Ellen
Rodenberg & EX-MÊKH_FeMaler
11.09.2020 – 18.10.2020
Show-window 24h
Vitrine U - Kleistpark (U7) in 10783 Berlin
Opening with
performance 11.09.2020 at 7 PM
Please notice,we kindly ask you to accept the recent
COVID-19-regulations.
https://www.facebook.com/atrans
This
year’s theme, A Femmes City, deals with the feminine view of various
aspects of the city. How does urban space appear from a women’s perspective,
what potential is overlooked, and what development possibilities are held in
public space? Who does the city belong to?
“A Femmes City. I interpret the
invitation of A trans as a challenge. When do we talk of a female gaze and
of a female approach? What does it look like? I decided to engage the men of
the EX-MÊKH-collective in this project in order to be able to hold the
development of my work against the light of a male/female concept. Two shop
windows next to each other, organized with work based on the male/female
concept. I had discussions with Maarten Schepers and Kees Koomen about the
difference in strategies, upbringing, social behavior and networking. When do
we talk about expressing oneself with personal character and where do we
observe the influence of gender?
To try and make this visible I decided
to install one shop window myself, as a woman. I asked the two men to install
the second shop window with their work: one female, two men, two painters, one
sculptor! The title FeMaler is an apt translation of this mix.
For my personal presentation I developed a procedure of applying paint
with big strokes on white cardboard resulting in color forms. It is a method
with which I leak diluted acrylic paint through cotton sheets. After it dries
the sheets are removed and whimsical shapes appear. The results have a
watercolor-like character. I think of gardens for the imagination. I think of
all the possible associations one single form can already evoke, I think of the
mental space being created by this approach. Imagine the memories in the
future. Imagine the questions in the future. Imagine the possibilities of the
female approach in the future.
The cardboard pieces will be installed in a precise manner but the result will
look casual. The display in the shop-window must tempt for timelessness and
thus create space, the incomprehensibilities will be helpful with this. What is
it you see? A curious garden full of life? Or are you “Lost in Paradise”?
The second shop window will be of a
totally different nature. Maarten Schepers and Kees Koomen have been discussing
the installation to be shown. Maarten Schepers has created an over-all design
which we can associate with phenomena like show-box, diorama or bijou-box.
Kees Koomen will add to this with work based on the muses and the story of
Actaeon.
On September 11th opening rituals and a
performance will take place both inside and in front of the show windows.”
(Ellen Rodenberg, 2020)
EX-MÊKH, consisting of Ellen
Rodenberg, Kees Koomen und Maarten Schepers, came together as a
collective that wants to examine the nature and process of making exhibitions.
Since 2007 EX-MÊKH have done exhibitions in many kind of spaces, ranging from
tiny and intimate spaces till huge halls. The context of the work and its
presentation must always be newly developed and redefined.
/////// Anhang / FeMaler © Ellen
Rodenberg, 2020
Supported by | Mit freundlicher
Unterstützung der Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa
Wenn
Sie keinen Newsletter mehr erhalten möchten, teilen Sie uns das bitte kurz mit
<in@atrans.org>
If
you no longer wish to receive information about A trans, please reply
briefly to this mail <in@atrans.org>
//////////////////////////////////////////// A TRANS
curated by Isolde Nagel
Postadresse/
Postal address:
Baerwaldstr.
49, 10961 Berlin
+49
173 202 52 20
more announcements:
http://www.projektraeume-berlin.net/termin/a-trans-feat-ellen-rodenberg-ex-mekh-_-femaler/
work process
FeMaler in the studio of Ellen Rodenberg
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dzn5vT7VfPd3H8d77
Studio situation June 2020
De
afzonderlijke verf afdrukken hebben vormen aangenomen die voor meerdere
interpretaties vatbaar zijn. Pareidolie, Rorschach associaties geven ruimte aan
individuele geheugenactiviteit. Uitwisseling roept onmiddellijk misverstanden
en dus de roep op uitgebreidere informatie. Maar de taal maakt het misverstand
vaak alleen maar groter. We delen elkaar enkel bestaande categorieën en
indelingen mee. Waar is de ruimte?
Installing the work in two Vitrines.
At the Location: Kleistpark U bahn, Berlin
Assistant and materials.
Location, situation, invitees. Preparation, maquette:
Maarten Schepers
The two ‘Schaufenster’ are ready for
the opening rituals and performances.
Isolde Nagel (Atrans) opens the
openingsrituals and explains in short the project of A Femmes City in U bahn
Kleistpark, Berlin.
Have you seen the Stars Tonight.
Performance ‘Knocking on heavens
Door’
Interruption of the performance with
a performance.
The installation is completed.
On show untill October 18th.
A moment before the opening. The 4th
wall is waiting for removal.
Opening rituals by Ellen Rodenberg,
un-taping the window.
Inviting the audience to start
drawing.
At the opening, the first drawings by
the audience are presented.
The public is invited to post
drawings inspired by the FeMaler Virtrine U, on instagram.
Vitrine U, A Femmes City
The test phase for the Schaufenster (Ellen
Rodenberg) lasted 3 months. Laying cotton sheets and cloths on large sheets of
white board, applying the thinned paint, folding it, drying it, pulling it
loose, hanging it up, folded, hanging loose, curled up, creased, observing a
composition in which the individual paint forms as floating in a space brought
together to be entirely itself. There they are like a staged aquarium in which
all attributes and living organisms are artificially and carefully composed together
for the admiring eye of the maker and the viewer.
