PS81E at Esther Schipper

Artists: Stefan Bertalan, Martin Boyce, Matti Braun, AA Bronson and Reima Hirvonen, Angela Bulloch, Nathan Carter, Etienne Chambaud, Jean-Pascal Flavien, Ceal Floyer, Simon Fujiwara, Ryan Gander, General Idea, Francesco Gennari, Liam Gillick, Andrew Grassie, Ann Veronica Janssens, Gabriel Kuri, Jac Leirner, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Roman Ondak, Philippe Parreno, Ugo Rondinone, Christopher Roth, Anri Sala, Karin Sander, Julia Scher, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Tao Hui

Exhibition title: PS81E

Venue: Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany

Date: June 16 – July 25, 2020

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin

In a normal year we would be at Art Basel right now. We curated an extraordinary booth for this year’s fair, selecting major works and producing many new ones. Crated and shipped from around the world, the booth installed in three full days, our team would be ready to greet you. As doors would open and visitors rush in, time would become elastic: a million short encounters compressed into these hours.

Instead we have installed these works in our Berlin gallery. To some extent, this is an anti-fair: with certain social distancing requirements in place, there will be ample space and plenty of time to engage with each visitor. While access may be limited at times, time is not. With our exhibition PS81E we acknowledge the irreplaceable experience of encountering an artwork in person. We take this as an opportunity.

Yet, we also realize that our artists, friends and colleagues trust us to continue to be present around the world. Information, documentation, mediation: the gallery’s in-house research department has always produced comprehensive viewing and reading materials focused on our artists, their works, and exhibitions.

When we launched our first Online Viewing Room back in October 2019, we wanted to bring our artists’ program to a wider audience – this project has now found a new function: continuing to connect you with the ideas and works of our artists, bringing exhibitions, fairs, and works to an audience that cannot travel, near or far, In a similar spirit of connection, we have begun a new weekly newsletter, titled Letter from Berlin, with an editorial, narrative format that features texts by our team, artists and guest writers. All our digital content can now be found on our website at Continuity.

As the gallery has enhanced its digital accessibility, the last months have also led to an expanded dialogue with our artists that has informed this exhibition. What might have been Art Basel 2020—our fair booth—has grown in long conversation to become part of a new beginning, a new way to tell the story of our exhibitions— live and online.

It begins when you enter: Julia Scher’s historical work Occupational Placement greets visitors in the main entrance hall, with Christopher Roth’s bright red sign space-time.tv announcing his ongoing project presented in the bookstore last summer, as to the left Ugo Rondinone’s bronzes from his 2016 series Primordial hang suspended, while Ari Benjamin Meyers Duet invites a visitor to learn a song.

The central exhibition space is punctuated by two large diaphanous screens by Martin Boyce. Ann Veronica Janssens iridescent diptych, silk works by Matti Braun in deeply saturated colors, Nathan Carter’s playful “intersexual” collages, and Daniel Steemann Mangranés glass Systemic Grid 124 frame sculptures by Gabriel Kuri and Francesco Gennari. Karin Sander’s colorful polished ping-pong balls, Jean-Pascal Flavien’s greenhouse, Anri Sala’s cinematic snail etched into a wooden textile stamp, and Ceal Floyer’s wry and witty work of facing loudspeakers, Mutual Admiration, meet below a new transparent marquee by Philippe Parreno. We welcome artists who have more recently joined the gallery: Jac Leirner with the sculpture Jewel, steel cables attached to one another according to their diminishing thickness, Etienne Chambaud panels from his series Nameless, produced with the urine of wild animals, and Tao Hui’s multiple monitors assembled for Screen as Display Body.

From a Plexiglas case two small dolls, AA Bronson and his husband, produced by the artist in collaboration with Reima Hirvonen, look out, across to a historical work by General Idea, the 1976 Search for the Spirit, and to Roman Ondak’s 1997 Sated Table, an assembly of household goods and philosopher-ingredients.

A historical work by Liam Gillick invites you to sit and watch the new dynamic drawing machine by Angela Bulloch, as Simon Fujiwara’s enlarged earrings with the guillotined heads of the French monarchs hang suspended near Stefan Bertalan’s geometric drawing from the early 1970s and Sunset by Andrew Grassie, while someone or something is making away with a fistful of currency in Ryan Gander’s I’m never coming back to Oslo again.

