Exhibition:
bara gaman - Philipp Valenta
Since conceptual artist Philipp Valenta received a Goethe-Institut residency grant for Iceland in 2018, he has been investigating the country's relationship between economy and ecology, analysing and questioning critical phenomena and processes, some of which point far beyond the borders of the state.
Relationship of economy and ecology of the country Iceland
Electric Landscape Sections of basalt columns, volcanic ejecta rock, electroplated copper, cables, PC fans, wood, 2020 The installation reproduces an abstract, Icelandic landscape from the components lava and wind, which appears tech-noid. Through galvanic copper plating, the lava stones are part of a circuit that powers the PC fans.
As of autumn 2019, the electricity consumption of the server farms for bitcoin mining exceeds that of all private households in Iceland.
Herbarium
Many banknotes around the world depict in great detail, among other things, parts of the respective native flora - not least some flowers that are representative of the country or region.
As a global collection of plants of a different kind, both old and circulating notes are collected and the flowers are "prepared" in frames. In German in particular, there is the additional connection of the "blossom" as a form of counterfeit money, which takes up the question of the artificiality of the herbarium.
Herbarium, Flowers cut out of international banknotes, since 2015/2018
Síldarævintýri, Embossed aluminium foil, since 2018
Síldarævintýri
In reference to the Síldarævintýri, the "herring adventure" or the herring boom between 1867 and 1968 in North and East Iceland, herring made of aluminium are presented here as a shoal - the material of Iceland's new indust-rie, perhaps the "aluminium adventure".
Pústkerfi
The video (viewable in the Exhibition) shows a sulphur fumarole in the high-temperature area of Hverir in Iceland. The video was shown on the video screen of the Autostadt Wolfsburg, VW's large theme, event and amusement park designed as a marketing tool.
Pústkerfi means exhaust in English.
Pústkerfi, Video, 5:52 min
Blue Lag, Mineral salts on black cardboard, wood, series since 2020.
Blue Lag
The mineral salts on the work come from the Blue Lagoon, the largest spa and sauna park in Iceland and a major tourist attraction.
The very expensive bath salts available for home use were crystallised on the cardboard for weeks.
Potline
The drawings, which are to be understood as graphic sheet music, show the abstracted ground plans of the four Icelandic aluminium smelters in chronological order.
With the last smelter, which was prevented by popular resistance and thus unfinished, there is a kind of conclusion to this episode, both graphically and economically; the piece to be played thus also becomes a kind of swan song.
Potline, Ink on tracing paper on aluminium, graphic sheet music, 2020
The red dot the authoritative symbol
A work that addresses the "sale" as a common factor in assessing the value and success of an artist. The work deals with the placement of works in collections in order to increase their value and equally the value of the artist through this process. Each work is specifically tailored to the wishes, needs and circumstances of the client or/and the exhibition. Works that are "sold" to collections are often donated in conjunction with an exhibition, but the exhibition of the work is not obligatory. Each new collection and sale is documented by means of text or/and picture. It is planned in some time to reunite all the existing works of the series in an exhibition, which would then also be considered a conceptual project within the series of works. Graphics of the series are now in the holdings of over 30 museums, foundations and corporate collections in Germany and Europe.
Being A Successful Artist pigment ink on paper, 30 x 40 cm, KWS Collection, 2021 Since 2016
You are welcome to gain exciting insights into our exhibition directly on site, even during this pandemic. Stop by and take a look through our display windows.
bara gaman- Philipp Valenta
From 10 December 2021 until 16 April 2022
KWS Art Lounge NEWCOMER
Tiedexer Straße 20, 37574 Einbeck
About the artists - Philipp Valenta
Born 1987 in Hattingen - From 2011 until today he has had numerous solo and collective exhibitions as well as residency scholarships, which ensure a constant development of his artistic work.
- 2018 – 2019
Master student with Prof. Thomas Rentmeister, HBK Braunschweig - 2014 – 2017
Master Metal Design, HAWK Hildesheim with Prof. Georg Dobler - 2014
Guest semester Art Academy Münster, class Löbbert - 2007 – 2012
Diploma in Fine Arts with Prof. Norbert Hinterberger and Prof. Elfi Fröhlich, Bauhaus University Weimar
Photographer Philipp Valenta | Credits: Philipp Valenta
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