Lena Marie Emrich at Kunstverein Göttingen

Artist: Lena Marie Emrich

Exhibition title: Mainly Fair Later

Curated by: Tomke Braun

Venue: Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Date: July 11 – August 23, 2020

Photography: All works courtesy the artist. Images by Silke Briel/Peter Heller, © Kunstverein Göttingen

The firmament and blue sky are places of longing, which shift and change our perspectives of the world. Lena Marie Emrich‘s solo show Mainly Fair Later uses this as a starting point for two work series that are modeled on airplane windows of the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350. Dream-liner Series (Boeing 787) and Sunset Series (Airbus A350) (both 2020) are eight oval shapes in two sizes, set in gradients of sky blue and sunset red, distributed across the space. On close inspection, the surfaces show traces of humans with map-like engravings of finger-, hair- and cheekprints. The artist visualizes the moment of lift-off and the accompanying feelings of freedom and excitement during departure, through a forehead print on the airplane windows. The additional use of three-layered plexiglass creates a play of color and reflections. Human imagination, presence and activation fl ow into one another.

By contrast, the Walk through Series

(2020), deals with the converse and unavoidable movement of object and viewer, which allows for the actual potential of the artwork to unfold, thereby managing to dissolve previous distances between the two. Emrich uses different cloud research data from the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, which was recorded via so-called „Cloud Kites“ on the Zugspitze. Emrich then develops grids of the data, together with the scientist Oliver Schlenczek, and transfers these into glass curtains. The characteristics of the respective clouds are engraved in the surface. The three-part sound installation, produced in collaboration with composer Philipp Maier, adds to the sensual experience; audible and palpable throughout the entire Kunstverein. The composed frequencies are based on the same cloud structures, which are then abstracted and translated into a notation system, similar to the curtains of the Walk through Series.

In Mainly (2020), Emrich builds MDF replicas of hand dryers found in semi-public spaces, such as airports. The application of chameleon car-paint to the objects gives them a shiny, iridescent and mirroring surface, which reacts to changing perspectives and lighting conditions. The colors are reminiscent of weather and heat charts and they have been attributed names of previous typhoons, which reference the dialogic nature of meteorological forecasts and the poetic shaping thereof.

For Weather Neutralisation (2020), Emrich engraved 210 gender-neutral names on two aluminum plates. Up to this day, low-pressure regions are attributed female names, whilst the high-pressure regions are given male ones, thus reinforcing the already-present gendering of everyday language. The work proposes an alternative to this: It leans against the wall and, almost en passant, manifests an alternate perspective to a neutral phenomenon.

The sculpture, Once in a cloud we have lost sight of it (2020) appears to hover within the space. The two-way mirror reflects the viewers‘ gaze back at themselves and dis-torts the image of the surrounding space. Whilst the outlines of the work imitate a cloud‘s exterior shape, the surface is en-graved with poetic sentences about clouds and their possible interpretation. The curved paths engraved in the plexiglass are, in turn, referencing the radar images of tropical winds and hurricanes. Similar to the way in which Dreamliner Series (Boeing und Sunset Series (Airbus A350)take the moment of lift-off as the fulfi llment of an illusion, this work describes the moment of arrival amidst the clouds; the moment of submersion, where the nebulous shapes begin to disperse.

In Mainly Fair Later, Emrich plays with illusion and disillusion, positioning her sculptures accurately and precisely, purpose-fully contrasting the ephemeral nature of clouds. Lena Marie Emrich‘s art underlines the model character of illusory romanticisms; playing with their contrasts and multi-layeredness, she manages to create new links between them. The uncertainty of forecasts or precise prognoses of events, the state of the environment or future developments in general, are characteristic for the present age. Nevertheless, the title of the exhibition at Kunstverein Göttingen dares to pose the unprecedented question: Mainly Fair Later?

