I’m so excited Voyage Dallas featured my story and work in their latest string of interviews with creative entrepreneurs.
Grateful I even got to touch on my artist collective Gonzomechanics, and our mission as well as my own personal focus on connection and the brain in this article.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Mid-Autumn Festival.
New Gonzomechanics Artists | *LLND
Gonzomechanics is thrilled to add French artist team *LLND to our collective. We are looking forward to collaborating together and showing more of their interactive work in our upcoming projects.
*LLND is an international media artist team merging sound, image and matter in an approach that combines physical reality, science, myth, technology, and real time. *LLND stands for the initials of Laurent Lettrée and Nathalie Delpech, who have been based in Shanghai, China since 2009.
Nathalie’s video and graphic art are a poetic meeting of the psychedelic and surrealism. With strong colours and forms borrowed from a revisited reality, she gives life to inanimate objects. Laurent is composer and self-taught electronic machinery builder. He explores sound and its multiple frequencies and rhythmic variations.
Image of ‘Music Garden’ installation, Shanghai, 2019.
new gonzomechanics artist | Caitlin Pickall
Gonzomechanics is pleased to add multimedia artist, Caitlin Pickall, to our collective!
Image from installation, ‘Lighstream 108’, 2018.
Caitlin Pickall is a multimedia installation artist. She combines audiovisual and constructed elements with sensors and custom software to create reactive objects and environments that address material culture, social rituals and processes of meaning-creation.
Her work explores the mental concepts used to define self and experience and the relationships between these constructs and physical space with an emphasis on fracturing and restructuring of space and time, networks and systems, and hybrid and liminal spaces.
Born in the United States, she has lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Berlin and is currently based in New York City.
Look forward to seeing more of Caitlin's interactive work in our upcoming projects.
Antonyms | WhywhyArt
The ANTONYMS exhibition opens this Friday 11 June with WhywhyArt and the Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General Shanghai.
Included is a recent work from my Light the Gas series focusing on gaslighting as a form of abuse.
ANTONYMS, in the form of ActOnitions, emphasizes the need to continue raising awareness for different “s(he) gender” social groups and aims to initiate conversation — and in the age of social media, there are channels for artists and activists to transmit a powerful message on a scale formerly unimaginable.
WhyWhyArt’s intention is to use ANTONYMS as an opportunity to give voice to the daily forms of violence experienced by those voiceless of the “s(he) gender”. ANTONYMS is a call, therefore, to push back against physical/economical; sexual/human rights and mental/political abuse.
ANTONYMS is organized by WhyWhyArt and the Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General Shanghai and is supported by ifa gallery (Brussels) and EASA.
Dates: 11th June – 30th September
Mon-Fri: 10:00-18:30
Venue: Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General Shanghai
Cross Tower 101, Fuzhou Road 318, Shanghai
Vernissage: 11th June 18.00 – 21.00
Gökçen Dilek Acay | DIE KONFERENZ DER TIERE
Special congratulations to Gonzomechanic Gökçen Dilek Acay for winning the 2021 thüringen Landesstipendium für Bildende Kunst!
Her solo show DIE KONFERENZ DER TIERE opens next week, 30.4 , at Galerie Eigenheim Berlin with an online vernissage at 19 Uhr. DIE KONFERENZ DER TIERE runs until 29.05.2021.
see more of Dilek’s work on the gonzomechanics website.
New Gonzomechanics Artist | Chen Hangfeng
Gonzomechanics is pleased to add artist, Chen Hangfeng, to our artist collective. Look for more of Hangfeng's interactive work in our upcoming projects this year.
Image from installation, 'Where the Wind Comes From', 2010.
Image from installation, 'Where the Wind Comes From', 2010.
“‘Where the Wind Comes From’ explores the museumification of traditional culture – which has become more of a specimen of observation rather than a living, breathing part of contemporary Chinese culture. In this way, it seems the Chinese traditional culture can only come alive when we engage with it – read the classics, study poems or practice calligraphy. Without the presence of our gaze it becomes lifeless and still.
When the viewer comes close to this work, a motion sensor sets a number of fans into action, causing the plastic bamboo leaves to rustle in the wind. A “fake” traditional Chinese painting in fact revives the spirit of traditional gardens in the middle of a bustling street, which reflects on our own temporary presence as a “wind” stirring this changing society.”
