For everyone, ‘the sun rises in the east’, yet it moves through the most diverse realities…

Exploring partial aspects of contemporary art, the exhibition „Partikel“ points out that the concept of art, and thus art itself, eludes an unambiguous interpretation. It remains a temporary setting and observation. On display is a fragmentary excerpt from The Line is never quite obedient curated by Aileen Treusch for Cartier Northern Europe in 2023. In contrast to the site-specific intervention in the listed former counter hall of Commerzbank, Frankfurt, the current exhibition at Galerie 3AP focuses on a contemplative, long-term examination including works by Jacqueline Hen and Philipp Naujoks. Starting from a cosy red and dark setup, visitors are invited to develop a critical understanding that arises from an ongoing engagement. On display is the work ‘One’s sunset is another one’s sunrise’ by Cologne-based artist Jacqueline Hen, thematising a global view of the sun, which neither rises nor sets and even shines at night, while at the same time manifesting certain power relations and ideas of reality. In her light art objects and large-scale immersive installations, she explores the unconscious perception of one’s own movement, tension, posture, and position in space (proprioception) as well as experiences of contingency (Luhmann, Parsons) in the intertwining of physical and virtual living spaces.

What does it mean to become aware of different realities and perspectives and to transfer these to exhibition concepts? ‚Colour‘ and ‚line‘ are explored in Philipp Naujoks‘ work in a technically sophisticated and unusual way, as he shoots the canvas with a laser to create his images using photochemical processes. It shakes up the viewer’s usual viewing habits while depicting perhaps the most fundamental subject of painting: ‚colore‘ and ‚disegno‘. In the work ‘Algenubi’ by the Düsseldorf-based artist, cosmic space is captured both technically and conceptually. Hidden in the title is a reference to the constellation “Cetus” – a very extended but less conspicuous one, whose interpretation dates back to the ancient world. References to recent art history – such as Thomas Ruff’s ‘Stellar Landscapes’ or Peter Roehr’s ‘Black Panels’ – remain subtle and unspecific while focusiong an aesthetic stringency and intellectual radicalism. The endless expanse, the unknown in space fascinates and frightens at the same time; the beautiful red sunrise or sunset is – like everything in nature, including ourselves – subject to transience. Both series of works change radically due to their respective exhibition context, or what becomes visible to the viewer. What is visible or recognisable at all? Imagining an infinite and with the gestural reference to one’s own (mental-associative) fallibility and (spatial-physical) finiteness, installation and painting create a dialogue-based discourse that creates knowledge, knowing full well and, as noted in the exhibition title, always recognising only in tiny ‘particles’.  As a ‘staple food of democracy’ and a source of inspiration for debates, the persistent second, third – in short – repeated look at art has a stabilising effect on our society, recognising its pluralities.

Credit: Exhibition view „Partikel“ – Jacqueline Hen and Philipp Naujoks

Photos: Philipp Naujoks, Courtesy: the artists and Galerie 3AP/Düsseldorf.