FeMaler
The theme A Femmes City (a project from
Atrans) and the U bahn location have both influenced the new work that has been
developed. I have been looking for a concept that leaves room to discover new
insights, directions and vistas. The Covid-19 pandemic made us uncertain about
when to implement it, but not about feasibility. The opening and public rituals
continued to contain uncertainties until the very end. As it has been, can be
seen in the photo report.
Preparations and artistic work process,
Underlying thoughts of what is actually
female? What are feminine qualities? Can you tell from a work of art whether it
was made by a woman? What's the point of this sorting of kind? Who benefits
from this?
In any case, I saw
advantages for dealing with the subject by involving the EX-MÊKH group in this.
We have never made a distinction before, on
the basis of male or female classification.
Three people, 2 men, 1
woman, we have never tackled a theme like this before.
In the conversations with the other 2 artists
of the EX-MÊKH group it became clear to me that especially the way of working,
reasoning and considering is different, possibly even feminine in nature. Where
is the difference between character and gender? A distinction is always
arbitrary. My conclusion was therefore, let's make the separation artificially
for this project. The 2 men will work in 1 display case together and I as a
woman work in the other display case. Language alone feels unbalanced,
inadequate.
Simone de Beauvoir, Camilla Pglia, Luce Irigarai,
Joke Hermsen bring me a new gender awareness, but not directly on deviant work.
The work must be done first. It is only by living life that you discover what
you really "want to do". This is not an empty slogan. Being busy is
deeply human. The meaning of this is tangible, visible, noticeable in
everything around us. The situation, location, atmosphere of the environment is
an essential factor that influences how and what you are doing as a person. The
how and with what, that is the question. I think both are individual in nature.
Masculine or feminine is too crude a form of characterization. There are so
many factors that determine how you act in a given situation.
The title FeMaler summarizes this dilemma. Fe
femmes (Fr), female. maler(D), male (Eng), femaler (Eng).
How and with what?
The method has been practical. After a few
conversations, I noticed that we best use the proven method that we have been
using as EX-MÊKH for more than 10 years. The theme can be interpreted in its
own way for everyone. This means that everyone also proposes their own version.
The fact that Maarten and Kees together have 1 display case at their disposal
is a complication that they themselves have to deal with. This is also the
first time that the spatial distribution is uneven in the beginning and not a
point of discussion. Maarten and Kees have divided the space in their
appropriate way. Maarten Schepers made his own design for the display case,
Kees immediately played with the idea of "the Muses".
In consultation they have brought several ideas into 1 artwork. Title: Have you
seen the Stars tonight? Including the performance by Kees Koomen: Knocking on
Heavens Door.
The
Schaufenster I had at my disposal was the same size. As with a solo
exhibition, you only have to deal with your own work. Although the theme played
a role and the concept has led to an artificial division, I am curious about
the outcome. What can be read from this?
For the time being, the work has been made
and will be on view until October 18, 2020 in Vitrine U, Bahnhof Kleistpark,
Berlin.
The public is invited to respond (visually)
to social media such as Instagram. # FeMaler_U7_Berlin
The public space U7 Kleistpark.
The opening took place at 7 p.m.
Given the covid-19 situation, there were not
too many people, so a distance could be kept.
The performances and rituals were also geared
to this. Partly behind glass and partly at a distance from each other.
Temporarily appropriating a space and being
publicly visible without any commercial ulterior motives is one of the aspects
of a good public space.
By doing a performance in a public space,
there is always the chance that something unforeseen will happen,
which also happened (see photos of the
intervention of a passer-by looking for his own audience for his own cause).
One ran back and forth "smoothly"
in the other.
After the performance "Knocking on
heavens Door", Maarten and Kees' Schaufenster was transformed into an
interior that will be on view until 18 October.
The days before the opening, the display case
was only occupied by a swimmer and a stone.
The title of the installation is: Have you
seen the Stars Tonight.
The opening ritual was followed by an opening
act by Ellen Rodenberg.
I had pasted short pieces of tape in green
and red on the Schaufenster.
The opening act consisted of simply removing
the tape, which by the way did not hide anything.
The tape did, however, provide the temporary
visibility of a "4th wall".
After putting the tape on my pants I stepped
into the role of hostess and handed out drawing books.
I invited the public to view the installation
FeMaler and choose part of it as inspiration for a drawing.
I photographed their drawings and it was
posted on Instagram under the hashtag #Femaler_U7_Berlin
Ellen Rodenberg
Sept. 2020
Thoughts afterwards 2.
The words i didn’t use at the
opening of ‘Femaler’.
A Femmes City
I like to use James Browns song, ‘It
is a mans world, but it would be nothing without a woman or a girl’, and turn
it into If it was a womans world, it would be nothing without a man or a boy.
Camilla Paglia who wrote ‘Sexual
Personae’ would agree. She wonders: What drives us to be sexual and violent?
That is the reason for inviting my
fellow male partners from EX-MÊKH to work in the second vitrine.
A way to get to know each other
better. Although we work already for over 10 years together.
The differences are visibly obvious.
The motivation can be guessed.
Men, women, we are different. That
must be traceable in the art also.
The two vitrines show how.
Ellen Rodenberg
Oct 2020
https://www.facebook.com/atrans
>>more photo impressions>>
installation of the work in the two Virtrines and the opening rituals,
performances.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4vsVJBWbPrm8UrUi9
work
process Ellen Rodenberg
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dzn5vT7VfPd3H8d77