Contact Zone, air blob-no bones brings together a series of glass works by collaborators Marie Jeschke and Anja Langer, and a series by István Szabó, Hybrids.
The fusion of sculpture and painting in the works by Jeschke and Langer explore the interaction between the artists’ respective disciplines. The works on glass plates are enriched on both sides by paint, objects and gestural marks. Their fragility stands in stark contrast to the razor sharp angles and irregularities of their form — accentuated by their improvised frameworks. The collaboration explores of the porosity of artistic practices — their ability to unite and interact, to interfere and disrupt the singularity of visual recognition.
István Szabó’s ceramic works, Hybris, are made of industrial brick, metal, nails, screws, gravel, stone and wood — combining the forms, textures and colours of an urban landscape. Through processes of firing and glazing using London clay, Szabó fuses together materials found on the streets of London and in scrap yards, creating hybrid forms, sculpted by the interaction of their composite materials.
By thinking and working through materials, these artistic practices reveal something about the relationship between matter and gesture. Their works are intuitive, process-based, and materially sensitive — highlighting the impure, messy, unstable and complex nature of collaborative forms. While Contact Zone investigates the transformation of physical matter through processes of fusion and coalescence, the exhibition also invites the viewer to contemplate the complexities of human relationships, as well as the friction between urban environments and nature.
Marie Jeschke was born in Rostock, Germany, 1982. She currently lives and works in Berlin. In 2014, Jeschke graduated from University of Art Berlin (UdK) with a Masters (Meisterschüler) and has since been a member of Mindscape Universe — a platform promoting international, cross-disciplinary art collaborations.
Recent solo exhibitions include Enrico – autoaction in rehearsals (2016) in cooperation with Anja Langer, Display Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Wenik (tipi di gettate diverso) (2016) by MAIK Alles Gute, Heit Galerie, Berlin, Germany; Can't remember always always (2016) l'étrangère, London, UK; Cliffhanger II (2015) Kunstverein Lehnin, Lehnin (near Berlin), Germany; Abcornern w/ MAIK Alles Gute feat. High Waist (2015) BSMNT, Leipzig, Germany triangle; onbuildseries II (2015) by MAIK Alles Gute, room I, Basel, Switzerland. Selected group exhibitions include Don't dance it down boys (2017), Clovis XV Gallery, Bruxelles, Belgium; Biennale of future contemporary arts (2017), FSC Bronsøj Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; Gestyltes Sorgerecht by MAIK Alles Gute (2017), Susanne Burmester Gallery, Circus Eins, Putbus, Germany; Residency, New Scenario, Czech Republic; Let criticism do the work (2017), Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany; The Blue Hour (2016), Future Suburban Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark; London Leipzig Filmnight (2016), Museum Lydke, Leipzig, Germany; Thank you for letting me be Myself (2016), Gold & Beton, Cologne, Germany; RunRunRun (2016), Villa Arson, Nice, France; Sideways (2016) Yaku Peoria, Peoria, Illenois, USA; Reinhard III (2016), Fram 7, Farmstraße 7, Berlin, Germany. Awards include the Aufenthaltsstipendium von New Scenario Award (2017) in Czeck Republic; a scholarship award at the Künstlerhaus Lukas Sculpture Workshop Monumental in Malmö, Sweden in 2016; and the Kunstpreis für Nachwuchskünstler Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a prize for emerging artists in Northern Germany in 2016.
Anja Langer was born in Freital, Germany, 1984. She currently lives and works in Berlin. In 2012, Langer graduated from HfBK Dresden with a Masters (Meisterschüler), after previously having graduated from TU Dresden European Voluntary Service in Art and Culture, Wroclaw, Poland, with a Masters in German Literature / Ancient History / Philosophy in 2010.
Recent solo exhibitions include Don‘t dance it down boys (2017) collaboration with J. Hosek, Clovis XV, Bruxelles, Belgium; Enrico – autoaction in rehearsals (2016) in cooperation with Marie Jeschke at Display Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Kumpeltod - the virtues for dying well (2016) Argh Kunstraum, Berlin, Germany; You are beautiful strangers (2016) Schwarze Lunge, Berlin, Germany; and Glimmer (2015) Mikky Burg, Dresden, Germany. Selected group exhibitions include Meet your critics (2017) at the Kreuzberg Pavillon, Berlin, Germany; Drawing for the Future (2017) Salon für Kunstbücher, 21er Haus, Vienna, Prague. Awards include being shortlisted for the Goldbekhof Fellowship in Hamburg, Germany in 2015 and 2016; a residency at Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Rome, Italy in 2007.
István Szabó was born in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary, 1975, and is currently living and working in London. In 2017, Szabó graduated from Central Saint Martins, London, UK, with a BA (hons) in Ceramic Design. Szabó’s work featured in a number of group exhibitions including those at Klaylondon Gallery, London, UK in 2016; Bell House Gallery, London, UK in 2016; Pangolin Gallery, London in 2015. Prior to his move to London, Szabó worked for seven years as a surgical orderly at Gyula Kenézi Hospital in Hungary.