Sujatro Ghosh
Stephanie Imbeau
Exhibition
02/12/2022–26/02/2023
Curated by
Livia Tarsia in Curia & Lara Huesmann
Co-curated by
Cleo Wächter
Organized by an• other here residency in collaboration with Bärenzwinger.
“Roaming Winters” is the fourth part of the annual programme EPHEMERIS
Events
Opening House
02/12/2022 5–9 pm
Artist Talk
Sujatro Ghosh + Kavita Meelu
04/12/2022 3 pm
Artist Talk
Stephanie Imbeau + Wilma Lukatsch
15/12/2022 7 pm
Sewing Sessions
with Stephanie Imbeau
Thursdays, 3–6 pm
Memory Jars
Workshop with Sujatro Ghosh
21/01/2023 2–4.30 pm
Soundperformance
with Narval (Evgenija Wassilew / Peter Strickmann)
04/02/2023 5 pm
Drawing Desire
Graphic Novel Workshop with Sarnath Banerjee & Sujatro Ghosh
18/02/2023 2–4 pm
Closing House
26/02/2023 2–6 pm
In collaboration with the residency program an• other here, the Bärenzwinger invites two artists who have been appointed through an Open Call to develop winter-proof projects over a processual exhibition and winter residency on site.
Over a period of three months, Sujatro Ghosh and Stephanie Imbeau will develop performative and in-situ installations, and enter into a dialogue with each other, strengthening and enabling both collective and solidarity-based approaches.
Can the Bärenzwinger become a refuge in winter, and offer protection from the cold and satisfy the longing for togetherness? The selected artistic proposals take an inductive approach into the season and respond to the absence or lack of warmth, be it potential or real, mentally or physically. The works by Sujatro Ghosh and Stephanie Imbeau break into the symbolism of the place to bring the desires there to life.
Stephanie Imbeau’s work investigates how people seek community, personal safety and a place to belong. She uses representations of monumental and fragile houses, exploring their duality, both restful and transient.
During her residency, she invites us to shed our certainties and rethink these multi-layered spaces that interweave our lives with those of others.
Winter is often a time of rest and retreat, but also of reactivating the ‘preserved’. The act of retrieving dehydrated, fermented and pickled food is not only a practical way of bridging the hibernation of plants and animals, but also becomes an act of embodying memories. Sujatro Ghosh will touch upon various forms of preservation, the social and political aspects of food. And the coming together over and through food as part of the three-month residency.
Lack and desire, two aspects that play a major role in the works of both artists, which underlie the most obvious things of our everyday life and which we want to trace together in the context of Roaming Winters.
Roaming Winters is the last of four processual exhibitions within the programme EPHEMERIS at Bärenzwinger. “Ephemeris” can be understood as a form of diary in which the constellation of planets, stars and bodies are recorded. “Ephḗmeros” literally means “for a day” in ancient Greek and can be associated with the first forms of organising days in accordance with seasonal changes, which evolved into physical records with names of time periods used as calendars. The programme is characterised by ephemeral art forms and materials. Performative and action-based artistic practices occupy the Bärenzwinger.
Sujatro Ghosh
Sujatro Ghosh is a multidisciplinary artist-activist, currently based in Berlin. His practice attempts to initiate a conversation about social action and political protest which produces the conditions for othered voices to be heard.
His works weave across conceptual and material adventures produced by radical thought primarily around queer rights, diasporic tensions, women rights, climate change and transnational migration. He works across film, performance, poetry, fabric works and photography. He is currently working on the relationship between food, memory, violence and justice.
Stephanie Imbeau
Stephanie Imbeau received her Master of Fine Arts from Newcastle University in 2007 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University in 2004. Her ambitious outdoor umbrella installations have been staged all around the world. In addition to her large-scale installations, her sewn drawings and ceramic work has been exhibited in Germany, France, England, Greece, and the United States.
Imbeau has been awarded a number of residencies around the world. Since 2016, she has lived and worked in Berlin. For over a decade her artistic practice has revolved around investigating the way individuals seek to establish connections between themselves and others. She uses a variety of mediums with a specific interest in materials that possess the opposing qualities of utility and fragility, such as clay, cardboard and fabric.
Closing House
26/02/2023 2–6 pm
The artists and team will be present.
The Closing House is a time to reflect on the creative processes which took place at the Bärenzwinger. Together we’ll activate the various installations of the Roaming Winters exhibition.
Come and see what has risen out of the collective sewing sessions by Stephanie Imbeau and which food and memories have been preserved through Sujatro Ghosh’s participatory projects.
Having journeyed through winter, we look forward to coming together one more time. Come join the artists and the team!
