Love and Human Remains at Berthold Pott

Artists: Nils Alix-Tabeling, Isabelle Andriessen, Carlotta Bailly-Borg, Tatjana Danneberg, Benjamin Houlihan, Agata Ingarden, Jens Kothe, Douglas Rieger, Loup Sarion, Lucia Sotnikova

Exhibition title: Love and Human Remains

Venue: Berthold Pott, Cologne, Germany

Date: January 28 – March 21, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Berthold Pott, Cologne

The exhibition is inspired by the screenplay Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love by Brad Fraser and the later Canadian feature film adaption Love and Human Remains by Denys Arcand from 1993, a story about sexual identity, queerness, abuse of power and violence entangled in the deadness anonymity of metropolitan cities and the never ending belief in love.

Nils Alix-Tabeling

French, born 1991, lives and works in Montargis (F). Studied at the Collage of Art, London (2014-16) and École Nationale Supérieur des Arts visuels LA CAMBRE, Brussels, BE (2010-14)

Selected exhibitions:

Piktogram, Warsaw, Polen (duo, 2022, solo 2021), Kraupa Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin, Germany (group, 2022), Public Gallery, London (solo, 2022), Ung-5, Cologne (solo, 2022), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (performance 2019), 100 Artistes Dans La Ville, curated by Nicolas Bouriaud, Montpellier, France (2019), Kunstraum, London (performance, 2019), Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, BE (group, 2019), Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf, Germany (group, 2019), Bozar, Brussels, BE (group, 2018).

Residency: Krem´s Kunsthalle, Krems, AT (2017)

Isabelle Andriessen

Dutch, born 1986, lives and works in Amsterdam. Studied at Malmö Art Academy, Malmö, Sweden (2013-15). Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, NL, BA Fine Art (2008-2013).

Selected exhibitions:

Moderna Museet Malmö, Sweden (group, 2022/2023), Palace Enterprice, Copenhagen, DK (solo, 2022), Front International Triennial, Cleveland, Ohio, USA (2021), De Pont Museum, Tilburg, NL (solo, 2021), CAN Centre d´Art Neuchâtel, Switzerland (solo, 2021), Museum of Modern Art Warsaw, Polen (group, 2020), Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden (group 2020), Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam, NL (group, 2020), SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhagen, DK (solo, 2019), 15^th Lyon Biennale, Lyon, France (2019), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (group, 2018), Lafayette Anticipants, Paris, France (group 2018)…

Residencies/Awards: Lafayette, Paris (2018),

Recent new publication (monograph) Dorm at Mousse publishers (2023)

Selected Press: Art in America (2022), Mousse Magazine (2022), Flash Art (2023), CURA (2020), …

Carlotta Bailly-Borg

French, born 1984, lives and works in Brussels. Studied at Ecole Nationale Superiere d´Arts de Paris Cergy, France (2005 BA, 2010 Master Fine Art Degree), UDK Berlin (2009).

Selected exhibitions:

CAC Brétigny, France (duo 2023 upcoming), Praz Delavallde Gallery Paris (solo 2022), Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Germany, curated by Luisa Schlotterbeck (group 2022), Ruttkowski NY, USA (group 2022), Nosbaum Reding, Brussels (group 2022), Fondation Van Gogh, Arles, France (group 2021), Newen, Göteborg, Sweden (solo 2021), High Art, Paris (group 2020), Goldsmith CCA, London, UK (group 2020), Efremidis Berlin, Germany (group 2020), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (group 2019), Fondation Ricard, Paris, France (group 2019), Sultana Gallery, Paris, France (group 2018),

Tatjana Danneberg

Austrian, born 1991, lives and works in Vienna and Warsaw. Studied Architecture at TU Vienna (2009-11), Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (2011-17), Städelschule Frankfurt, Germany (2014-15).

Selected exhibitions:

Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (solo, 2021), Galerie Dawid Radziszewski, Warsaw, Polen (solo 2020), LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina, KS (solo 2019, 2018, 2015), SORT, Vienna, Austria (solo 2017), Fondation Ricard, Paris, France (group 2018), …

Benjamin Houlihan

German, born 1975, lives and works in Düsseldorf. Studied at Academy of Art Düsseldorf (2001-07 Georg Herold class).

Selected exhibitions: Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (solo, 2022/2023), Kunstverein Mönchengladbach, Germany (solo, 2021), Museum Lother Fischer, Neumarkt, Germany (solo, 2020), Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (group, 2020), Thomas Rehbein, Cologne, Germany (2019, 2016, 2014, 2011, 2009, 2008), Domo Baal, London, UK (group 2019), Green on Red, Dublin, Ireland (group, 2019), ak-raum, Cologne, Germany (solo, 2018), Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany (solo, 2017), Kunsthaus NRW, Aachen, Germany (2016), Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn, Germany (Kunstpreis der Stadt Nordhorn, solo, 2015), Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, DK (group, 2014), …

Agata Ingarden

Polish, born 1994, lives and works in Paris. Studied at Beaux-Arts, Paris, France and Cooper Union, Brooklyn, USA. She works with multiple media including installation, sculpture and video. Her practice is driven by material research as well as investigations in post-humanities, science fiction and mythical narratives.

