5 May 20

Online stream available on KW’s website
In English

Lecture series with Nadja Abt, Niklas Binzberger, Dina Khouri, Anton Steenbock, Kader Attia

BPA Talks is a three-part lecture series presented by BPA// Berlin program for artists at KW Institute for Contemporary Art. Conceived as a live event, due to present restrictions the second of three BPA Talks was online on KW’s website from May 5–31, 2020. In video presentations, BPA participants Nadja Abt, Niklas Binzberger, Dina Khouri, and Anton Steen-bock will each present their work. BPA guest mentor Kader Attia will share his thoughts on alternative structures for artistic exchange. BPA Talks are flexible in format, ranging from introductory presentations of the artist’s work to lecture performances.

Program

Nadja Abt
15 Floors
with Gerry Bibby, Maya Dalinsky, Carolina Duarte, Theresia Enzensberger, Christine Feistl, Cornelia Herfurtner, John A. MacLean, Tobi Maier, Alida Müschen, and Johannes E. Nowak

Nadja Abt’s video 15 floors shows 10 works with 15 stories that offer an introduction into the working process she developed over the past years while living and working between Brazil, Portugal, and Germany. For her collages, films, and paintings, she uses literature as a starting point to create formal and textual layers that engage with Brazilian politics and art history, feminist discourses, and the maritime space.

Abt studied Literature and Art History at Freie Universität Berlin as well as Fine Arts at Universität der Künste in Berlin and the Universidad Torcuato di Tella in Buenos Aires. Recent exhibitions and screenings include Liebe und Ethnologie, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2019); Die Verqueerung der Welt: Themen und Formen nach Hubert Fichte, Schwules Museum Berlin (2019); Die Zukunft der SPD, Galerie Zwinger, Berlin (2019); aquele vestígio as-sim…feérico, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo (2018); and ESPONJA, Solo Shows, São Paulo (2015). Nadja Abt is part of the collective Michelle Volta and works as an editor for the English/German magazine TEXTE ZUR KUNST.

Niklas Binzberger
Sardonic grin

Niklas Binzberger’s presentation addresses the origin of the sardonic grin and the significance of the concept of heritage, connecting both through several narrations of intimicide. Binzberger is interested in variations of interpersonal power, the question how social/psychological imprints influence decision-making and by which means these could be taken advantage of in an art context.

Binzberger studied computational linguistics at the Universität Potsdam and Fine Arts at Universität der Künste, Berlin. Recent solo and group presentations include presence by proxy, Bar Babette, Berlin (2017); Ants & Elephants, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg; last dance, Kindl Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin (2018) and Al ‘Obour, Jeddah Art Week, Jed-dah, Saudi Arabia (2019).

Dina Khouri
Painting at a Loss
with Gertrud Khouri and Folakunle Oshun

Dina Khouri investigates the consequences of shifting borders and the decentralization of landscapes on images. In her paintings diverse locations and urban settings serve as sources. Khouri understands historical time and the contemporary as opposed dimensions that meet on the surfaces of her works. She describes her paintings as “placed in construction holes – situated in spectral tunnels”.

Dina Khouri studied film at Temple University in Philadelphia and painting at weißenssee kunsthochschule berlin. Her work has been exhibited at the Lagos Biennial (2019); Bad Romance, Gussglashalle Berlin (2019); Wiesbaden Biennial (2018); Staffelschau, Neue Kunst Initiative NKI, Berlin (2018) and at the Sharjah Biennial (2017).

Anton Steenbock
// Sculpting real estate // – A talk between the billionaire and entrepreneur Antonio da Silva and visual artist Anton Steenbock

Anton Steenbock’s interventions, consisting of fake architecture campaigns, showrooms and widely spread propaganda campaigns aim to trigger political consciousness for urban and environmental changes. Ten years ago, Steenbock established a fictitious real estate network which operates in digital and public space. For BPA Talks 2, Steenbock discusses recent work with the founder of this real estate firm, his long-time friend, and art collector Antonio da Silva. Da Silva gives an insight into his life as a successful real estate broker and introduces viewers to the Da Silva Brokers Art LAB, one of the biggest foundations supporting emerging art-ists in Latin America.

Anton Steenbock studied Fine Arts at Universität der Künste, Berlin and the Parque Lage Art School in Rio de Janeiro. Recent solo exhibitions took place at the Museum for contemporary art MAC, Rio de Janeiro (2015); the Centro Cultural de Sao Paulo (CCSP) São Paulo (2012) and the Künstlerhaus Frise in Hamburg (2019). Recent group exhibitions include Biennale SUR, Argentina (2017); Triennale Frestas, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2015) and Historisches Muse-um Frankfurt/Main, Germany (2015). Steenbock is cofounder of Gazua, an artist run exhibition platform operating from Rio de Janeiro. Together with Peter Behrbohm he forms the artist collective SONDER.

Kader Attia
La Colonie

Kader Attia speaks about La Colonie, the space he founded in Paris in 2016 to share ideas and to provide an agora for vivid discussion, extending his praxis from representation to action. As a project initiated by and for artists, he takes La Colonie as an example and starting point to investigate alternative structures for artistic exchange. Kader Attia’s intercultural and interdisciplinary approach of research is influenced by the experience of living between differ-ent cultures, the histories of which over centuries have been characterized by rich trading traditions, colonialism, and multi-ethnic societies. For many years, his research and art are exploring the perspective that societies have on their history, especially in regards to experiences of deprivation and suppression, violence and loss, and how this affects the evolving of nations and individuals—each of them being connected to collective memory.

Kader Attia studied at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré and the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and at Escola Massana, Centre d’Art i Disseny in Barcelona. Notable recent solo exhibitions include Kader Attia: MATRIX 274, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley (2019); The Museum of Emotion, The Hayward Gallery, London (2019); Scars Remind Us that Our Past is Real, Fundacio Joan Miro in Barcelona (2018); Roots also grow in concrete, MacVal in Vitry-sur-Seine (2018). His work has been shown in recent group presentations and biennials such as the 12th Shanghai Biennial (2018); the 12th Gwangju Biennial (2018); the 12th Manifesta, Palermo (2018) and the 57th Venice Biennial (2017).

Further dates

BPA Talks 3
(date tba)
Anne Fellner, Bertrand Flanet, Katrin Winkler, Calla Henkel & Max Pitegoff