Coeur et Art Interviews

Yellow shredded silk flowers whirl in the wind. Some remnants leave neon yellow traces on the dusty grounds and greyish waters of the Hong Kong harbour. The softness of the yellow textile visually and mentally collides with the industrial nature of the area. It is a beautiful, sensitive performance that at the same time inherits a strong feeling of loss. This is the memory I have from my last encounter with the work of Gyun Hur. It was her aesthetic, clandestine farewell to Hong Kong. Now a New York resident, Gyun Hur’s work embodies the constant potentiality of rupture and violence in one’s body, land, and history, and acknowledges the presence of trauma and loss that runs through a family, homeland, or a place where one resides. In her work, she constantly asks herself what it means for an individual or a community to be held together by memories, yearnings, and rituals that are ephemeral and fragile.

Fragmented, warped and isolated body parts unite the artistic practices of Juliette Mahieux Bartoli and Athar Jaber for their first ever duo exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery Berlin. The show’s title ‘NONSEQUITUR’, is a Latin phrase meaning it does not follow logically. A perfect introduction for our elaborate Interview with the sculptor Athar Jaber who was born in Rome to Iraqi parents. He studied and worked for long periods in the Netherlands and Belgium. An entirely typical example of the beautiful and diverse world we live in, but then the reality especially in Europe is the opposite. We wanted to know how Athar Jaber feels about his roots, the culturally differences he experienced in his upbringing and how these are influencing his works.

Eine Reise nach Japan lohnt sich für Freunde der Kunst und Kultur in diesem Jahr besonders, denn ab April 2019 findet auf den japanischen Setouchi Inseln in Japan’s Kagawa Präfektur die Setouchi Triennale statt. Die Inseln sind meiner Meinung nach eines der am besten gehüteten Geheimnisse Japans. Einst tot geglaubt, sind die im Seto-Binnenmeer gelegenen Inseln heute wohl einer der weltweit schönsten Orte um Kunst in perfekter Symbiose mit der Natur zu erleben. Der Vater der Idee ist Tetsuhiko Fukutake. Er beschloss in der 80er Jahren, der Region mithilfe zeitgenössischer Kunst neues Leben einzuhauchen. Mit Erfolg!

In 2008, Brad Pitt could be seen walking around Art Basel with a yellow nose. What had happened? He had gotten too close to “Antes que eu te engula carrocellflower” (Before I swallow your carrocellflower, 2007), a work by Ernesto Neto, made from elastane tulle and filled with wood spices. The Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig, showcases currently two installations by the Brazilian artist. And it does only take those two artworks to transform the entire central hall on the third floor of the museum into a Universe of organic forms and sensorial experiences.
Coeur et art Editor Maira Goldschmidt paid homage to the great Neto!

After last night´s world premiere of the highly anticipated documentary “Berlin Bouncer,” the people lucky enough to have gotten a ticket might feel a strange sensation, even some slight disappointment at first. Because David Dietl has not – as one would have almost expected – produced a Sensational “Hau Drauf” Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Roll documentary, but a fine, for Berlin standards almost low key and subtle portrait, illuminating the beginnings and the career of three legendary bouncers who are forever connected with Berlin.

Wie jedes Jahr zur Berlinale, sind es vor allem die immer besonderen Berlinale Shorts auf die wir uns freuen. In diesem Jahr sind es 24 Kurzfilme aus 17 Ländern die um den Goldenen und Silbernen Bären, den mit 20.000 Euro dotierten Audi Kurzfilmpreis und eine Nominierung als „Berliner Kurzfilmkandidat für die Europäischen Filmpreise 2019“ kämpfen. In der Jury sitzen dieses Mal der Amerikaner Jeffrey Bowers, Senior Kurator bei Vimeo, Vanja Kaludjercic aus Kroatien, Direktor für Akquisition bei MUBI, und Koyo Kouoh, Gründer und Künstlerischer Direktor bei der RAW Material Company aus Senegal.

Picture this: It’s the 13th century and you live in Lithuania, a fiercely independent Grand Duchy and hugely successful state that is the largest in Europe. Yet later it becomes a pawn between three bigger players, the Prussian Empire, Habsburg Austria and the Russian Empire, erasing it from the map. Lithuania only gains independence again in 1918 but loses it after the Second World War, when the Soviet Union holds occupies it for 50 years. Finally, independence is regained in 1990. A rough ride considering the stronghold Lithuania once was.

Exactly one year ago we spoke to the up and coming Lithuanian painter Andrius Zakarauskas about his back then just opening a solo show in Berlin, his encounter as a young artist with A.R. Penck and how his mother got it all started by taking him to art school in order to be keep his vivid mind occupied and to broaden his horizon. Besides starting his artist residency at Villa Concordia in Bamberg he was also the first Lithuanian artist ever to have a solo exhibition in China, so its safe to say the last 12 months had a lot to offer for Andrius. What else went on you can read here!

Es gibt einen Satz, den die Malerin Eglė Otto letztes Jahr in einem Interview mit Isabelle Meiffert gesagt hat, der mich lange beschäftigt hat. In diesem beschreibt Sie, dass sie die Malerei gerade wahrnimmt wie einen schambesetzten Exhibitionisten und dagegen anmalt. Was es damit auf sich hat und welche Rolle ihre abgerockten weißen Vintage Boots beim Malen spielen, könnt ihr in diesem Interview nachlesen.
Ihre Solo Show „lex mihi ars“ eröffnet am 24.1.2019 in der O&O Depot Galerie.