Selected exhibitions: Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France / CAPC museum, Bordeaux, France (curated exhibition by Cédric Fauq)/ The Radicants: “Climate Change”, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, Palazzo Bollani, Venice, Italy / Nassauischer Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany / Künstlerhaus Vienna, Austria / Silesian Museum Katowice, Poland / Pinchuck Art Center, Kiev, Ukrania (Future Generation Art Price, winner of the “Special Prize”) / Komi Biennale, Art Encounters, Timisoara, Romania, curated by Kasia Redzisz and Mihnea Mircan / Museum Unter Tage, Bochum, Germany / Centre D´Art Contemporain D´Intérèt National, Saint Nazaire, France / East Contemporary, Milan, Italy / Kraupa Tuskany Zeidler, Berlin, Germany / Piktogram, Warsaw, Poland / Soft Opening, London, UK / Sans Titre, Paris, France / Berthold Pott, Cologne, Germany / Exo Exo, Paris, France / High Art, Paris, France

Agata participated in the following residencies: Fondation Fiminco, Paris, France (2021-22), Cité internationale des arts, Paris, France (2021), A l´oeuvre, Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, France (2020), La Totale, Les studios Orta, France (2020), Villa Belleville, Paris, France (2018), Leo XIII Gastatelier, Tilburg, The Netherlands (2018)

Jens Kothe

German, born 1985, lives and works in Bochum, Germany, Sutdied 2013-17 at Academy Düsseldorf, Germany, 2009-2011: National Sculptor School, Oberammergau, 2007-09: TU Dortmund Architecture.

Selected exhibitions:

upcoming: Cassina Projects, Milan, Italy (solo, April-May 2023), Barbé Urbain, Ghent, BE (duo, Jan-March 2023), Berthold Pott, Cologne (Sept/Oct 2023), past: Downs & Ross, New York City, USA (solo 2022), Kunstverein Heppenheim, Heppenheim, Germany (solo 2022), Museum Bochum, Germany (group 2021), Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden, Germany (group 2021), Platform 6a, curated by Philippe van Cauteren SMAK, Otegem, BE (group 2020), Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany (group 2020), Efremidis, Berlin, Germany (group 2020), Kunsthaus Essen, Germany (group, 2020), Berthold Pott, Cologne, Germany (solo, 2019), Philara Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany (group 2018), Kunsthalle Bochum, Germany (solo, 2017)

Douglas Rieger

American, born 1984, lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA. Studied at Yale University, MFA in Sculpture (2016) BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University (2008, Sculpture).

Selected exhibitions:

Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai, China (solo, 2022), Ruschman Gallery, Chicago, USA (group, 2022), Fahrenheit Madrid, Spain (duo, 2021), Frieze NY, with Capsule Shanghai and Helena Anrather (2021), Helena Anrather, NY, USA (solo 2019), Helena Anrather, NY, USA (duo 2018 with Ivy Haldeman), Kunstraum NYC, USA (group, 2019), Thierry Goldberg Gallery, NYC, USA (group 2018), 67 Gallery, NYC, USA (solo, 2018) …

Rieger pulls inspiration from many areas to inform his practice; interior design, fashion, motorcycle culture, industrial decay, product packaging, manufacturing processes and masculine archetypes to name a few. Certain recurring themes weave throughout his oeuvre, most notably notions of male identity and masculinity, the disjunction between fine art and craftsmanship, and the varying presence or anonymity of the persona traceable in a physical object. Appropriating forms from their original context and using them as bodily appendage, architecture element and art form, Rieger brings forth aspects of the mechanical, the humorous, the libidinal, and the unknown in his wall sculptures and free standing works.

The series of soft wall reliefs demonstrate an ongoing interest in bodily abstraction and material perversion, themes that pervade much of Rieger’s work. With a nod to the formal compositions of Modernism, the soft wall reliefs convey an applied pressure and intimacy between surface and object. The applied object being both protector and intruder the upholstered vinyl surfaces of the soft relief works show a tension created by the presence of the sculpted wooden object.

Loup Sarion

French/American, born 1987, lives and works in New York City, Brooklyn, USA. Studied at Beaux Arts, Paris and Cooper Union, Brooklyn, USA.

Selected exhibitions: upcoming 2023: Helena Anrather, NY, USA (Jan/Feb 2023, group), Berthold Pott, Cologne, GER (Jan-April 2023), M+B Los Angeles, USA (Jan/Feb 2023, group), International Object, New York, USA (group, March 2023) Past exhibitions: AD New York, USA (duo) / Berthold Pott, Cologne, Germany (solo) / C L E A R I N G New York, USA (duo together with Harold Ankarrt) / Jeanroch Dard, Brussels, Belgium (solo) / Formatocomodo, Madrid, Spain (solo) / Kunstverein Heppenheim, Germany (solo) / M+B Los Angeles, USA (duo) / Sorry We Are Closed, Brussels, Belgium (duo) / Spazio A, Pistoia, Italy (solo) Selected group exhibitions: Carl Kostyal, Sweden, MacVal Museum, France / Socrates sculpture park, New York, USA / International Objects, New York, USA, Power Flower Biennale de Nice, museums of the City of Nice, France

Lucia Sotnikova

Russian, lives and works in Düsseldorf. Studied at Academy of art, Düsseldorf (2012-2018, class of Andreas Gursky). Exhibition Design at University of Düsseldorf (2010-12).

Selected exhibitions:

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany (group, 2020), Kunsthaus NRW, Kornelimünster, Germany (group 2022), Kunsthaus Essen, Germany (group 2022), German Embassy London in cooperation with Sprüth Magers Gallery (group 2020), Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Gladbeck, Germany, New Talents Prize (solo 2019).