Chen Hangfeng (1974) works in graphic, paper-cut, drawing, painting, installation, performance, photography and video. His practice has been focusing on film and moving images since 2010. His work deals with the issues of identity, contradictions brought by globalization, environmental changes and cultural transmutation; often realized through playful metaphor, and he merge concepts and mediums like an alchemist. He sees artist as a present-day incarnation of ancient philosopher, artisan and literati.
Chen currently works and lives between Shanghai and Amsterdam. He will become a researcher at the Master Program of Netherlands Film Academy from September 2021.
more about hangfeng’s work.
GÖKÇEN DILEK ACAY | Böse in Mir/Dir
Congratulations to fellow-Gonzomechanic, Gökçen Dilek Acay. Her show ‘BÖSE IN MIR/DIR’ runs until 21.11.20 at Galerie Eigenheim, weimar.
details below:
GÖKÇEN DILEK ACAY - Böse in Mir/Dir
Vernissage 23.10.2020 um 19 Uhr
Dauer 24.10. – 21.11.2020 / Ort EIGENHEIM Weimar, Asbachstraße 1 (Gärtnerhaus im Weimarhallenpark), 99423 Weimar / Rahmenprogramm23.10. um 19:30h – Konzert mit Ayşe Kurultay (Gitarre), Josephine Prkno (Trompete), Stephen Nolan (Gitarre) und Gökçen Dilek Acay (Violine) / 30.10. ab 19:30h – Stickabend / 06.11. ab 14h bis 22h – Fotogram Workshop / 19.11. um 20.00h – Jam Session Music Abend
“Gökçen Dilek Acay diskutiert in ihrer Arbeit Konzepte der Unterdrückung, Macht und den zerstörerischen Aspekten des Menschen. Acay verwendet verschiedene Symbole um den Kontrast und den gegenseitigen Einfluss zwischen dem tierischen im Menschen und dem menschlichen im Tier zu zeigen. Macht ist ein Spiegelbild der modernen Gesellschaft und der politischen Struktur des Rohen und Instinktiven. Der moderne Mensch besteht nach Acay aus Widersprüchen. In ihrer Arbeit versuche sie, diese Wildheit und die Gewalt gegen weniger begünstigte Wesen sowie gegen den objektivierten und missbrauchten Körper herauszuarbeiten und darzustellen. ”
More about artist collective Gonzomechanics.
KULTURSYMPOSIUM WEIMAR 2019 video
very grateful to goethe-institut and kultursymposium weimar for the video inclusion of accountability machine in action during “die route wird neu berechnet” video released online this week.
(accountability machine caught pointing north at :59)
more about my work here and more about gonzomechanics and its machines here.
KULTURSYMPOSIUM WEIMAR | images
Images from Kultursymposium Weimar’s opening and (and after party) this past weekend, with Accountability Machine interacting on-site. This was a blast.
Read more about how Accountability Machine is trying to save the world.
more about goethe institut’s “DIE ROUTE WIRD NEUE BERECHNET” here.
more about the sculpture Accountability Machine here.
KULTURSYMPOSIUM WEIMAR 2019
KULTURSYMPOSIUM WEIMAR 2019 takes place next week, 19 – 21 June at various locations in Weimar.
The theme “die Route wird neu berechnet” (recalculating the route) will be explored in the various lectures, performances, exhibitions and discussions going on during that time, and Compass: Accountability Machine will one of the interactive works featured on-site. Gozomechanics is very pleased to participate as an artist collective.
Visit the KSWE19 website for the lineup of speakers/artists/discussions/performances or find more details about the event on their facebook page.
IMAGINARY BAUHAUS MUSEUM | images
IMAGINARY BAUHAUS MUSEUM is in its last week and on view until June 2 at Schiller-Museum Weimar.
The finissage is on Sunday, June 2, 14 - 18 Uhr.
Accountability Machine (2017) with work by Minhee Ahn in background.
Life is Short, Buy the Shoes (2019) by Moawya Al Kadra
The Midas Touch - Money Talks (2019) by Edoardo Teddes.
