Wehrmuehle Museum, Biesenthal (near Berlin)
Opening: September 28, 2024
14:00 – 22:00
September 29 – October 06, 2024
Opening hours: Every day from 14:00 – 20:00
Exhibition of works by Camilla Richter (Glass), Hans Leser (Light), Maria Hinze (Painting)
Christian Egger, Gregor Hildebrandt, Simon Faithfull, Christoph Weber (Sculpture);
Astrid Rausch, Julia Maurer (Painting)
Curated by Maria Hinze
Soft Power: A Performance in Text and Music with Schorsch Kamerun
M.Rux, Ai Ris
Trailer: Maria Hinze, Christian Söder
Actors: Rebecca Klingenberg, Gabriel von Berlepsch
Wehrmühlenweg 8, (near Berlin)
16359 Biesenthal
(Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Bernau with the regional lines RB24 or RE3)
ZEITSCHICHTEN
The exhibition Zeitschichten examines the ways in which painting, light and glass interact with time, exploring various temporal perspectives of perception.
Put simply, perception requires time, as does the creation of a painting. Time can be perceived through the act of painting as well as looking at an artwork. When considering the process of creation as a chronological succession, a work of art becomes a way to experience time for both artist and viewer. While a finished work is visible all at once, its individual layers and superimpositions remind the viewer of a temporal element – the layers of time (die Zeitschichten).
The perception of time has a subjective element. For instance, it is possible to perceive the passage of time from a relational point of view, taking into account shifts in social dynamics or defining life stages on the basis of socially constructed norms. This subjective perception is in constant flux. In contrast, the measurable, quantified perception of time is fixed in terms of day and night, calendar date and clock time. Seasons are yet another example of how time can be perceived. Each of these perceptual modalities is a potential starting point for reflections on time.
Zeitschichten takes as its point of departure the concept of experienced time, examining the ways in which it applies to the processes of creation as well as viewership of an artwork. While the painter decides how long they will paint, the viewer decides how long they will look. In both cases, the experience of time is one of movement as well as stillness and pause. With this in mind, Camilla Richter’s glass objects are all the more compelling as viewers repeatedly catch their own reflection from various perspectives. The movement of the viewer changes their reflection in the object.
If time is considered as an entity – a whole within which we are able to move – the artwork becomes the partial result of a movement, while time as such remains indivisible. According to philosopher Henri Bergson*, time is a continuum and therefore a unit that is defined by its duration. Time sequences in work processes such as painting raise questions around perception. How is perception constructed? What is it made of? The various dimensions of a piece of art need to be continually reexamined in both the process of creation and reception.
Early human perception of time was based on the course of the stars – a day being defined by the continuous cycle from sunrise to sunrise, a month marked by the phases of the moon and a year defined by the changing seasons. These rhythmic astronomical events shaped the perception of a constant, universally valid sense of time. In contrast, modern philosophy and science – especially Einstein’s theory of relativity – question the notion of absolute time. The theory of relativity suggests that time is relative and dependent on its witnesses and variables such as speed and gravity, leading to the fundamental question: is time really a constant?
This is where Hans Leser’s work comes in. With his light installation, Leser offers an approach to the concept of time just as unique as Camilla Richter’s glass objects and Maria Hinze’s paintings and drawings. Leser’s installation places the understanding of time in the context of ancient time measurement and modern science. Leser takes ideas from both of these relams and makes them tangible for the viewer through his combination of a heliostat with a kinetic mirror installation. The heliostat is an adjustable deflecting mirror that follows the path of the sun and permanently directs sunlight onto the mirror installation in the shade. As though through an inverted sundial, a travelling ray of sunlight is captured and fixed in the room, symbolising the halting of time.
The second part of Hans Leser’s installation – a construction of three intertwined mirror rings – offers yet another set of perspectives. The installation’s constantly shifting reflections convey the idea that what once appeared to be a self-contained process can dissolve into various independent states, each perceivable from a given perspective.
Exploring the theme of time through glass, light and painting, Zeitschichten moves beyond the linear to encompass complexity, multiperspectivity, parallel events and multidimensionality. The exhibition also creates an environment where empty spaces and pauses offer possibilities for both movement and stillness simultaneously.
As an experimental exhibition format, Zeitschichten offers a profound reflection on the perception of time. Visitors are invited to think about subjective experience and personal perception in relation to both primeval methods of time measurement and contemporary notions of time. In the context of this exhibition, painting, light and glass function as conceptual and perceptual pillars upon which the age-old subject of time receives a new twist.
Works by Christian Egger, Gregor Hildebrandt, Simon Faithfull, Christoph Weber, Astrid Rausch and Julia Maurer have been curated alongside those by Hans Leser, Maria Hinze and Camilla Richter.
Text: Maria Hinze
*Henry Bergson, Zeit und Freiheit, Die Idee der Dauer, S.71 – S.124, Hamburg:2016