ECHO 2, 2011 / 2014
Zusammenarbeit mit der Künstlerin Justine Gaga (Douala / Kamerun)
im Rahmen des Projektes >"Present Perfect"
kuratiert von Annette Schemmel und Marjolijn Dijkman




Beate Engl
Beate Engl
To begin with, the sculptors Beate Engl and Justine Gaga have together thought through the artistic references that inform their individual practices. Following their first meeting on a terrace in Douala in late 2011, this reflection condensed into a text-piece that evolved by means of Internet correspondence and during a joint research period in Munich. They built this dialogue with quotes by other artists and philosophers spanning the period since 1950. The influential categories of production, reception, site and power give structure to this collage of statements, puns, visions, critiques and hopes. Ideas about how to insert this discourse into the public realms of their home cities led to an ensemble of props, comprising reworked propaganda fabric prints and the photo collages of sandwich-women that are spread across this magazine. The ensemble's title is Echo. In view of the pertinent centre-periphery gap in the so-called global art world and with regard to the high production cost of art publications it comes as no surprise that the art statements collected in Douala and in Munich stemmed for the most part from Western male writers. We tried to counterbalance this result by adding some African voices, but the respective books were to be found on (library) shelves in Europe. Other texts were available online - but only with a speedy Internet connection on our side of the digital divide.
(aus dem Vorwort von Annette Schemmel, DiArtgonale Special Edition #2)

>Echoes, DiARTgonale Special Edition #2


Beate Engl Beate Engl