We look forward to your visit in our gallery to view in Berlin what might have been Art Basel 2020 but now is PS81E.

Another dialogue has led to Festival!, a special exhibition project by Esther Schipper and Mehdi Chouakri with biweekly pairings of artists from each gallery presented at Mehdi Chouakri Mommsenstrasse beginning June 12, 2020.

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left: Nathan Carter, Anther Anemone Annihilator, 2019, Paper and foil collage, 76,2 x 94 cm (unframed), 83,8 x 101,6 x 3,8 cm (framed). Middle: Danae Dandelion (Deadly), 2019, Paper and foil collage, 76,2 x 94 cm (unframed), 83,8 x 101,6 x 3,8 cm (framed). Right: Calming Casualty Chrysanthemum, 2019, Paper and foil collage, 76,2 x 94 cm (unframed), 83,8 x 101,6 x 3,8 cm (framed), Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left: Roman Ondak, Sated Table, 1997, Silkscreen print on cardboard, kitchen utensils, wooden table, 100 x 92 x 59 cm. Right: General Idea, Search for the Spirit, 1976, Gelatin silver prints mounted on mat supports, 34,3 x 26,7 cm each (10 parts), 34,3 x 266,7 cm (overall). Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Front: Stefan Bertalan, Untitled, 1972 (left), Pencil on paper, 35 x 50 cm (unframed), 44,5 x 59,5 x 3,5 cm (framed), Untitled, 1972 (right), Pencil on paper, 35 x 50 cm (unframed), 44,5 x 59,5 x 3,5 cm (framed). Back: Martin Boyce, Diffusion Screen (2), 2018, Glass-reinforced plastic, anodised aluminum, 590 x 257 x 88 cm. Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left to Right: Matti Braun, Untitled, 2020, Silk, dye, powder-coated aluminium, 130 x 100 cm, Untitled, 2020, Silk, dye, powder-coated aluminium, 130 x 100 cm, Untitled, 2020, Silk, dye, powder-coated aluminium, 130 x 100 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left: Gabriel Kuri, untitled (AE DEC 18), 2020, CNC cutout HMPE plastic, engraved and hand painted. Installation dimensions variable, Height: 66,5 cm. Right: Jac Leirner, Jewel, 2020, Steel cables, 70 cm each, 7 parts, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left wall: Jac Leirner, Jewel, 2020, Steel cables, 70 cm each, 7 parts. Middle: Liam Gillick, Prototype Seating For A Revised Production Centre, 2005, Plywood, paint, 50 x ø 200 cm. Right wall: Angela Bulloch Dynamic Stereo Drawing Machine, 2020, Sound-activated drawing machine, ink, metal rails and electronic motor, paper, 170 x 300 cm approx. Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Front: Liam Gillick, Prototype Seating For A Revised Production Centre, 2005, Plywood, paint, 50 x ø 200 cm. Back: Angela Bulloch, Dynamic Stereo Drawing Machine, 2020, Sound-activated drawing machine, ink, metal rails and electronic motor, paper, 170 x 300 cm approx. Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Front: Anri Sala, If and Only If (modern times), 2018, Film still milled on wooden textile printing stamp, 6 x 27,5 x 37,5 cm (sculpture), 80 x 40 x 30 cm (plinth), 86 x 40 x 30 cm (overall). Back wall: Philippe Parreno, Marquee, 2020, Transparent Plexiglas, 70 white bulbs, 6 white neon tubes (ø 10 mm), DMX recorder, dimmers, light program, transparent acrylic chains, 74,3 x 123 x 81 cm. Right: Ceal Floyer, Mutual Admiration, 2015, Two speakers standing in front of each other on stands, connected to two iPod Nanos playing two looped audio tracks, 142,5 x 39 x 44 cm each speaker on stand, 142,5 x 84 x 44 cm (overall). Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020. Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Left: Etienne Chambaud, Nameless, 2019, Coyote, rabbit and elk urine, bronze powder, acrylic medium and acrylic varnish on canvas, 80 x 60 x 5 cm. Middle: Nameless, 2019, Skunk, grey fox and fallow deer urine, bronze powder, acrylic medium and acrylic varnish on canvas, 80 x 60 x 5 cm. Right: Nameless, 2019, Coyote, wolf and raccoon urine, bronze powder, acrylic medium and acrylic varnish on canvas, 80 x 60 x 5 cm. Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Ugo Rondinone, primordial, 2016, Bronze, Dimensions variable. Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Ugo Rondinone, primordial, 2016 (detail), Bronze, Dimensions variable. Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

