| Skupturenpark Berlin_Zentrum presents: |
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Valeska Peschke Und er kommt nicht allein, 2007-2008 Opening: Sunday, December 16, 3 PM December 17, 2007 - March 14, 2008 Place: Alte Jakob Straße / Kommandantenstraße |
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| Over seven meters tall, a black silhouette
of a dog casts its shadow over Berlin’s urban wasteland. In her
project, "Und er kommt nicht allein", Berlin-based artist, Valeska
Peschke constructs a monumental landmark that announces Skulpturenpark’s
most frequent users, dogs. This new landmark derives from the famous Toro
de Osborne (Osborne’s Bull). In 1956, the Osborne sherry company
began erecting silhouettes of a bull painted with the maker’s name
as advertising billboards along highways throughout Spain’s spacious
and mountainous landscape. Nearly 40 years later, a law was passed forbidding
such advertising. By then, however, the public had adopted the Toro as
an unofficial national symbol. After citizen resistance in 1997, the Spanish
High Court allowed them to remain as objects of cultural and aesthetic
significance. "Und er kommt nicht allein" displaces the principles of the Spanish Toro to downtown Berlin. Its scale, once determined by its distance from the highway, now poses a question about being a sign developed not for advertising but as an artwork in relationship to its urban landscape. The Toro’s significance shifted from commercial to cultural. Peschke refers to this transference and adopts a commercial form, but uses it as a universal aesthetic that can critique its surroundings. At Skulpturenpark, how will local residents perceive this un-requested and identifiable monument which has just invaded “their” space? Tellingly, the owner of the lot originally sited for the large dog denied its construction for fear that the sculpture would legitimize the land’s already public and obvious use as a dog run. Valeska Peschke has created previous projects which focus on how to read the city area. "Volcanoes in Berlin" (1993-97) deals with the development of conceptional worlds and instructions for actions that offer the possibility to experience areas and wastelands in change. With "Instant Home/Modernism" (ongoing) she created prototypes of houses and of cartographic and topological examinations arise from observing how the model worlds behave towards the environment. Artist's website: www.valeskapeschke.com With generous assistance from Krinner Schraubfundamente (www1.krinner.de). Spekulationen has been curated by Eva Hertzsch/Adam Page (Dresden/Berlin), Birgit Schumacher/Uwe Jonas (Berlin), Adam Sutherland (Grizedale, GB), and KUNSTrePUBLIK, e.V. For more on the Spekulationen Series, click here. Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum is a project by KUNSTrePUBLIK, e.V. (Matthias Einhoff, Philip Horst, Markus Lohmann, Harry Sachs, Daniel Seiple). The exhibition series has received the generous support of the Hauptstadtkulturfonds, Berlin, Germany. For more information, please contact our office: Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum KUNSTrePUBLIK e.V. Neue Grünstr. 20 10179 Berlin mail@skulpturenpark.org http://www.skulpturenpark.org |