Soundperformance
with Narval
(Evgenija Wassilew / Peter Strickmann)
04/02/2023 5 pm
Free Admission
On February 4, the textile works of Artist in Residence Stephanie Imbeau will experience a rare use when sound-performance-duo Narval invites us to listen together to their sounds which will be shaped by the wintry Bärenzwinger and Imbeau’s installation. The space is activated by small acoustic gestures as well as spatial resonances. In this site-specific performance, the duo uses acoustic feedbacks, prepared objects, homemade instruments, as well as parts of Stephanie Imbeau’s installation in order to interweave the spatial actions and their sounds with the notion of shelter, house, and prison.
Narval is a sound performance duo consisting of Evgenija Wassilew and Peter Strickmann, which was founded in the winter of 2018 on the frozen river Aurajoki in Turku. Since then they have performed at Titanik Galeria in Turku, ausland Berlin, konnektor Hannover, Zwitschermaschine, Aktionsraum Spoiler, Zönotéka and Saarländische Galerie in Berlin, aswell as at Projektraum Alte Feuerwache in Friedrichshain and Errant Sound in Mitte, Berlin.
Memory Jars
Memory and Preservation Workshop with Sujatro Ghosh
21/01/23 2–
4.30 pm
Please RSVP to info@baerenzwinger.berlin as we have limited places available.
Event in English language.
On Saturday the 21.01.23 from 2 to 4.30 pm, Sujatro Ghosh will be conducting a Workshop revolving around the idea of “Memory and Preservation”.
As a ritual of sharing, we will cut, prepare and eventually preserve our food through this workshop. Sujatro sees preserving food as an act where food becomes memories and memories act as an archive of our winter struggles. The food here acts as a form of nourishment.
In preparation for the workshop participants are invited to think of a memory which they would like to preserve, and are requested to bring a tangible item that represents this memory to them (This could be a love letter, a picture, a text, a poem, a flower, a butterfly or any kind of object.)
We hope to see you all soon.
(Jars and ingredients will be provided.)
Sewing Sessions
with Stephanie Imbeau
every Thursday in January and February
3–6 pm
Throughout January and February, Artist in Residence Stephanie Imbeau is happy to host collaborative Sewing Sessions on Thursday afternoons, from 3 to 6 pm.
The main goal will be to slowly produce a textile skin for the large house frame, which is situated in the outdoor area of the Bärenzwinger. In the first week, the sessions start off with designing, drawing and experimentation. As this project gets underway there will also be smaller hand-sewing repairs to be done on the other houses.Those who are interested can bring their own sewing machines, or hand-sew with needles Stephanie Imbeau provides.
“I hope that these times can be both productive and cozy, at least in the way of sewing circles, offering a time to work with others, while sharing stories and ideas and presence.”
Signing up isn’t necessary, just stop by!
Artist Talk
with Stephanie Imbeau + Wilma Lukatsch
15/12/2022 7 pm
Conversation in English language
This Thursday, December 15, at 7 pm we are hosting an artist talk with Roaming Winters resident Stephanie Imbeau. We are joined by our guest, Wilma Lukatsch. A writer, curating researcher and editor based in Berlin, Wilma has graduate degrees in Art History, History of Religions and Sociology from the Freie Universität Berlin and the Humboldt-Universität of Berlin. She has since been working with artists and archives, and is focusing on developing a dialogue-based writing practice in close exchange and collaboration.
Together, Stephanie and Wilma will enter a conversation about Stephanie’s practice and intentions for the residency at Bärenzwinger.
Stephanie Imbeau’s work investigates how people seek community, personal safety and a place to belong. She uses representations of monumental and fragile houses, exploring their duality, both restful and transient. During her residency, she invites us to shed our certainties and rethink these multi-layered spaces that interweave our lives with those of others.
Please take note that the space can become rather cold. So, Bring your Own Blanket
Artist Talk
with Sujatro Ghosh + Kavita Meelu
04/12/2022 3 pm
Conversation in English language
Sunday, December 4, at 3 pm we are hosting an artist talk with Roaming Winters resident Sujatro Ghosh.
We are joined in this by a special guest, Kavita Meelu. Kavita is a Cultural anthropologist, culinary curator and community organizer.Her area of interest is at the intersection of food, identity and power. Exploring the crossovers in the modes of work and activism of Sujatro, they will talk about his intentions and hopes for his residency time at the Bärenzwinger.
Winter is often a time of rest and retreat, but also of reactivating the ‘preserved’. During his residency-period Sujatro is, among other things, working with retrieving dehydrated, fermented and pickled foods. This act is not only a practical way of bridging the hibernation of plants and animals, but also becomes an act of embodying memories.
You are warmly invited to join us! Please take note that the space can become quite cold. So, Bring your Own Blanket.