Front: Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Systemic Grid 124 (Window), 2019, Security glass, ornamental glass, mounts, concrete and wood pedestal, glass panel, 261 x 126 x 1,5 cm (glass panel), 40 x 40 x 40 cm (concrete base), 278,2 x 126 x 40 cm) approx. (overall). Back: Ann Veronica Janssens, Bright Pink & Yellow, 2019 (back), Annealed glass, vertical ribs, PVC filter, 230 x 115 x 1,2 cm (2 parts). Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

Exhibition view: PS81E, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2020, Courtesy the artists and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

AA Bronson & Reima Hirvonen, Voodoo Doll (AA Bronson and Mark Jan Krayenhoff van de Leur), 2013, Set of 2 dolls, mixed media, 31 x 27,5 x 8 cm (AA Bronson), 22 x 11 x 5,5 cm (Mark Jan Krayenhoff van de Leur), 130 x 50 x 50 cm (plinth), 60 x 50 x 50 cm (vitrine), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

AA Bronson & Reima Hirvonen, Voodoo Doll (AA Bronson and Mark Jan Krayenhoff van de Leur), 2013 (detail), Set of 2 dolls, mixed media, 31 x 27,5 x 8 cm (AA Bronson), 22 x 11 x 5,5 cm (Mark Jan Krayenhoff van de Leur), 130 x 50 x 50 cm (plinth), 60 x 50 x 50 cm (vitrine), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Angela Bulloch, Dynamic Stereo Drawing Machine, 2020, Sound-activated drawing machine, ink, metal rails and electronic motor, paper, 300 x 170 cm approx., Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Eberle & Eisfeld

Angela Bulloch, Dynamic Stereo Drawing Machine, 2020 (detail), Sound-activated drawing machine, ink, metal rails and electronic motor, paper, 300 x 170 cm approx. Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Eberle & Eisfeld

Ari Benjamin Meyers, DUET, 2014, 2 scores on paper, 2 music stands, pdf file, instructions, 31,5 x 24 cm each (score), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Paula Winkler

Ari Benjamin Meyers, DUET, 2014 (detail), 2 scores on paper, 2 music stands, pdf file, instructions, 31,5 x 24 cm each (score), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Paula Winkler

Andrew Grassie, Sunset, 2018, Tempera on paper on board, 17,9 x 23,7 cm (image), 31,8 x 37,8 x 3 cm (framed), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Roman März

Anri Sala, If and Only If (modern times), 2018, Film still milled on wooden textile printing stamp, 6 x 27,5 x 37,5 cm (sculpture), 80 x 40 x 30 cm (plinth), 86 x 40 x 30 cm (overall), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Roman März

Ann Veronica Janssens, Bright Pink & Yellow, 2019, Annealed glass, vertical ribs, PVC filter, 230 x 115 x 1,2 cm (2 parts), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Jörg von Bruchhausen

Ceal Floyer, Mutual Admiration, 2015, Two speakers standing in front of each other on stands, connected to two iPod Nanos playing two looped audio tracks, 142,5 x 39 x 44 cm each speaker on stand, 142,5 x 84 x 44 cm, overall, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Systemic Grid 124 (Window), 2019, Security glass, ornamental glass, mounts, concrete and wood pedestal, glass panel, 261 x 126 x 1,5 cm (glass panel), 40 x 40 x 40 cm ((concrete base), 278,2 x 126 x 40 cm approx. (overall), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Etienne Chambaud, Nameless, 2019, Grey fox, fallow deer and wolf urine, bronze powder, acrylic medium and acrylic varnish on canvas, 80 x 60 x 5 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Francesco Gennari, Vorrei essere me stesso ma solo alla luce del sole, 2017, Murano Alessandrite glass, sunlight, neon light, halogen light, 13,5 x 32,5 x 21,3 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Francesco Gennari

