“What Matters” was the question andtatement of 2022 presentation of works by the JUNGE AKADEMIE, the interdisciplinary and international artist-in-residence programme of the Akademie der Künste. In an exhibition and a multifaceted programme including screenings, concerts and readings, 29 fellows from all of the Akademie’s art sections presented sound and video installations, photographs, sculptures, paintings and performances they developed during their studio residencies in the Hansaviertel in Berlin and at Villa Serpentara in Olevano, Italy.

“What Matters” is not to be understood as the title of a thematic exhibition but rather indicates the diversity of questions, perspectives and realities that are interlaced in an artist residency, while emphasising their urgency. The exhibition focused on the artists’ individual approaches that encompass a broad spectrum of themes: from questions about the transformation of societies and their expression in relation to the urban space and landscape, to interrelations between the individual and social systems such as state, religion and the economy, to reflections on body images and conceptions of history, personal archives and the intertwining of nature, technology and culture.

What matters is artistic testimony, poetic resistance and the imagining of sustainable futures in the face of global tipping points – whether climatic or political in nature. Two years into the pandemic and the associated restrictions, “What Matters” was the most comprehensive presentation of works to date by the JUNGE AKADEMIE.

To quote one of the fellows: “What matters? Make them see…”

BODIES IN TRANSITION

Video sculpture

In BODIES IN TRANSITION, viewers encounter performer Ayse Orhon and actor Benno Fürmann life-size on a treadmill on a 75-inch monitor. While conveyor belts have historically been used to speed up mass production, treadmills enhance self-optimisation in neoliberal life structures. The performers’ costume accentuates the physical attributes society assigns to a binary gender model – marked muscularity on one side, suppleness and elegance on the other. Transmission of power from the treadmill and ever-increasing speed lead to changes in the two bodies. The continuously accelerating movement counteracts societal expectations of slimness and flexibility for female bodies while simultaneously evoking reproductive capacities. At the end of an intensely concentrated walk, the two performers stand on the treadmill – free of the gender-accentuating attributes. Their bodies change at the same rate to expose a performative emancipatory space transcending gender.

4K, 22:45 min, sound, colour

two 75-inch monitors, standing on edge on the floor, two-block weights

Performance: Ayse Orhon, Benno Fürmann

Supported by E.ON Stiftung