Artist: Catherine Biocca
Exhibition title: PREMIUM CLIENT
Venue: PSM, Berlin, Germany
Date: October 28 – December 2, 2017
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and PSM, Berlin
For her first solo exhibition at PSM, Catherine Biocca will transform the gallery space into an immersive environment containing videos, sculptures, and wall works. The gallery will take on the feel of a waiting room by using PVC prints that look like the interior of a rundown space, and whose design is modeled on the rebuilt interiors of Villa Boscoreale and Boscotrecase near Pompeii that were partially destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. There will also be two metal sculptures with large heads made from printed aluminum that are reminiscent of stick figures, which can be read as bored waiting customers, perhaps dwindling away from the ridiculously long waiting time. Five animated videos with sound will be interspersed throughout the gallery, lending the exhibition some visual and aural dimensionality. In one of the videos, a voice can be heard talking to a customer service agent, who is not being at all helpful, but who turns out to be the inner voice of the customer himself—despite this, there is constant miscommunication between the two. Another of the videos will show a knife moving quickly between the fingers of a digitally drawn hand—a sick game called five-finger fillet that can be seen on YouTube. A third video shows a slightly moving dog (underneath a yawning human-dog animation) on a screen embedded in a dog bed, alluding to a dead guard dog found at the ruins in Pompeii. Continuing her series of animated paintings, there are several wall works made from printed PVC with industry marker drawings of classical figures on them that have aluminum printed faces that gesture toward classical Roman and Greek statues. The drawings are made with two colors: one to represent one time, and a second color to represent another, intimating the progression of movement. Cumulatively, the works create an almost creepy atmosphere, an in-between place where our expectations are met and frustrated at the same time, much like many customer service lines today. This dioramic installation continues Biocca’s interest in exploring the absurd or comical elements of existence that we encounter every day, and in this way pinpoints with laser accuracy the various unquestioned and often strange levels of society through which we walk and talk.
Catherine Biocca (b. 1984, IT) recently finished her second year at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam after graduating from the Düsseldorf Academy in 2013. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Frutta Gallery, Rome, IT (2017); Bonsai Feeling, Kunstverein Nürnberg, DE (2017); Unfasten Seatbelt, Jeanine Hofland, Amsterdam (2016); On Display, Basis, Frankfurt; and MEETING 4D, Silberkuppe, Berlin (both in 2015). In 2017 Biocca received the Hans Purrmann Förderpreis and 2016 she received the STRABAG Art Award; her work has been included in several group shows, including the 3rd Animation Biennial Shenzhen, China; Group Show, Greengrassi, London; Discreet Justice, with Charlotte Herzig, PSM Berlin; Ginko Art Space, Beijing; the 3rd Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Yekaterinburg; and the New Media Festival, Miami.
Catherine Biocca, PREMIUM CLIENT, 2017, exhibition view, PSM, Berlin
Catherine Biocca, PREMIUM CLIENT, 2017, exhibition view, PSM, Berlin
Catherine Biocca, PREMIUM CLIENT, 2017, exhibition view, PSM, Berlin
Catherine Biocca, PREMIUM CLIENT, 2017, exhibition view, PSM, Berlin
Catherine Biocca, Jaqueline, 2017, Printed, Alu-dibond cut out, aluminum strips and screws, 200 x 80 x 70 cm
Catherine Biocca, Joakin, 2017, Printed, Alu-dibond cut out, aluminum strips and screws, 220 x 155 x 95 cm
Catherine Biocca, Joakin, 2017, Printed, Alu-dibond cut out, aluminum strips and screws, 220 x 155 x 95 cm
Catherine Biocca, Premium Client, 2017, One video and audio animation 5:10 min looped, PVC print, 550 x 425 cm
Catherine Biocca, Silly Vibes, 2017, Dogbed, flatscreen, video loop, sound, 145 x 125 x 21 cm
Catherine Biocca, Sunset Roman Time, 2017, Two video and audio animations looped PVC print, sound, 425 x 641 cm
Catherine Biocca, Premium Client, 2017, One video and audio animation 5:10 min looped, PVC print, 550 x 425 cm
Catherine Biocca, Sunset Roman Time, 2017, Two video and audio animations looped PVC print, sound, 425 x 641 cm
Catherine Biocca, Sunset Roman Time, 2017, Two video and audio animations looped PVC print, sound, 425 x 641 cm
Catherine Biocca, Falabella, 2017, Industrial marker on PVC print, 140 x 100 cm / framed
Catherine Biocca, FF, 2017, Table, flatscreen, aucio and video animation looped, 100 x 76 x 46 cm
Catherine Biocca, Frontier Dripping, 2017, Industrial marker on PVC print / alu-dibond cut-out application, 140 x 100 cm / framed
Catherine Biocca, Golden Delicious, 2017, Industrial marker on PVC print / alu-dibond cut-out application, 140 x 100 cm / framed