For its new exhibition, the Avant Galerie Vossen brings together some twenty artists around the theme of the Rectangle. With this exhibition, the gallery continues to forge links between traditional practices and digital forms. *Black Rectangle* brings together painting, sculpture, installation, and new technologies.

A legendary motif
In the Lascaux caves, beneath the deer and bison we’ve known since childhood, researcher Stanislas Dehaene uncovered something unexpected: a black rectangle beneath the painting of the deer. The first geometric shape drawn by humankind. A minimal yet decisive sign—the beginning of symbolic thought, according to the researcher; this ability to create symbols is what makes us human; we are symbolic beings. Several millennia later, the black rectangle is still there, more than ever. It has multiplied; it covers our phone screens and our digital interfaces. The black rectangle censors, protects, hides. It is the form of imposed silence as much as it is of minimalist art. It is the browser window and the redaction bar. And it covers the walls of the Avant Galerie Vossen.

The black rectangle—poetic, humorous, political, algorithmic…
In the exhibition, the black rectangle takes on a poetic form for painters and sculptors. It is a humorous form for Apolline Régent when she plays with the legacy of the painter Malevich. It is a political form when Enora Denis finds it in facial recognition patents, masking the faces that feed the algorithms. It is an algorithmic form when Olivain Porry programs an AI to lie to other AIs and other humans. It is a physical form, rooted in the street, when Aram Bartholl seals a USB drive into the wall on Rue Chapon. It is fabric and sound when Cécile Babiole weaves electrical cables as one would weave wool.

In collaboration with Galerie Placido, 41 rue Chapon, 75003 Paris

With:

Clarisse AÏN, Jean-Michel ALBEROLA, Cécile BABIOLE, Robbie BARRAT, Ronan BARROT, Aram BARTHOLL, Louise BELIN, Ross BLECKNER, Benoit de BRETTES, CÉSAR, Mattia CUTTINI, Judith DEGOULET, Enora DENIS, David GUEZ, Grégoire HESPEL, Denis LAGET, Takesada MATSUTANI, Albertine MEUNIER, Hélène MILAKIS, PIERRE EDOUARD, Piero PIZZI CANNELLA, Olivain PORRY, Michel POTAGE, Apolline RÉGENT, Park SEO-BO, James SIENA, u2p050, Bernar VENET

SPEED SHOW is back! We are very pleased to present a super diverse field of artists from net.art of the 1st generation to current web and screen based practice turning away from the platforms and smartphones to make work for the computer screen again. Back in the days monitors were heavy and computers weren’t mobile. Internet cafes were social spaces to meet and to be on the internet together. Over the years screens became smaller and flatter. Today we spend most of our time isolated on the black rectangle of a smartphone screen but a general fatigue of social media filled with clickbait-aislop has been making its way in the last few years. A young generation of digital artists is again producing exciting works for the computer screen, with pixels, HTML, as games, interaction and with a deep understanding of the web as the true social space. CU you at the cyber cafe!

Curated by: Aram Bartholl, Hugo Du Plessix & Emilie Blanchard / L’Avant Galerie Vossen

with: Cécile Babiole, Raphael Bastide, Nadja Buttendorf, Shu Lea Cheang, Vuk Ćosić, Insa Derk Wagner, Nathan Ghali, David Guez, Leander Herzog, Dasha Ilina, Jonas Lund, Stella Jacob, Cassie Mc Quater, Albertine Meunier, Vincent Moulinet, Rhea Myers, Nephilia, Eleonore Sense & Reem Saleh, Nicolas Sassoon, Antoine Schmitt, Florie Souday, Zero Crossing Point

May 28th 7:30-10:00pm, MILK cyber cafe, 31 BD SÉBASTOPOL, PARIS 1ER
Same night! ✨@avant.galerie opening „Rectangle noir“ group show! 6:00-9:00pm 58 rue chapon, 75003

From the exhibition flyer: ‚In our country, we are witnessing a strengthening AfD as a rallying party of the far-right and right-wing conservative spectrum. This year, significant events are taking place. On July 4th, the party intends to hold a federal party conference in Erfurt, the state capital of Thuringia — the very place where, exactly 100 years earlier, an NSDAP party conference was held. The NSDAP Reich Party Congress of 1926 is regarded as a turning point of the völkisch movement. At the time, the Nazis made a demonstrative march into the German National Theatre in Weimar…‘

curated by Dirk Teschner und MIEZE SÜDLICH

Artists: Stefan Alber, Aram Bartholl, Benedikt Braun, Mirjam Dorsch, Thomas Draschan, Tony Franz, Tino Helbig, kanaluntersuchung (Frank Maibier / Andreas Winkler), Tonia Karn, Wilhelm Maria Elfriede Leithold, Dirk Leitloff, Eric Meier, MINETTA, Caterina Mitwalsky, Anne Mundo / Peter Wawerzinek, Ulrike Mundt, Alexander Neugebauer, Tommy Neuwirth, Thomas Prochnow, Christian Rothe, Hanna Schiller, Berni Bernchen feat Moritz Schleime, Marco Schmitt, Michal Schmidt, Bettina Scholz, Elisabeth Sonneck, Moritz Stumm, Ronny Szillo, Raul Walch, Ina Wudtke

Am 31. März findet im LUX Pavillon der Hochschule Mainz die ganztägige, vierte Ausgabe der readOn Konferenz unter dem Titel AT THE EDGE OF KNOWING statt.

Die Konferenz richtet den Blick auf jene Momente, in denen Wissen brüchig wird – wenn sich zwischen Gewissheit und Vermutung, Erkenntnis und Ahnung ein offener Raum auftut. Ein Raum, der sich eindeutigen Definitionen entzieht: Fragen werden wichtiger als Antworten, Prozesse bedeutsamer als Ergebnisse – und Unsicherheit erscheint nicht als Mangel, sondern als produktive Kraft.

AT THE EDGE OF KNOWING lädt dazu ein, diese Schwelle des Verstehens bewusst zu betreten. Gemeinsam suchen wir nach neuen Perspektiven auf Gestaltung, Begegnung und das Denken möglicher Zukünfte. Nicht-Wissen wird dabei nicht umgangen, sondern als Ausgangspunkt ernst genommen.

In Vorträgen und Diskussionen untersuchen geladene Gäste, welche Rolle Unsicherheit in gestalterischen Prozessen, in der Forschung und in unserer Haltung zur Zukunft spielen kann. Die Konferenz versteht sich nicht als abgeschlossener Zustand, sondern als Reflexion eines Prozesses, der sich in die Ungewissheit hinein entfaltet – und lädt dazu ein, gemeinsam an den Rand des Wissens zu treten und die Weite des Unscharfen zu erkunden. In ungewissen Zeiten möchten wir Raum schaffen, um zusammenzukommen – und statt am scheinbar Sicheren festzuhalten, bewusst loszulassen und neu zu denken. Die Teilnahme ist gegen eine freiwillige Spende möglich.

Organisiert von den Studierenden des Masterstudiengangs Kommunikationsdesign der Hochschule Mainz.