EN /
Hinze’s work focuses on the notion of memory. The act of remembering is defined by all the cognitive and social processes, with which it is connected. Memory, as a moment of the present, has a great influence on the decisions that drive human behaviour, yet at the same time it possesses an ambiguous ontological status.
The acts of remembering and forgetting are thematic opposites, the meanings of which are addressed by Hinze’s work. Hinze’s wall drawings have something calligraphic about them, yet they cannot be conventionally decrypted. Their light and delicate air contrasts the burden of our existential fear of disappearing. They do not lead the observer to an ending (or conclusion) – they carry them off, ever further out in time and space until reaching the other side and that, which comes afterwards.
Hinze believes that the spiral, as a symbol of thought, represents a concept, which is still prevalent in Western thought today: The movement of thought, as such, creates a centre in the recurring reflexions of the spiral. It forms a kind of Telos or meaning, around which thinking circles and yet, at which it will never arrive, merely able to encircle it in its endeavours to do so.
Hinze believes the spiral symbolises the effort to attain possession of something and, as such, also a genuine occidental form of comprehension. If one were to imagine the direction of the “spiral of thought” in the opposite direction, away from the centre, thought would grasp beyond the peripheries and, with its adopted Telos or meaning as a driving force from behind, create a possibly never-ending space of understanding.
Time is a prerequisite within the dialectic of either inward or outward circular movement, and the other, that which we don’t understand. Time, over which this movement traces its circles. Time, over which the other is brought under control through the ritual of this ever-recurring movement. The other, the centre, the Telos, the meaning and that, which remains too engrossing, define cognitive and social movement around them – just as the movement defines the other, the centre, the Telos and the meaning. For Hinze, this epitomises the form of the spiral as a circling movement of thought.
Hinze exploits the use of perspective within her work to provide critical observations, for example using the medium of the drone and photography to detect social restrictions and conditioning. The symbol of the drone and its bird’s eye view become a virulent presence in outdoor spaces. Observed from above and thusly from a very particular perspective, the world becomes segregated. The superstructure, with its power to create segregations, floats indiscernibly above our heads and the power of its images sows the belief in the natural immediacy of these segregations. Hinze attempts to revoke our belief in these selfenforcing thoughts, to not accept them without question and to achieve freedom – freedom via the singular strategy of helping us realise the form of these perceived segregations within society.
The theme of “Mother” arises in Hinze’s work in relation to an occidental religious icon: Madonna and Child with Saint Anne, the mother and protector of the Virgin Mary. Saint Anne lays her protective cloak around Maria and with this act she becomes the guardian of her daughter and her son, the saviour of mankind. Hinze deals with the ancient theme of motherhood and weaves this thematic thread throughout the exhibition. The notion of mother symbolises a metaphorical primal memory (just as the spiral symbolises a primal form) and represents the first interaction, which humans can remember and which will subconsciously shape all of their life that follows.
Hinze’s exhibition explores to what extent the established roles and expectations of collectives reflect the psychological structures of the individual. Hinze’s “quotation-drawings” on paper revolve around the concept of power. Why does one exercise it while the other accepts and submits to it? How much order and discipline does power either uphold or undermine?
Hinze searches for her answers in subconscious human behaviours. She begins with the individual and compares this with the interpersonal behavioural processes in various group contexts. The drawings come to represent society’s search for the individual and their exercising of power within social structures.
The desire to explore repression; the repression of fears, of images, of power and submission, of rolls and patterns of behaviour, lies at the very heart of Hinze’s work. Through her artistic approach, Hinze attempts to activate the subconscious knowledge of the observer and awaken emotions within them. She is convinced that emotionally analytical thought can lead to socially critical realisations.
Hinze considers the relationship with architecture and pre-existing spatial conditions as an interaction with the pre-existing segregations of space and time. Her segregation of time and space does not aim to achieve the maximum opportunity for physical movement, but rather the engagement with repressed, and thereby powerful, patterns of behaviour.
The exhibition is completed and expanded by the works of Camilla Richter, Florian Schmidt, Simon Faithfull and Taka Kagitomi.
Text: Reimund Mimuss, 2017
Translation: Pete Littlewood