Take A Walk On The Wild Side - To Russia with Love. And to Lou Reed.

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Abetz & Drescher ”¢ Emilie Arfeuil Winston Chmielinski ”¢ Rainer Fetting ”¢ Giuseppe Gonella ”¢ Bettina van Haaren ”¢ Ivar Kaasik ”¢ Ralf König ”¢ Evgenij Kozlov ”¢ Lena Lapschina ”¢ Slava Mogutin ”¢ Wolfgang Neumann ”¢ Tim Plamper ”¢ Joachim Seinfeld ”¢ Snapple ”¢ Franziska Strauss At the onset of the new year, public interest has increased significantly. The exhibition's subject matter continues to be relevant, not only because of the forthcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, but also due to recent headlines like the coming-out of Thomas Hitzlsperger, former member of Germany's national football (soccer) team, and the interview of Guido Westerwelle, former German foreign minister, in 'stern' magazine. These topics have contributed to a revitalization of a long-overdue public discourse. Russia's continued attacks on human rights remain alarming. Despite the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadeshda Tolokonnikova, President Putin's latest remarks regarding homosexuality leave no room for hope for an improvement of the current situation. Take A Walk On The Wild Side is intended — with a view to the increase of homophobic and racist attacks unfortunately not just in Russia — to take a stance: against political paternalism, censorship, and the suppression of artistic work, against homophobia and racism. The aim is not, however, to present an exhibition of political art. Rather, the gallerist/curator is interested in existential decisions of people who risk a 'walk on the wild side' and thus risk being socially ostracized, declared outlaws or indeed risk their lives. We asked the invited artists for works that circle around sex, love, androgyny, around Eros and death, around ecstasy and the Dionysian, the transgression of borders and conventions, around nudity and the human body, and the other in the self.