HdKVHeidelbergerKunstverein

Heidelberger Kunstverein is pleased to announce first joint exhibition of the Mannheim-based artists Katinka Eichhorn (b. 1993) and Jordan Madlon (b. 1989). Their image-objects move between painting, sculpture, poetry, assemblage, and drawing, whilst extending the critique of medium-based categories.

Their pieces made from textiles, paper, wood, and aluminium hang on the wall, divide space—inside from outside—implode, bend, and withstand. Two-dimensional planes are sewn together, printed on and filled. They expand in space, and become bodies. In addition to the choice of fabric and the type of filling material, gravity and the way they are hang affect the resulting shapes. Simultaneously, there is an undeniable openness, elasticity, and dynamism immanent in their works—regardless of whether materials are malleable, reacting with slight adjustments to your body movement, or whether they seem fixed like stencilled lettering. For where the material is hard, the forms are all the more softer. It is as if by imitating the pliable presence of objects made from textiles, rigid shapes appear to become fluid.

Hence, the differently layered cutouts of wood and aluminium may appear stiff at first glance, yet they suggest movement. From a horizontal axis that forms a counterpart to the floor, some forms seem to flow downward, while others strive upwards against gravitational force. Deliberately placed blank spaces in the works further enhance this dynamism on display here. As details, these ›cutouts‹ draw attention to what is omitted as well as to the process of omission. Functioning as interruptions and fragments, they simultaneously place the potential of supplementation within representational space, and thus engaging the viewer in the structure of the work.

The exhibition ›Where Space Wings By‹ relates to the idea of in-betweenness that manifests itself materially in individual works but also metaphorically as the overarching connection between both artistic practices. The artists themselves describe this ›in-between space‹ as an invisible space. The works are expected to make this quality tangible.

To direct one’s attention to the in-between means endeavouring to understand situations constituted by movement and mediation. As a (strangely slippery) condition, artistic in-between space also allows one to escape the essentialism that dominates Western logic in its search for the true nature of things, and dividing the world into ideas of ›this‹ or ›that‹. In Eichhorn and Madlon’s work, space is not just a physical container, it is also activated as a dynamic phenomenon of semantic ambiguity.

Interestingly, Hilde Domin’s poem Unaufhaltsam (1994), about the power of (uttered) words, inspired the artists for their exhibition. From the poem, the line ›Wo das Wort vorbeifliegt‹ (Where the word flies by) was adapted so that ›word‹ was replaced by ›space‹. In this way, the latter’s agency is expressed. It is not without reason that the exhibition focuses more on exploring spatial relationships and less on questioning representational space or the meaning of individual visual elements as signs.

About the artists: