HYPE

18.5. to 2.6.2013

HYPE

Humanism in the happy dilemma between totalitarian predicament and utopian promise

International exhibition of figurative art

This generation of artists takes a stand. They profess their faith in man, but also see his precarious situation. With the instruments of art, its range of forms of expression, the artists face this situation critically and enthusiastically. They use their means for practical criticism or design utopias. Their value is determined by the level of discourse, by social norms. The exhibition asks what our concept of human beings does to us human beings. It is committed to the diversity of images of human beings today.

Even if there have been strong fluctuations in the assessment of the importance of figurative approaches in art over the last twenty or thirty years, the examination of the image of man has never lost its central importance. Artists’ approaches can vary widely, ranging from portraits to conceptual analyses of living spaces.

It is in this diversity that the exhibition “HYPE” explores the theme. The 20 exhibited positions also span a spectrum in the use of their media, from painting to media installation. Views from very different regions of the world collide. A quarter of the participating artists come from Asia, but currently live and work in Dresden. Some of the German artists have lived and worked in Asia for some time. Some of them have their roots in neighboring European countries such as Poland, Belgium or Switzerland.

Thus the exhibition also becomes an encounter between the worlds, with their respective specific view of man and his way of arranging life.

However, it cannot be overlooked that the individual is caught in the dichotomy between origin and life perspective. Media and advertising proclaim the salvation of individual life fulfillment and illustrate the necessity of belonging to a group in order to be “hip”.

The “hype” thereby marks, in an almost moral way, an invitation to follow in order not to be considered out of touch and backward. Individualism as a mass phenomenon goes crazy like a hamster in a wheel. The possibility of visual art lies in approaching such phenomena and fashions from the outside, as it were, to put oneself in their place and, if necessary, to undermine them. Bringing figurative artistic positions into the focus of an exhibition thus follows a tendency that can be observed internationally. In this, the image of the human being in its possibilities and, above all, in its precarious situation is revealed.

The works in this exhibition can be understood as the promise of a generation. Most of the artists involved in the exhibition have graduated from the Dresden University of Fine Arts in recent years or are currently studying there. In this respect, despite all the differences in their origins from countries all over the world, there is a common pivot.

Humanity, or even worse humanism, thus remains stuck in the happy dilemma between totalitarian predicament and promise of utopia.

Dr. Holger Birkholz

 

Opening: May 18, 2013 – 7:00 pm

Participating artists:

Michael Klipphahn, Simon Rosenthal, Eric Keller, Masahiko Kato, Patricia Detmering, Saeed Foroghi, Rao Fu, Nicólas Dupont, Lucas Oertel, Klaus Beckmann, Maja Grazfeld, Kristina Berndt, Carolin Israel, Franziska Fennert, Tobias Ott, Stefan Krauth, Tamayo Misawa, Agnes Michalczyk, Moe Matsuhashi, Byun Kaka.

Exhibition space: geh8 Kunstraum, Dresden

Address: Gehestraße 8 01127 Dresden

Opening hours: Friday- Sunday, 16- 20 h

Organization: Michael Klipphahn, Simon Rosenthal, Masahiko Kato, Eric Keller

Mail: ateliersimon AT web.de

Press: Dr. Holger Birkholz, Andrea Weippert, Paul Elsner

Cooperation partner: geh8 Kunstraum und Ateliers e.V., Dresden

Venue homepage / information: www.geh8.de

Sponsors:
Friends of the Dresden University of Fine Arts e.V.
Office for Culture and Monument Protection of the State Capital Dresden