14/10/11

Patricia Dauder, Modular, Berlin at Aanant & Zoo

Patricia Dauder: Modular, Aanant & Zoo, Berlin / Germany, Through 5 November 2011

This is the first solo exhibition of Spanish-Catalan artist PATRICIA DAUDER (*1973) in Germany.

patricia_dauderPATRICIA DAUDER
Modular

Installation view, Aanant & Zoo, 2011
Courtesy of Aanant & Zoo, Berlin

The title of the exhibition, „Modular“ – modular seen as the opposite of monolithic –, hints to one of the central themes of Patricia Dauder's artistic work: The analysis and exploration of diverse possible elements and (atmo)spheres, taken individually from reality, or borrowed from it as geometric figures. By her subjective realignment, Patricia Dauder reveals existing structures, forms and perspectives which allow a novel view on the whole. Through minimal variations of the visual content that seems to oscillate inside a hermetic space, a meta-narrative arises which is intent on the reintegration of the images within their original context. However, such an endeavor varies depending on viewer and situation, and in this sense remains subordinated under a double contingency.

Dauder´s thoughts and works always have their starting point in the phenomenal, which, despite its high level of abstraction, can at second sight always be reintegrated into our lifeworld and reality. Important to note though that this world is no longer the natural and primal one, but a new world, constituted by means of the interplay between artist, artwork, and observer. This occurs in media as different as drawing, slide projection, film and installation.

Patrica Dauder's drawings, in their apparent unambiguousness, presuppose an accurate and cautious viewer. In the interplay between filigree and reduction, they show themselves as works derived from the organic, and they also require to be seen as such.

The drawing “Aerodynamism (from Overlappings),” executed on semi-transparent paper, shows a denial of any kind of perspective. Not only does it have the audacity to reside on the floor, or at least on a small platform – it seemingly takes the alchemist principle as above, so below; as below so above to the heart. The work offers itself to the gaze from each side, yet still remains hermetic. Viewers looking for orientation or entry points in the work may recognize the basic geometrical structures of circle, rectangle and square. They may also realise the play of emptiness and fullness between different elements of the work. Otherwise they are left to themselves, the artwork and its unspoken demand to develop one's own logic.

Besides drawings and other works on paper, Dauder has for some years been using film as a medium. “Forward”, a film shot on Gran Canaria at the 2009/2010 PWA (Professional Windsurfing Association) event, offers a loosely edited and non-narrative sequence of film clips. The images of the sea, the suggested horizon and the flying surfers with their boards against the sky are shown in quick succession, but in slow-motion; they seem to be in a seemingly almost timeless mode of perception beyond the one we are used to. By reducing her mean of production to those of a black and white film, and by abandoning any kind of sound, the artist manages to create a contemplative film sculpture. The sport with its quick and precise movements, and the competition on and with the water almost appear as a natural spectacle that reinserts itself into the great cycle of things.

Patricia Dauder's works retain an enigmatic character. They will not accept to be deciphered in their entirety but rather keep their being-for-themselves. At the same time they invite us, just like nature, to engage in and to renew our explorations on time. 

Next exhibition at Aanant & Zoo : LUIS CAMNITZER, 18 November 2011 - 28 January 2012 ... more informations coming soon ...

Aanant & Zoo, Berlin
Bülowstraße 90
10783 Berlin / Germany
Website: www.aanantzoo.com