Read the Washington Post article talking about the show here.
More about the Imaginary Bauhaus Exhibition here.
WOCHE DER DEMOKRATIE, Angela Merkel | images
some images from the Woche der Demokratie opening at the deutsches nationaltheater, weimar last weekend.
it’s also an honor to have work exhibited in the same building Angela Merkel visited to honor the 100 year anniversary of the Weimar Republic this week (image below courtesy of @stadtweimar).
(image @stadtweimar)
more here about the Woche der Demokratie exhibition at the deutsches nationaltheater, weimar and why this year is such an important year for german history.
WOCHE DER DEMOKRATIE | deutsches nationaltheater, weimar
very pleased to have recent work included in the WOCHE DER DEMOKRATIE opening this friday, 1 february, at the deutsches nationaltheater in weimar.
this will also be the public debut of the gonzomechanics artist collective, as we show the interactive sculpture, compass: accountability machine together.
the exhibition celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the meeting of the national assembly in weimar in 1919 which began the famous weimar republic.
the full line-up of lectures, performances and concerts can be found on the WOCHE DER DEMOKRATIE website, and image updates can followed on instagram.
MANIFEST OF PRACTICE | images
Thank you to everyone that joined the Manifest of Practice exhibition vernissage at the Thüringer Staatskanzlei in Berlin and made the opening so memorable.
It’s a pleasure to be part of the 100 Years of Bauhaus anniversary with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, its team and its alumni.
See more images and videos from the night on @gonzomechanicstudio’s instagram and how gonzomechanics is trying to save the world with more about our artists here.
The exhibition runs until 1 Feb.
MANIFEST OF PRACTICE | thüringer staatskanzlei, berlin
incredibly honored to have work featured in the manifest of practice exhibition opening this week with great minds from bauhaus-universität weimar as part of bauhaus 100.
the show runs 17 jan – 1 feb at the thüringer staatskanzlei in berlin
opening hours are monday – friday, 9 – 18 uhr.
more information on the manifest of practice exhibition website and more about gonzomechanics on our website and @gonzomechanicsstudio on instagram.
3. berliner herbstsalon | maxim gorki theater | berlin
from maxim gorki theater website:
“seit mittlerweile vier spielzeiten arbeiten wir am maxim gorki theater daran, uns aus vereinfachungen, zuschreibungen und kategorisierungen herauszuspielen und neue narrative aufzubauen.
im november laden wir zur dritten ausgabe des berliner herbstsalons mit kunst, theater, performance und diskurs in die mitte der stadt: vom brandenburger tor über das kronzprinzenpalais bis zum palais am festungsgraben und in das GORKI. unter der überschrift desintegriert euch! versammelt der 3. berliner herbstsalon arbeiten von rund 100 bildenden und darstellenden künstlerinnen, die sich kritisch mit konstruktionen von identität und einheit auseinandersetzen.
3. berliner herbstsalon | 11. – 26. november
organisiert von shermin langhoff mit aljoscha begrich, cagla Ilk, erden kosova, tunçay kulaoğlu, elena sinanina.
die uraufführung beginnt um 16:30, 11. november.
die ausstellung beginnt um 19:00 uhr, 11 november.”
[kronprinzenpalais]
[palais am festungsgraben]
[maxim gorki theater]
3. berliner herbstsalon | maxim gorki theater, berlin
you are warmly invited to the 3. berliner herbstsalon exhibition opening next saturday, 11 nov, hosted by maxim gorki theater, berlin.
some of my newest interactive work will be featured along with other participating artists’ + fellow mfa students from bauhaus-universität weimar.
please find information about the opening and other details below for your reference.
3. berliner herbstsalon
maxim gorki theater
11 – 26 november, 2017
opening : sat, 11 nov, 7 – 11 pm
normal hours : mon – fri, 4 – 11 pm
sat + sun, 1 – 11 pm
location :
kronprinzenpalais
palais am festungsgraben
maxim gorki theater
more about included artists, their work and an itinerary of scheduled events can be found on the websites below.
it would be lovely to see you at the exhibition if you are in the berlin area.
take care + see you soon.
maxim gorki theater
3. berliner herbstsalon