Text: Tomke Braun & Marlene A. Schenk

Lena Marie Emrich, Once in a cloud we have lost sight of it, 2020, Plexiglas, Spionfolie, 220 x 65 x 12 cm, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Once in a cloud we have lost sight of it, 2020, Plexiglass, Two-way mirror 220 x 65 x 12 cm, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Mainly Fair Later, Ausstellungsansicht Kunstverein Göttingen, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Lena Marie Emrich, Mainly Fair Later, exhibition view Kunstverein Göttingen, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Sunset Series (Airbus A350), 2020, Plexiglas, Aluminium, Spionfolie, Oracal 8300 Folienserie, 5 Stck. je 34,3 x 24,1 cm x Tiefe variabel, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Sunset Series (Airbus A350), 2020, Plexiglass, Aluminum, Two-way mirror, Oracal 8300 foil series, Set of 5, 34,3 x 24,1 cm x depth variable each, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Sunset Series (Airbus A350), 2020, Detail, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Sunset Series (Airbus A350), 2020, detail, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Dreamliner Series (Boeing 787), 2020, Plexiglas, Aluminium, Spionfolie, Oracal 8300 Folienserie 3 Stck. je 46,7 x 27,2 x 7 cm, Foto: Silke Briel © Kunstverein Göttingen / Dreamliner Series (Boeing 787), 2020, Plexiglass, Aluminum, Two-way mirror, Oracal 8300 foil series, Set of 3, 46,7 x 27,2 cm x 7 cm each, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Walk through Series, 2020, geschliffene Glasperlen, Stahldraht, Plexiglas, Aluminium, 1 Stck. 240 x 130 x 12 cm , 2 Stck. je 200 x 100 cm x 12 cm, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Lena Marie Emrich, Walk through Series, 2020, Polished glass pearls, plexiglass, aluminium, 240 x 130 cm x 12 cm and 200 x 100 cm x 12 cm, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena M. Emrich mit Philipp Maier/Santé, Cumulonimbus – 19:48 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O; Stratus – 10:15 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O; Cumulonimbus – 20:01 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O, 2020, 3-Kanal-Klanginstallation, je 01:03 min, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Lena Marie Emrich with Philipp Maier/Santé, Cumulonimbus – 19:48 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O; Stratus – 10:15 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O; Cumulonimbus – 20:01 UTC – 47.4166°N, 10.97955°O, 2020, 3-channel sound installation, je 01:03 min, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Mainly Series (Dolly, Barbara, Alice, Edna, Florence, Gail), 2020, MDF, Flip-Flop-Autolack, 6 Stck. je 66 x 31 x 25 cm, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Mainly Series (Dolly, Barbara, Alice, Edna, Florence, Gail), 2020, MDF, Chameleon car paint, Set of 6, 66 x 31 x 25 cm each, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Mainly Series (Edna, Florence, Gail), 2020, MDF, Flip-Flop-Autolack, 6 Stck. je 66 x 31 x 25 cm, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Mainly Series (Edna, Florence, Gail), 2020, MDF, Chameleon car paint, Set of 6, 66 x 31 x 25 cm each, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Mainly Series (Edna), 2020, Detail, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Mainly Series (Edna), 2020, detail, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena Marie Emrich, Weather Neutralisation, 2020 Aluminium, 2-teilig, 70 x 50 x 0,3 cm, Foto: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Weather Neutralisation, 2020, Aluminum, 2-part, 70 x 50 x 0,3 cm, Photo: Silke Briel, © Kunstverein Göttingen

Lena M. Emrich/Zuza Golińska, Working Nails, 2020, Foto aufgezogen auf Plexiglas, Effektfolie 2 Stck., je 17 x 30,3 x 3,5 cm, Foto: Peter Heller, © Kunstverein Göttingen / Lena M. Emrich/Zuza Golińska, Working Nails, 2020, Photo mounted on plexiglass, Effect foil Set of 2, 17 x 30,3 x 3,5 cm each, Photo: Peter Heller, © Kunstverein Göttingen