Ocula Conversation Cinga Samson: ‘a different conversation on representation’ By Jareh Das, New York Cinga Samson 's paintings lay bare the complex relationship between contemporary life, African traditions, globalisation, and representation. His strikingly sombre portraits contain similarities to those of contemporary painters such as Toyin Ojih Odutola, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye , Kehinde Wiley , Florine Démosthène, and Tunji...
Ocula Report Dhaka Art Summit 2020: Seismic Movements By Radha Mahendru, Dhaka Seismic Movements , the fifth Dhaka Art Summit, plotted movements, solidarities, and exchanges across the Global South with over 500 artists, scholars, curators, and thinkers.
Ocula Insight Guo Hongwei on Seeing Patterns That Don’t Exist By Sherry Paik, New York Guo Hongwei's recent watercolour paintings, showing at Chambers Fine Art in New York from 3 March, trigger pareidolia—the phenomenon of seeing random objects or patterns where they do not exist.
The Schinkel Pavillon is an art institution with a rather exceptional history in the center of Berlin. Run by Nina Pohl, the Schinkel provides a platform for contemporary sculpture, installation, and media art. The varying exhibitions often take up a position towards the peculiarity of the pavilion’s distinctive architecture.
Read MoreBuilt in 1969 by Richard Paulick (perhaps best known as chief architect of Karl Marx Allee), the pavilion is located in the garden of the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) off of Unter den Linden. The floor-to-ceiling windows of the octagon-shaped hall offer up a panoramic view of Berlin’s historic center: the Museum Island, Friedrichswerder Church, as well as the remains of the Bauakademie (Building Academy) by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Today, the Schinkel takes up on the institutional tradition of Kronprinzenpalais, in fact, the world’s first contemporary art institution. It was there, in 1918, that Ludwig Justi founded a new section of the Berlin National Gallery to display what he had culled from Berlin’s ateliers. In selecting the best pieces – mainly expressionist paintings – Justi had gathered together much of the most significant art of that era. When the National Socialists came to power, the contemporary art section was shut down: the art was relegated as ‘degenerate’. After the Second World War and reconstruction of the building, it became a favorite spot for Erich Honecker and his cocktail parties.
Today the Schinkel Pavillon offers up a lively program of contemporary art to a broader public and, at the same time, serves as an eccentric monument of DDR architecture.
Ocula Report City Report: Berlin By Rachael Vance, Berlin Berlin-based Ocula contributor Rachael Vance selects her top five institutional shows currently on display in Germany's capital. KW Institute for Contemporary Art Willem de Rooij, Whiteout 14 September–17 December 2017 Eric Bell & Kristoffer Frick, Compound 13 September–17 December 2017 Known for his films, photography,...
Ocula Report Berlin's Top Five Institutional Summer Exhibitions By Rachael Vance, Berlin Martin-Gropius-Bau Solo Exhibition: Tino Sehgal Until the 8th of August British-German artist Tino Sehgal’s first major solo exhibition in Berlin at the Martin-Gropius-Bau is a drawcard for the art critic and tourist alike. Recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and with previous...
