Everything Is in a State of Change is a project conceived by curator Daphne Vitali (GR/IT) on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Joseph Beuys’s birth following an invitation of the Goethe-Institut Athen. In order to pay homage to one of the most important and influential artists of the post-war period, the curator has invited two mid-career international artists Jennifer Nelson (GR/US) and Janis Rafa (GR/NL) to produce new works, referring to and dialoguing with Joseph Beuys’s diverse body of work and artistic research.
Jennifer Nelson and Janis Rafa are two artists whose artistic preoccupations are related to Beuys’s vast artistic practice, methodologies, and ideas as well as his stand on ecology. The artists’ new commissioned works engage – directly or indirectly – with environmental issues and more specifically with the relationship and interconnection between the human and the animal worlds. Both artists are drawn to the animal kingdom and focus on the biological, ethical, and philosophical connections that bind us to animals by creating artworks that are filtered by abstractions and metaphors, tackle social issues, and create an open perception of reality. The two new video works by the two artists each create a very different universe and visual narrative, yet both reflect on trauma, existence, violence, and change. Moreover, both works describe an abuse and a state of being trapped in a place or a disturbed landscape as well as being in an uncertain and unfavourable condition with no real escape. The healing, transformative, and ritualistic processes of art – important interests for Beuys himself – are also significant aspects of Janis Rafa’s and Jennifer Nelson’s works.
The artists attempt to visually examine connections between the natural and animal world and human existence but also poetically suggest the healing potential of art for a humanity seeking – in times of Covid – self-revitalisation and a sense of renewed hope for the future, as was the case in the post-war period that Beuys lived through. The title of the project, Everything Is in a State of Change, is a quote from Beuys referring to his artistic process, and it is used here to speak about the artists’ new works, the transformative possibilities of art, and the times we are now living in.
H Janis Rafa is SNF ARTWORKS Fellow (2020) in visual arts.
GOETHE-INSTITUT ATHEN
Panepistimiou 57
Athens
Duration:
27.05.2021 – 22.07.2021
More info:
https://www.goethe.de/ins/gr/el/ver.cfm?event_id=22164747&fuseaction=events.detail&