General Idea, Search for the Spirit, 1976, Gelatin silver prints mounted on mat supports, 34,3 x 26,7 cm each (prints), 10 parts, 34,3 x 266,7 cm overall, Courtesy the Estate of General Idea and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Gabriel Kuri, untitled (AE DEC 18), 2020, CNC cutout HMPE plastic, engraved and hand painted, Installation dimensions variable, Height: 66,5 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Jac Leirner, Jewel, 2020, Steel cables, 70 cm each, 7 parts, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Jac Leirner, Jewel, 2020 (detail), Steel cables, 70 cm each, 7 parts, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Jean-Pascal Flavien, greenhouse, 2019, Painted cast aluminum, pushpins, 73 x 53 x 19 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Julia Scher, Occupational Placement, 1989-90, Monitors, hanging system, monitor brackets, monitor masks, surveillance camera, camera bracket, video switcher, media players, SD cards, cables and connectors, loudspeaker Multi-channel digital video (color and black and white, silent) and real-time video stream (black and white, silent), Sound installation, Installation dimensions and time-based media components, Duration variable, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Karin Sander, Tischtennisbälle, poliert; Table Tennis Balls, Polished, 2009, 6 table tennis balls (blue, yellow, orange, green, white, neon red), pedestal, acrylic glass cover, ø 3,9 cm each (ball) approx., 186 x 30 x 30 cm, (plinth), 30 x 30 x 30 cm (Plexiglas cover), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Karin Sander, Tischtennisbälle, poliert; Table Tennis Balls, Polished, 2009 (detail), 6 table tennis balls (blue, yellow, orange, green, white, neon red), pedestal, acrylic glass cover, ø 3,9 cm each (ball) approx., 186 x 30 x 30 cm, (plinth), 30 x 30 x 30 cm (Plexiglas cover), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Liam Gillick, Prototype Seating For A Revised Production Centre, 2005, Plywood, paint, 50 x ø 200 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Martin Boyce, Diffusion Screen (1), 2018, Glass-reinforced plastic, anodised aluminum, 590 x 257 x 88 cm. Exhibition view: Martin Boyce, The Light Pours Out, Esther Schipper, Berlin, 2018, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Matti Braun, Untitled, 2020, Silk, dye, powder-coated aluminium, 130 x 100 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Nathan Carter, Calming Casualty Chrysanthemum, 2019, Paper and foil collage, 76,2 x 94 cm (unframed), 83,8 x 101,6 x 3,8 cm (framed), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Image © Nathan Carter

Philippe Parreno, Marquee, 2020, Transparent Plexiglas, 70 white bulbs, 6 white neon tubes (ø 10 mm), DMX recorder, dimmers, light program, transparent acrylic chains, 74,3 x 123 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Philippe Parreno, Marquee, 2020 (detail), Transparent Plexiglas, 70 white bulbs, 6 white neon tubes (ø 10 mm), DMX recorder, dimmers, light program, transparent acrylic chains, 74,3 x 123 x 81 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Ryan Gander, I’m never coming back to London again, 2017, Animatronics, Euro notes, plaster, speaker, audio file, Dimensions variable, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, 2020, Photo © Roman März

Roman Ondak, Sated Table, 1997, Silkscreen print on cardboard, kitchen utensils, wooden table, 100 x 92 x 59 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Simon Vogel

Liam Gillick, Card for PS81E, 2020

Simon Fujiwara, A Dramatically Enlarged Set of Golden Guillotine Earrings Depicting the Severed Heads of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, 2019, Rigid foam, aluminum, gold leaf, 208 x 52,5 x 27 cm each (2 parts), Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Tao Hui, Screen as Display Body, 2019, 4 LED screens, trolley, 91 x 125 x 60 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Andrea Rossetti

Ugo Rondinone, the pollen, 2016, Bronze, 8 x 24,5 x 3 cm, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin, Photo © Studio Rondinone