"Dederon – The Fabric of the East" at e-flux' Agency of Unrealized Projects

One of my projects that hasn't seen the light of public display is "Dederon - The Fabric of the East" has been included in e-flux' Agency of Unrealized Projects. Here my project description:

One of the most complex and yet unrealized projects of mine is “Dederon – The Fabric of the East” (2003-present), which literally uses the (polyester) thread named after the DDR (engl.: G.D.R.) to trace the initially noble and ambitious project of establishing “socialism on German soil”, with particular emphasis on materialism at the intersection of industrial production and everyday life. Here, the synthetic fiber Dederon functions as a metaphor for the categorical Modernist belief in progress and how it defined the social, political, economical and cultural fabric of East Germany before and after 1989. Besides my own photographs (etcetera), I have collected information and visual material from a diverse number of found sources over the years, including film, texts, fiber and fabric samples, posters, advertisements and brochures, with the intent to weave together an installation-collage that presents a critical and somewhat epistemological account of life lived in the “real-existierenden Sozialismus”. Two films, “The Divided Heaven” (Christa Wolf and Konrad Wolf, 1964) and “Good-bye Lenin” (Wolfgang Becker, 2003) represented by screenshots, will function as the conceptual ‘bookends’ in which the two main female film characters miss the construction and dismantling, respectively, of the Berlin Wall while hospitalized due to a state of unconsciousness. In between these two place-and-time holders, “Dederon – The Fabric of the East” will explore issues of production, fashion, gender and representation, political belief systems and ideology, the public and private, memory and melancholia. It is meant as a look back at the successes and failures of the 20th Century’s socialist projects as well as a proposal for rescuing its best ideas and implementations for a future beyond our current and crisis-ridden capitalism. Thus, I seek to reinsert a consideration of future into a world that seems increasingly preoccupied with the present only. But perhaps the unrealized nature of this project of mine is also indicative of the utopian nature of such a progressive alternative? We shall see ...

Photobastei Images

Me with my work in the background (Photo: © Photobastei, 2014)

Viewing my work (Photo: © Photobastei, 2014)

At Photobastei in Zürich

Romano Zerbini, known around Zürich for his keen eye when it comes to photography and his tireless pursue of projects promoting the medium and its artists, has managed to secure seven floors of a high-rise building to temporarily use as an exhibition space for photography between January and August of 2014, named Photobastei. I have been invited by Romano to show two works on the 5th floor: a slide projection of Critical Distance (2008-2013) as well as White Works (2007) from my mixed messages series. The well attended opening was last Thursday with Paolo Pelligrin as the main attraction. My work will be on view through February 2nd, 2014. Here the accompanying text (in German only): 

Critical Distance ist ein umfangreiches Projekt zum Thema "Heimat", dem Blochwitz seit gut 6 Jahren nachgeht und das von Beginn an simultan als Buch und als Fotoinstallation konzipiert war. Er verarbeitet darin in Bild-Text-Kombinationen durch Aussage, Gegenüberstellung, Interpretation und Übersetzung, dass es das Land seiner Jugend und Kindheit, die DDR, seit fast 25 Jahre nicht mehr gibt, dass er zwischenzeitlich länger in den Vereinigten Staaten gelebt hat als im vereinigten Deutschland, und dass er nun sozusagen auf neutralem Boden in der Schweiz wohnt. Heimat ist also (nicht nur) für ihn immer vorort und doch anderswo - und uns damit nur einen Schritt näher als die Utopie. Das macht die Fotografie auch zum idealen Medium für ein solches Langzeitprojekt. Die hier gezeigte halbstündige Bildprojektion lehnt sich stark an das Buchformat zu Critical Distance an und durchläuft über die oben genannten drei Stationen/Kapitel einen Erkenntnisprozess, der der Suche nach Heimat, frei nach Ernst Bloch, einen katalysatorischen Effekt für radikal-emanzipatorische Veränderung zuspricht.

During the opening on January 16th, 2014.

