randian | 燃点

Preview Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 7 pm
Curated by Jung Me Chai
Founder of DISKURS Berlin

When Albert Einstein first predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916, he hardy believed himself that his theory would ever detected. However, last February was reported that this lack of proof had finally been confirmed: gravitation waves are reverberations of the Big Bang, originated almost 13.7 billion years ago. In fact, what Einstein discovered then has been scientifically proven and validated today. The process itself evades all kinds of imagination; it seemed to have place only in academic descriptions. Thus, after the notification of their existence announced last February, gravitational waves are now even presented as a cartoon or in Big Bang animations. Yet, the more is proven by science, the less space is left for the mystery of the universe and humankind. With his theories, Einstein has transformed the way we think and attitude to science. We are grateful to him for this, while are waiting impatiently for further speculations and future actions. “KILL EINSTEIN”.

THE – Thomas Eller
„…if I were not, God would not be: that God is God, of that I am the cause. If I were not, God would not be God.“ „God doesn´t play dice“, Einstein famously said. Thomas Eller’s work THE white male complex (quis ut deus), 2016 negotiates the background radiation of an old universe that in the West stands largely abandoned. The recent wars in the Middle East however give rise again to the suppressed metaphysical residue of Western culture. “God is dead”, Nietzsche famously proclaimed, the corpse however remains unburied. We are currently experiencing the full impact of terror fuelled by the phantasies for almighty power of a self-proclaimed theocracy. What is the West’s answer to this?! – Countering ultra-conservative movements also in the West, Thomas Eller reminds us of a cultural tradition in the West that allows for a positive approach to the question of god. One that does not give itself to become a mundane power of authoritarian discern. One also that liberates the individual from the impositions by self-accredited worldly and spiritual leaders and instead creates an enlightened approach to the world: it is the mystical experience.
In his video, the artist himself reads „Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum”, a homily by Meister Eckhart. To the utmost horror for any orthodoxy, this sermon claims god’s origin to be the self. As such, this exhibition also sheds new light on the complete works of Thomas Eller who for the past 25 years has been concerning himself with the question of the SELF.

Thomas Eller is an artist and president of RanDian, a Chinese and English language art magazine. He was executive director of the German branch of artnet AG, as well as managing director and artistic director of Temporäre Kunsthalle Berlin. He has received various prizes, including the Villa-Romana Prize and the Käthe-Kollwitz-Prize from the Akademie der Künste Berlin in 2006. He has been invited to participate in numerous international exhibitions and projects such as Gwangju Biennial; Solitude au Musée; Musée d’Art Moderne, Saint Étienne; Musée Imaginaire and Museum of Installation, London. In Berlin, he also co-curated ‘The 8 of Paths: Art in Beijing‘, at the Uferhallen.

Jan-Peter E.R. Sonntag
is an artist, composer and researcher. He studied fine arts, art history, music theory, composition, philosophy and cognitive science. He has exhibited in various international exhibitions and received several grants or prizes such as Akademie Schloss Solitude, Berlin-& German Sound Art Prize and the Villa-Aurora-Grant in LA, USA, among others. Since 2012 he is running a media-epistemological research project on Friedrich Kittlers Synthesizer; since 2014, he is one of the the publishers of Kittlers collected writings. In 2015 he had a solo show at the WKV in Stuttgart – RAUSCHEN; his chamber opera SINUS about Herman von Helmholtz was shown at the TAT in Berlin and his video- & sound-installation SONNTAG IM PARK was part of Xenopolis at the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle in Berlin.

DISKURS Berlin
was founded in 2014 by curator Jung Me Chai and will open in April 2016 in a new location in Berlin Mitte, along with an adjoined residency program for curators. DISKURS aims to pursuit and develop experimental approaches while contributing to build new discourses in arts. In addition to its programmatic activity, DISKURS develops connections between public and private cultural institutions in Germany and Korea. In June 2016 it will start a cooperation with the municipal cultural foundation Daegu Foundation for Culture, which will intensify the linkage between the two countries.

DISKURS Berlin
Novalisstraße 7 / 10115 Berlin
www.discursus.info
t. + 49 (0)172 247 2646
f. + 49 (0)30 4404 5596
Opening hours: Wed – Sun : 1pm – 7pm, open by arrangement