24.9. - 19.11.23 | Cottbus | CB Dieselkraftwerk Blank space white/black A work of art, a picture, by its very nature sends out offers of conversation and thus awakens a soliloquy in the viewing counterpart. If, however, the obvious - motif, object, perspective, etc. - is lost from the work of art, if the persuasive power of the visible tends to silence, as it were, then such an offer slips to another level. With this, resonance spaces open up to the viewer, partly subliminally, which can certainly unfold contemplative qualities, even invite to meditation. _________________________ Karl-Heinz Adler, Erdal Ates, Martin Bartels, Antje Blumenstein, Teresa Casanueva, Danville Chadbourne, Carlfriedrich Claus, Frank Coldewey, DAG, Frank Diersch, Selma Dronkers, Nicole Fehling, Robert Fitterman & Klaus Killisch, Christine Geiszler, Frank Gottsmann, Ulrike Hogrebe, Günther Hornig, Gisoo Kim, Ayumi Kobayashi, Michael Kruscha, Marko Lipuš, Oliver Lunn, Michael Morgner, Wilhelm Müller, Sophia Schama, Esther Stocker, Antje Taubert, Bernd Uhde, Albert Weis The exhibition, conceived by the artist and curator Michael Kruscha, was shown in a first version in the Kunstraum Braugasse in Hoyerswerda. The exposition presented now has been expanded by works from the BLMK collection as well as a new, complementary exhibition chapter. While the first version of the show aimed to create empty and free spaces through white pictorial surfaces, the new, additional chapter of the second exhibition version focuses on black pictorial spots or the black space in the picture. "Explorations in and with the "blank space": Unmistakable at first: in contemporary art there exist very different approaches to make this "minor" aspect of the picture sensually habitable. Reduction on the one hand, minimalism on the other, i.e. emptying and appearance, mark the poles within which emptiness comes to fruition. With about 30 artistic positions, the exhibition circles around an unusual thematic field. It goes without saying that motif and object are hardly at the center of the artistic research, but rather the emergence of pure surface, of strongly reduced symbolism, of withdrawn structure and facture. In this way, the few, the trace-like, the allusion or the disappearing, the marginal appearance can be identified as elements that open up this dimension of the pictorial space, which often has a contemplative character". (Text excerpt: Jörg Sperling) Guest curator: Michael Kruscha (Text originator: Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst/ Dieselkraftwerk)