Jürgen Heinert - Heiko Sievers - Wolfgang Stehle

Opening: Saturday, December 11, 2004. 7 pm
Duration: December 14, 2004 - January 29, 2005
Opening Hours: Tu - Sa 12-7 pm

Sometimes Jürgen Heinert grants us a glimpse of his wondrous world; but the viewer is unprepared and frequently unable to recognise the wonder. What artistic value does a drowning fly have, that it merits so much attention? All the more so, when one considers the things that surround us, which are much better than death. However, if one were to give this negligible event a little more than the usual brief attention, something surprising would be revealed. The end of the struggle between life and death is awaited in vain: the moment when the fly’s strength fails and its circling on the water surface ends; and it finally drowns. As we watch this banal event we are momentarily touched by something deep and existential: a smaller version of the perpetual fight; the symbolisation of the inescapable. “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” These are the closing words of The Great Gatsby; and with a simple signpost reading EXIST, Jürgen Heinert releases the viewer back into the world, raising neither a warning finger nor giving directions for the unavoidable.

Heiko Sievers manages to produce fragmented views of the world in miniature. He shapes the scenes, creates heaven and earth and is lord over the power of nature. Since the invention of the diorama this type of artist has enjoyed great appreciation. As with photography and film, the diorama satisfies the masses’ desire for image media that corresponds to general technological and social developments. Heiko Sievers celebrates the joy of seeing. He fosters a preference for fictitious character with all-powerful fantasies; and in the past years he has devoted large, installed projection rooms to them.
Those in possession of information rule the world. Heiko Sievers not only creates images, but also develops the corresponding stage settings. The SCOOP-TV internet portal – a joint project with Claudius Böhm and Volker Möllenhoff – designs a virtual world down to the smallest detail, covering media relevant themes from all areas of life: fictitious news broadcasts about natural disasters, sports and entertainment; in depth stories about invented players, given credibility by the fact that they draw close to existing people; and banners for virtual concerns and organisations. All are part of the encompassing view of a society that could, in fact, exist. In particular, the flood of news about salvation or conspiracies are a caricature of the simple needs of the viewer for entertainment, and the corresponding media offer; even if, at the end of the day, they give credibility to absurd contributors to reality.

Wolfgang Stehle creates order. At the same time, the painter’s oeuvre gives elasticity to the meaning of the word. Order is revealed in the formally aesthetic analysis of the ornamentation, as in social structures. However, the works of the past years do not dispense with an essential sense of humour. At the same time, they take on a task or, better said, they assist social interaction to maintain the established order system and the conventions of social communication. A rather imposing debate with the order system is represented in the spacious sculpture “recreation”. Even with its split form, the viewer looks for well-structured order that promises stability and satisfies the need for clearly defined shapes.
The animated video Headbanging celebrates a well-known rock ‘n roll ritual: in time with the bass, the head is tossed from side to side, experiencing in full the pathos of the music. The hair, which swirls through the air, has been tamed in a bizarre manner: synchronised with the music which is playing backwards, it is rolled up and twisted into idiosyncratic ornaments.