January 26, 2022, 2 pm
Many thanks to the artist Raaf van der Sman introducing our participants to the concept & practice of the project space nationalmuseum and guiding us through the exhibition Entropic Matter by Julia Münstermann. The visit is part of the BAI Studio Program | Berlin Artist Residency, Art School, Arts Incubator, and Live Online Courses & Classes.
Exhibition Dates: January 08– February 12, 2022
Location: nationalmuseum
Opening Hours: Wednesday & Thursday, 1 PM – 4 PM & by appointment
Address: Urbanstrasse 100, 10967 Berlin
“In her recent series entitled ENTROPY, we see what appear to be black and white images of galaxies, interstellar nebulae and black holes. The artist’s approach references not only familiar black and white photos made from the early 20th century onwards up to present pictures by the Hubble telescope, but also graphic visualisations of phenomena that cannot be registered with (radio)telescopes at all and therefore depend on mathematical projection and the imaginative capacities of graphic artists that specialise in this field. But there is a key difference. In Münstermann’s work the formative principle has shifted from the direct manipulation of material to physical processes that are only partly controllable. The dissolution energy of salt crystals is put to use, causing the water and ink to flow according to principles that make the result difficult to calculate in advance. In this way, disorder is introduced into the working process. This paradoxically results in the formation of structures, and entropy is counteracted.
In this exhibition, the ENTROPY series is juxtaposed with a number of paintings of screens made with the problems of visualising dark matter in mind. While in the former the hand of the maker has been increasingly expelled from the working process, the latter works depend more on the direct manipulation of the paint with brushes, and are built up in multiple layers. This layering results in a transient shimmer, a surface which on the one hand creates a sense of depth, on the other confronts the viewer with an impenetrable barrier; a hermetic refusal of customary reference. By failing to provide a central motif, the seamless transitions and endless depth of these paintings become disorienting and rather reinforce the sense that we are looking at absolute non-representation. And yet there we are, by ourselves, oddly affected, staring into their cool emptiness.” (Text excerpts from the press release by courtesy of nationalmuseum)
More information on the nationalmuseum Website.