White Works (2007) stammt aus der Serie mixed messages und nimmt unsere noch immer zutiefst chauvinistische Kultur und die ihr zugrunde liegenden Wirtschaft ins Visier. Die Fotografien aus dieser Serie entstanden alle in New York, sind aber in Ihrer Aussage auf den gesamten Westen und gerade auch die Schweiz übertragbar. In der rasterförmigen Anordnung aus 25 Einzelaufnahmen, versucht Blochwitz in gewählt komplexer Bildsprache und –montage herauszuarbeiten, dass in unserer Gesellschaft noch immer vorsätzlich klassifiziert wird, wer was arbeitet, wer überhaupt arbeiten darf und wer gar nicht arbeiten muss. Im Englischen auch: white collar, blue collar ... no collar. Wie dabei das Erwirtschaftete verteilt wird, folgt einer ebenso asozialen und zynischen Logik. Harte Arbeit und prekäre Lebensbedingungen bedingen sich leider öfter als sie sich ausschliessen. Und die Sichtbarkeit der Arbeitenden sinkt je mehr man Arbeitsspuren und die Körperlichkeit der Arbeit an der Arbeitsbekleidung ablesen kann bzw. könnte.

Opening Reception for "Heimat" at station21

I co-curated a show on the topic of home, or Heimat, for the fall exhibition and events cycle at station21 in Zürich. Here are some pictures from the opening reception on October 24th, 2013.

Oscar and me with Tom Licht's "DaHeim" in the Background (Photo: © Tom Licht)

Laura and Olivia (Photo: © Tom Licht)

Oscar and me with Farida Heuck's video in the background (Photo: © Tom Licht)

"Brockt" @ station21

The new team of station21 (which I had joined at the end of last year) pulled off the initial idea of mine to arrange an exhibition around the premise of buying paintings in a second-hand store (or locally called a "Brockenhaus") and asking artists to change them as they see fit. Some of the artists we approached are based in Zürich, but others worked remotely from elsewhere (e.g. New York or Sydney). The latter did their interventions via mail and/or email instructions. The resulting exhibition was not the most successful, but quite intriguing nonetheless. It was our first, after all. 

We miss New York ...

A short visit to the City. So many good memories.

ewz portfolio review

I will be reviewing portfolios as part of the ewz portfolio review days in Zürich this week.

Barbara Jo Revelle

Leafing through the German edition of the Catalog Raisonné "Cindy Sherman: The Early Works" at the bookstore here in Zürich the other day, I came across the pages where Sherman as a student at Buffalo State College and my former grad school teacher, Barbara Jo Revelle, crossed paths, which concludes with this sentence: "Sherman calls Revelle as 'my influential college professor in photography.'" And I can only agree, Revelle had been a most excellent professor, always very generous with her time and insights and subsequently one of the most influential professors I have had - and I am confident that the same is true for many of the thousands of students she has had during her teaching career. Last year, Barbara Jo Revelle retired from teaching and will probably spent most of her time now on her equally prolific career as a (quite radical) artist, working mostly in photography, video and performance. She will be missed as a teacher, but we look forward to seeing her work gaining some appreciation!

Lecture at the University of Zürich

On Friday, January 28th, I gave a 90-minute lecture on the "Photography Market" to students in the Executive Master program in Art Market Studies at the University of Zürich. It certainly was a new subject for me in regards to teaching, but I had been invited here to speak in my function as Gallery Director rather than artist. So, I embraced the challenge and ended up really enjoying the presentation and subsequent Q&A session.

2011 was a year of new beginnings ...

More "Heimat", now in Switzerland. I look forward to updating and completing "Critical Distance", amongst other and new projects.

People who may have been to this blog in recent months, may have wondered about the relative inactivity here. That's because aside from our new family addition, Olivia Claire (b. 7/5/11 in New York), I have started a great new job as the Zürich director of the Galerie Edwynn Houk and re-located the entire family for that reason to Switzerland in August. Therefore, most of my time was spent becoming familiar to a daughter and her schedule, a new job and home. I haven't stopped photographing, and I even started new projects, but there had been less time devoted to processing the work and trying to have it seen. I hope this will change in 2012. There is plenty on the burners. So, please keep checking this blog and my website (By the way: I am looking for someone to change and update my website. If you know someone who can do it on a reasonable budget, please drop me a line.). Thank you.