New Viewings #3
Curated by Barbara Thumm
As the world locked down, the scheduled gallery exhibition could not be held. Instead, a virtual video wall was installed. The impact of which even changed how the exhibition was to be shown in the real gallery space.
The viewer sees hands grasping at a tightly sealed, clear plastic packaging. Their greed is palpable. While the object of desire can be seen, it cannot be released from what holds it until sale. It is a scenario of cheap thrills in a hermetically closed environment; a metaphor for the pleasures we have forsaken both individually and globally. It asks us: What kind of values do we hold? What experiences are we seeking?
Rings by hybrid artist Anna K.E. (1986 in Tbilisi) was the first video installation for New Viewings. When her exhibition could finally be held in the gallery space, a free-standing video wall was created so that real life could imitate the digital, thus bringing the concept full circle at Galerie Barbara Thumm. The artist’s work, while ranging from the representational to abstract, always straddles the threshold of figurative. Anna K.E. art spans drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video and sound. Some site-specific installations also incorporated performative elements, sometimes as afterthoughts or remnants. However, in each work, she expresses her point of view as she analyses and overcomes existing and self-imposed cultural, social and artistic structures.
Anna K.E.
Anna K.E., * 1986 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia,
lives and works in New York and Düsseldorf
The hybrid works of Anna K.E. cannot be classified into traditional categories. In her work, representational meet abstract elements that often stand at the threshold of the figurative.
She works multi-faceted in the fields of drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video and sound. Her site-specific installations incorporated also performative elements or their afterthoughts and remnants. Moving freely between the different languages of architecture, design and art. Her interest lies in the analysis and overcoming of existing and self-made cultural, social and artistic structures.