthalle Bremen; The New Art Gallery Walsall, Birmingham; Club Row, London; Cornerhouse, Manchester; Kunstmuseum Baden, Solingen, among others.

Vanessa Safavi (b. 1980 in Lausanne, Switzerland), lives and works in Berlin.

Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘FAIR PLAY’ ; Barbara Seiler, Zurich, 2016; ‘Airbags’, MOTINTERNATIONAL, Brussels, 2015; FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris, 2014; ‘cloud metal cities’, Kunsthalle São Paulo, São Paulo, 2014; ‘La Nuit Liquide’, The Breeder, Athens, 2014; ‘One Torino’, with Santo Tolone and Naufus Ramírez-Figueroa, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2013; ‘3 Pounds of Jelly’, Chert, Berlin, 2013; ‘I Wish Blue could be Water’, CRAC Alsace, Altkirch, 2012. Recent group exhibitions: ‘Inflected Objects # 2 Circulation – Mise en Séance”, Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem, Netherlands, 2016; ‘The transparent tortoiseshell and the un-ripe umbrella’, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, 2016; ‘Intro’, Giorgio Galotti Gallery, Turin, 2015; ‘A Space is a Space is a Space’, Deutsche Arkitektur Zentrum DAZ, Berlin, 2015; ‘Ceramics and Graphit’e, Chert, Berlin, 2015; Swiss Art Awards, Basel, 2015; ‘Interior/ Exterior/Sculpture’, Belenius/Nordenhake, Stockholm, 2015; ‘milk revolution’, American Academy, Rome, 2015; ‘What do you write when men are puking into plastic bags’, Chert, Berlin, 2014; ‘Tell Me What I See, When I Look Into Your Eyes’, BolteLang, Zürich, 2014; ‘I’ll be your Mirror’, Herald St, London, 2013; ‘Emmy Moore’s Journa’l, SALTS, Basel, 2013.

Rodrigo Hernández (b. 1983 in Mexico City, Mexico) currently lives and works in Basel, Switzerland as a resident in the Laurenz-Haus Stiftung.

His work has been exhibited at Kunsthalle Basel; Museo del Chopo, Mexico City; Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht; Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts, New York; NuMU – Nuevo Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Guatemala City; David Roberts Art Foundation, London; Supplement Gallery, London; Parallel, Oaxaca; FRAC Marseille; Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam; Kunsthalle Baden-Baden; Kunsthaus Baselland; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Kunstverein Freiburg and the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, amongst others, and is featured in public collections in Switzerland, Portugal, Mexico, Germany, Holland and Sweden. Upcoming solo exhibitions at Kurimanzutto, Mexico City and Kim?, Riga.

Tyra Tingleff (b. 1984 in Norway) lives and works in Berlin.

She earned a MA at the Royal College of Art of London. Recent exhibition include: “I gave the postman your name”, Chert Gallery, Berlin, solo, 2015; “Anderland”, Kunstverein Ansberg. 2015; “Groupshow V”, Alexander Levy Gallery, Berlin, 2015; “Kann uns erwärmen, was nicht brennen kann?”, Mindscape Universe/ Rachel Walker, Berlin, 2015; “Lost Doubloons Rest” Duo- exhibition with Jorunn Hancke Øgstad. RH- Contemporary ,New York, 2015; “Closer Scrub” SALTS, Basel, solo, 2015; “Studiolo 12 #” Tyra Tingleff, Spazio Cabinet, Milan, solo, 2014; “Associations New”, SALTS, Basel, 2014; “The Beautiful Changes”, RH Contemporary Art, New York, 2014; “Wet Paint”, Dittrich & Schlechtriem Gallery, Berlin, 2014; “The Fullfilment Centre”-”The Sunday Painters” London, 2014.