GlogauAIR’s Open Studios invites the public to witness the result of three months of intensive research and production by the artists taking part in  GlogauAIR’s residency program on-site in Berlin and on-line throughout the  world. These artists join GlogauAIR to dedicate themselves to the creation of new work and to explore new processes together with an international cohort of artists.  

While each of the artists prepare and produce an individual project, it is also  possible to observe topics and themes that overlap among the artworks. During this term, walking as a meditative art form, engaged a number of the  artists. For many onsite artists, Berlin itself becomes the nexus of their work, from exploring sites of remembrance, to daily visits to the nearby canal as a marking of time. On-line artists are exploring and engaging with new tools to  display their work in virtual environments, often for the first time, and enjoying  the freedom that this offers. Being able to observe these coincidences,  crossovers and influences is one of the most exciting aspects of the open  studios, which offers the chance to see all-new artworks presented to the public for the very first time.  

Open Studios is the culmination of a program of activities in different formats such as curatorial visits, tours within the city of Berlin, talks and workshops that have provided resources, inspiration, and understanding to enhance the artist’s work and create a platform for their career. This time and as always, GlogauAIR keeps finding opportunities to develop, exchange and  invite conversation on contemporary art and multidisciplinary culture.

FRAGILE

by brustudio

The Project Space on the ground floor of GlogauAIR is dedicated to exhibition proposals and local initiatives. During this term, the Project Space has been transformed into the solo exhibition, ‘Fragile’ by GlogauAIR’s Berlin Guests, brustudio, an initiative which is generously supported by La Memoria Artística Chema Alvargonzalez. 

Every three months, GlogauAIR releases a new catalogue collecting the work and projects of the artists in residence. The catalogue in your hands not only showcases this term’s creations but also constitutes a reflection of this past term’s experiences. 

Our first catalogue edition was released in 2006, and it has changed a lot  since then. Starting in 2021, the catalogue cover is now decided by an open call to all of the participating artists, giving them the opportunity to present their work on the cover; making this publication a canvas in which our artists  in residence can intervene results in a more personal publication for every  residency term.  

After carefully reviewing the proposals for this session, the jury selected the image submitted by meimei (Xinyi Mei), a Chinese artist who joined  the Online Residency Program for the first term of 2023. The jury opted  for an intriguing, even disturbing image, that reveals itself further once one  moves past the punch of beautiful pleasure of a good composition full of  colour. But these organic elements are mediated: the petals and pollen are covered by bags of polluted plastic. In contact with an ever-lasting material, the contradiction and absurdity are a result of their differences. 

This is a charming example of meimei‘s methodology in developing long term research that results in outcomes on different disciplines and formats.  This image unfolds from experimentation between digital materiality and  natural objects, the vase in the scene was printed from a 3D digital model. Meimei’s artistic practice is crossed by the speculative attitude, exploring the pre-existing social and natural contexts that surround us and transcribing  them through a feminist, non-patriarchal lens via recreation and variations.

The cover image for this catalogue represents an awkward encounter, a current tension, and transmits the shivers of a bizarre tactile sensation. A  bodily experience powered by the affections of an image representing what  many other images of this catalogue refer to.