WAITINGROOM

About

“I’m going. (He does not move).” - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

In our high performing society, we are always encouraged and aspire to take the initiative and act. However, with the existential and cultural shock, as the COVID lockdown initially came, we were suddenly told by the society that encourages us to take the initiative to act, to take the initiative not to act until further notice.

We went from choosing when to initiate or wait, to being asked to wait until the next development in the situation. With the passage of time, we eventually found our own ways of passing the time and working with the situation, however the big wait for what is next to come continues. What we are waiting for is still unclear.

What kind of emotions does waiting generate?

What happens when the curator has been waiting for our exhibition text for days?

Can waiting be defined as an intermission? A void of an act or event?

“Time is money” - waiting is often seen as a waste of time in our society, something negative, but it could also be associated with hope, as can be observed in the novel “Waiting for Godot” by Samuel Beckett. The wait and hope for something to arrive that will validify their existence.

Isn’t being an artist sometimes about being subjected to waiting? Waiting, in terms of searching for an answer, even though we know we will never reach the solution.

Jay and Jeewi are dealing with these questions in the exhibition and invite you to share the void.

To see waiting as an act and not a void of act or event.

Jay Lee (*1993, Seoul) is a German Korean artist, living and working in Berlin.

In his artworks, he puts the human perception into question, which is very susceptible to being accustomed to patterns. In his video, photo series and installation works, Lee searches for elements that irritate these patterns that we take for granted and no longer pay attention to, in order to bring the viewers to reflect upon these patterns. He works through psychological irritation by subtle changes in the ‘reality’ to bring these normalized elements out and expose them, in order to denormalize what has been normalized.

Lee studies Fine Art at Universität der Künste Berlin, in class of Tillmann Wendland and currently Monica Bonvicini. Since 2019 he is also a guest student in Kunsthochschule Kassel in the class of Bjørn Melhus.

Jeewi Lee (*1987, Seoul) German Korean artist, based in Berlin. Her childhood and youth, in which she had to change her place of residence regularly and grew up “caught between cultures”, not only influenced her personally but also her work. In her works, she deals with traces by thematising the past, presence and absence.

In her installations, videos and painting series, the trace exists as residues of past lives, recalling the passage of time; a visual allegory for lived experience – of history, place and moments. In her work, she often gets involved with the exhibition space and develops a site-specific work.

Lee studied painting at Universität der Künste Berlin and at Hunter College University in NYC. She graduated in 2014 as a Meisterschülerin in Fine Arts at Universität der Künste Berlin and went on to do an MFA in 2018 in the postgraduate study of Art in Context. Since graduating, she has participated in exhibitions, as in Kunstverein in Hamburg, Korean Embassy Berlin and Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and received various grants and artist residencies, including Villa Romana Florenz and the scholarship from the Stiftung Kunstfond.

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Exhibition-Relay #Solidarity #FightBack #SunGoesUp
11 Shows, 16 Artists, 2 Guest Curators
curated by Jung Me Chai

DISKURS Berlin presents Exhibition-Relay: #Solidarity #FightBack #SunGoesUp every two weeks from July-December 2020, there is a new exhibition in the space as the baton gets passed.

Sixteen artists and two guest curators create eleven shows specifically designed to be viewed through the windows of DISKURS Berlin as our doors remain closed. This fast-paced exhibition program aims to support the artists, curators, and creative individuals to fight back against the COVID-19 crisis.
*** The opening takes place in the street, and we must still maintain physical-distancing but will stay inspired!

For more info: https://www.discursus.info/