Exhibition | Ruminations by Tobias Kielinger and Armin Völckers | Berlin Art Week | at Michaela Helfrich Gallery | Berlin

Press Release
After their joint exhibition at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Tobias Kielinger and Armin Völckers are continuing their collaboration. Gallery70 is proud to present this duo of artists in its first pop up exhibition in Berlin. The exhibition and opening event will be hosted at the rooms of Michaela Helfrich Gallery in Charlottenburg, Bleibtreustrasse 3, Berlin from September 1st to
30th, 2024.
"Ruminations", an impermissible plural, means on the one hand rumination (repeated chewing of the cow), on the other hand reflection, repeated consideration. One could also say:
applying a meaning to disordered thoughts after the fact. Art is work - not just the physical production, transport and arrangement of works of art - but also a work of the soul. "Work" not necessarily in the traditional sense as a linear, intentionally controlled process, although it includes that, but above all a mental peristalsis, a constant questioning of conscious and unconscious processes within. Just as one digests the intellectual content of the day in a dream, the artist ruminates on sensory experiences, thoughts and memories and weaves them into new arrangements. Every artist is therefore biographically active. Even the absolute negation of every personal characteristic is an initial decision determined by character. Kielinger and Völckers seek to follow the current state of
their pictures in the moment - to pursue what they see, or "look into" in order to advance into new realms, like a naturalist of past centuries on an unknown island. There is no ready-made plan for how the picture should look in the end, not even how it could look - but rather to leave as much as possible to chance. Even a very concrete initial idea can become anything, and the idea can disappear completely. But it doesn't have to, sometimes it is even further extracted from unclear beginnings. For this reason, the exhibition is not planned as a fixed, static exhibition, but there will be a large number of pictures in the gallery that can be moved at any time the artists are present, or perhaps just rearranged, depending on how the moment develops. The idea is to create a studio situation that encourages reflections on art, the
painting process, and certain life processes.

Save the date and do not miss a performance by the queer Indian artist Satadru Sovan,who also draws from the moment. Satadru Sovan is known for his multidisciplinary approach and work as a behavioral artist. He focuses on developing the idea of enquiry and merging concepts related to universal issues such as global warming, gender dogma, sexuality, and queer aesthetics. His work often explores these themes through various artisticmediums and forms of expression.

Opening Hours during Berlin Art Week: September 11-15, 16:00 - 19:00
On Request: Armin Völckers +4917632012871 Tobias Kielinger +4917643023890

Artist:

Artist ( Description ):

Armin Völckers is a contemporary painter whose work is characterized by the search for
transcendence. In his mysterious, sometimes humorously altered scenes, he presents
glimpses into worlds whose protagonists - both people, objects and subjects - have both a
side that can be located in our reality and a side that no longer belongs in this world. He
completed his artistic training in free painting at the UdK (formerly HdK) Berlin, where he
earned his Master of Fine Arts. In his work you can find influences from various eras of
painting, as well as definite references to artists as diverse as Titian, Hans von Marées and
Frank Auerbach.
Tobias Kielinger lives and works in Ketzin, Brandenburg. As an expressive-abstract painting
artist, the aspect of time is important to him. Hence, music is an important factor influencing
his work. Kielinger refers to Richard Wagner's Parsifal - "You see, my son, time becomes
space here". In accordance with Wagner Kielinger wants to illustrate the act of creation itself
and spatially visualize the artistic decisions making as some kind of timeline perceived
through the painting. This is being achieved by means of painting techniques - almost
analogous to compositional procedures of Gustav Mahler. Specifically through alienation
effects, for example through a rough painting style, which does not conceal the brush, or by
overpainting, which is an alternative action that makes the decision vividly visible.
Accordingly, in the best case, the viewers perceive themselves as acting subjects in the
pieces time-space
Satadru Sovan Banduri is a multi-disciplinary artist, specialising in canvas art as well as
digital art and installations. He is a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. Sovan’s
art focuses on the concepts of Biophilia and Ecological philosophies. Biological diversity
encompasses the immense variety of life forms on Earth: millions of plants, animals,
microorganisms, the genes they carry, and the intricate systems they create. However, this
diversity goes beyond species alone. Species interact to form communities, which then
merge into ecosystems. As organic life continues to adapt and sometimes lose its natural
space due to human activities, artists respond by creating new spaces on their canvases. The
displacement of land and the return of stones to these artistic landscapes reflect the ongoing
changes in our environment. With the reshaping of the natural balance of the world, traditional
ecological diagrams are no longer sufficient; instead, artists now represent ecological
topographies through unique and innovative canvas shapes, capturing the dynamic and everchanging nature of our planet. Within his art practice, he explores socio-cultural hybridity. He
is interested in how distinct cultural experiences have shaped us all, and the points where
these distinctions overlap, and where unique, hybrid and odd cultural forms emerge with
gender vocabulary. His multi-disciplinary work serves as research on the drift in the sociocultural arena. Social activism and participatory culture are the core elements in his work.