veronika kellndorfer at Studio im Hochhaus in berlin

September 1, 2020

Christopher Grimes Projects is pleased to announce Veronika Kellndorfer's participation inWand an Wand an Wand (Wall to Wall to Wall), a group exhibition at the Studio im Hochhaus in Berlin. 

In the show “Wand an Wand an Wand (Wall to Wall to Wall),” artists Heike Baranowsky, Veronika Kellndorfer, and Mirjam Thomann work with the unique exhibition space in the ‘Studio im Hochhaus,’ which is housed in the former offices of the ‘Volkssolidarität’, the organization for senior citizens’ welfare. The particular historical, architectural and socio-political features of this location – a ground-floor gallery in a high-rise complex built in the late 1980s where 50,000 people still live today – serve as the starting point for the works shown in this exhibition. These works are placed in relation to the site itself and to each other by means of a collectively implemented spatial intervention – the removal of the ceiling panels. The revealed aluminum grid, the pipes and cables, and the concrete skeleton of the ceiling collectively create the impression of an archaeological dig; however, the difference is that instead of excavating new layers of soil, an unhindered view of unexpected heights is revealed here.

Kellndorfer deals with this reversal of the usual directed perception in her works that were conceived specifically for this exhibition. She projects an image of the 20-story building as a small-format slide, in miniature size, onto a wall just above the skirting. A two-way mirror reflects the grid-patterned façade of the building in the form of a multiple refracted projection through the grid structure and onto the ceiling structure. The perspective in this slide, which allows us to appreciate the height of the building, is underscored by our view of the ceiling: the exterior is connected to this ground-floor space – a projection of the location onto itself.

In Kellndorfer’s second work, Interior, Corner, a slide projector casts light onto a number of objects. A sculpture consists of a constructivist arrangement of simple geometrical figures made from dichroic and screen-printed glass, together with a wooden pedestal. Beside this, there is a stone block that supports a spotlight and a plant that Kellndorfer borrowed from Heike Baranowsky for the duration of the exhibition. The interaction of the light source with the glass objects and the plant creates a cinematic combination of complementary color effects, shadows and projections. Monstera deliciosa, is a reference to the jungle-like atrium of Lina Bo Bardi’s ‘Casa de Vidro’ in São Paulo, the screen-printed image in the center of the sculpture. Synonymous with bourgeois interiors thus creates a link between an East German housing project in the outskirts of Berlin and Bo Bardi’s tropical modernism.

Wand an Wand an Wand is on view September, 1 - November, 11, 2020

Zingster Strasse 25
D-13051 Berlin
Phone: +49.30.9293821
www.studio-im-hochhaus.de