April 2023
Jane Brucker Studio
de/cipher
An exhibition curated by Gracia Khouw and Dr. Susannah Cremer-Bermbach
The semiotic interplay of encoding and decoding and their translation into lines, shapes, colors, patterns, signs, symbols means communication takes place constantly and in many different ways via sign systems of all kinds. Coded characters such as letters, numbers, symbols represent and convey information. Most of the time we use them without thinking about it. If the smoothly running automatism guaranteed by the usual arrangement of known semantic elements is disturbed, usual processes of perception break open and further possibilities of translation are released.
In accordance with the focus of the exhibition, de/cipher refers to the concept of the cipher, in which, beyond the coding, the enigmatic, mysterious, and also misunderstood aspects of encrypted information resonate. Accordingly, the existential philosopher Karl Jaspers called ciphers mental experiences that convey to us materially incomprehensible things.
de/cipher
Upcoming at
Arti et Amicitiae
Amsterdam, Netherlands
On View April 21 - May 21, 2023
Wed - Fri 15 - 18H, Sat 14 - 17H, Sun 11am - 17H
Closing Performance: Jane Brucker / Dr. Jeremy Wasser in Unravel
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Stop by between 10 - 12H
The exhibition presents works by José Heerkens, Gracia Khouw, Johanna Reich, and Marjorie Welish, further complemented and deepened by objects, works on paper, video, artists' books and works and performances dedicated to the acoustic aspect of language. These artists include Carlo Battisti (I), Jane Brucker/Dr. Jeremy Wasser (USA/D), Julia Bünnagel (D), Paul Goede (NL), Keti Kapanadze (Georgia/D), Naho Kawabe (Japan/D), Jochen Gerz (D/F), Wjm Kok (NL), Joseph Kosuth (USA), Tatjana Macič (NL), Vera Molnar (HU/F), Franz Mon (D), Gonzalo Reyes Araos (Chile/D), Takako Saito (Japan/D), Eva-Maria Schön (D), Anita Stöhr-Weber (D), Ulrich Wagner (D), Peter Wüthrich (CH) as well as article editions by Eugen Gomringer, Gerhard Rühm, Timm Ulrichs and artist books by other artists.
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Performance of Jane Brucker’s Unravel (January 2023) with Naho Kawabe and Dr. Jeremy Wasser
at gkg Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung in Bonn, Germany. Performance photography by Philip Bermbach.
de/cipher
Recently at
gkg
Gesellschaft für Kunst und Gestaltung
Bonn, Germany
In January, artist Naho Kawabe and Dr. Jeremy Wasser performed Jane Brucker’s ongoing work Unravel at the opening reception of de/cipher. Kawabe and Wasser created vocals emphasizing the acoustic aspect of communication and the unmaking of meaning while the sweater worn by Wasser was simultaneously taken apart.
Sound-making objects created by Julia Bünnagel (D) and Keti Kapanadze (Georgia/D) were also featured during the opening on January 22 along with numerous seances over the course of the exhibition led by Paul Goede (NL).
From the catalogue: More about ‘Unravel’ as part of the exhibition de/cipher
The close connection between text and textile dates back much further than the common Latin language root indicates. It can already be found in the mythical tale of the Cretan princess Ariadne, whose ball of thread led Theseus safely out of Daedalus' labyrinth after he had defeated Minotaur. The opening performance of Jane Brucker’s Unravel with Naho Kawabe and Dr. Jeremy Wasser referred to this thread, which has run through the tales woven from lines of text ever since, in an insinuating cryptic way. Baritone Dr. Jeremy Wasser, performed (the familiar Rhineland melody) Heinrich Heine's Song of the Loreley, set to music by Friedrich
Silcher. Performed in individual sequences, the sound grew word by word into a line, while Naho Kawabe, representing Jane Brucker, pulled thread after thread from his sweater. Finally laid down on a flat white pedestal, the sweater, unraveled in places, recalls the mythical origin of the proverbial red thread, which can subsequently be traced in the works on display.
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