ars viva 09/10 – Geschichte/History
Mariana Castillo Deball, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, Dani Gal

At a time of increasing media dominance, where we are exposed daily to ever greater amounts of data, even the most up-to-date things rapidly become outmoded. In this context, a preoccupation with history appears to offer a possibility to pause and slow down. This year the renowned ars viva exhibition, organized by the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, awarded prizes to Mariana Castillo Deball, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda and Dani Gal, artists who have converged anew on the term “history”, accommodating societal developments not purely attributed to confusing and increasingly rapid forums of communication.
Mariana Castillo Deball, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, and Dani Gal examine historical fragments, documents, and objects in a new light. The artists take on the roles of amateur archaeologists as they work with found objects and fragments; even though it is clear that all display an obvious interest in historical objects, not one of them actually provides any sort of conclusion regarding history as a whole. Rather, they play an associative game, which formally resembles Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas, while reflecting upon personal encounters with objects and places.

Curated by Heike Munder