Kontemplative Räume

About

Contemplative Spaces
Kiki Gebauer, Timo Kahlen and Klaus Kühn dedicate their works to the theme of reflection.
Named 'trapeze' by Kiki Gebauer, polygonal white panels float high up in space. Their coloured backs reflect on the ceiling and walls of the exhibition space: finely gradient colour nuances that constantly change depending on the incidence of light. In 'Holding My Breath' by Timo Kahlen, a fragile, transient, iridescent soap bubble becomes an intimate space that - in times of pandemic - embraces and preserves the artist's breath until the bubble bursts. The musical work "For Morton" by Klaus Kühn essentially consists of algorithmically generated, variable sequences of sound groups, played by the flute, which imperceptibly condense and are reflected by live-controlled electronics to form sounds that move in space.
The reduction and clarity of the exhibition contributions create a space of mental references, of colour and sound, which visitors are invited to explore contemplatively. Deck chairs invite them to do so. A place of longing in a restless time.
Kiki Gebauer focuses on the interplay of light, colour and surface. Her colour constellations are clear, reduced and yet always surprising. They are composed of differently sized colour fields, wall panels or other strictly geometrically developed modules. The colour is always almost without ductus in order to give it the greatest possible impact as matter and coloured substrate. Like a dense membrane or a mirror, the picture surface absorbs light or reflects it back: into the room, against the wall and always in the direction of other colourful events. In this way, completely new colours develop through the reflection, a mixture of painted and reflected colour. The result is an immaterial colour that constantly changes depending on the incidence of light.
She works both in public spaces (e.g. on the Spree, in Edinburg or Potsdam) and in smaller formats indoors. Her works are shown in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. The next venue is this year's Biennale LAND(SCHAFFT)KUNST VIII in Neuwerder. www.kiki-gebauer.de

Sound sculptor and media artist Timo Kahlen (*1966) chooses to work with the ephemeral: with wind and steam, with light and shade, with pixels and dust, with sound, noise and vibration. His surprising, sensual works exploring the limits of what is tangible and perceptible, as well as his site-specific, time- and space-related interventions and installations in public space, have been presentedin more than 200 exhibitions of contemporary media art since the 1980s: including the inaugural solo exhibition at Kunst-Werke Berlin (1991), at MANIFESTA 7 (2008), the ZKM (2012) and the Ruine der Künste Berlin (2020). See http://www.timo-kahlen.de
Timo Kahlen: „Holding My Breath“, March 2020. From the series of "Works with Wind“, 1989 - 2020. © Timo Kahlen / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020

Klaus Kühn: The musical contribution to the exhibition is entitled "For Morton" (2021) and is dedicated to Morton Feldman. Feldman (1926 - 1987) was an American composer who was concerned with seemingly trivial repetitions of functionless sounds. While subtle changes took place inside many of his pieces, the outer structure remained almost the same for long stretches - with durations of up to 4 hours. The piece "For Morton" has a similar structure, but it shifts inner developments to the outside. It essentially consists of a constantly changing sequence of a few notes from the flute, which are reflected by the synthesiser as if on a moving water surface. In the outer course, however, extremely slow and therefore hardly perceptible changes in tempo, volume and sound intensity take place.
Klaus Kühn is an active musician as a drummer, keyboardist and accordionist. For a long time he was interested in modern jazz / free jazz, but for some years now he has been working with new music through various commissioned compositions. The special interest here lies in the possibilities of an interactive interaction of a traditional orchestral instrument with live electronics, which is programmed with the help of the graphic music electronics software Max itself. In this and other areas, a long-standing collaboration developed with the flautist Elisabeth Bingel, who takes on the instrumental part here.