The Tide is High at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden

Artists: Rosa Aiello, Patrick Alan Banfield, bellu&bellu, Jonas Brinker, Max Brück, Onur Gökmen, Antonia Hirsch, Nina Kuttler, Laura Langer, Yong Xiang Li, Haleh Redjaian, Yvonne Roeb, Grace Schwindt, Daniel Stubenvoll, Patrik Thomas

Exhibition title: The Tide is High

Curated by: Sylvia Metz, Christin Müller

Venue: Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden, Germany

Date: December 3, 2022 – February 12, 2023

Photography: all works courtesy the artists, Images by Jens Gerber, © Hessische Kulturstiftung

For artists from Northern European countries, the journey to the South, the ‘Grand Tour’, has been an integral element in their biographies since modern times at the latest. Destinations were countries such as Italy, France or Spain, which corresponded to the goal of researching the ‘occidental’, from today’s perspective Eurocentric canon. Later, countries south of the Mediterranean followed, such as Egypt, Morocco or Tunisia. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the unfamiliar and the new attracted artists to places in the South Seas, for example Tahiti. The motivations for artists in the twentieth century to travel shifted to their desire to participate in international avant-garde arts and explore art capitals, such as Paris or New York.

When considering present times, the question arises: how do contemporary artists with diverse biographies travel today? What themes stimulate them? And in what form does a journey occur against the background of pandemics, natural disasters, nationalisms and political conflicts?

The exhibition ‘The Tide is High’ at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden explores these and other present-day questions. It marks the start of the 30^th anniversary of the Hessische Kulturstiftung’s scholarship programme, which is being celebrated with a specially conceived exhibition and event programme. In cooperation with a total of five cultural institutions in Hessen, the programme presents artistic positions selected from the more than 200 scholarship holders until now in thematic group exhibitions on the theme of travel. The programme is complemented by a panel discussion at the Hessian State Representation in Berlin, which will address the subject of contemporary artist support.

‘The Tide is High’ presents works by 16 artists of the present round who are currently in various stages of their fellowships. While some are still working on location in their studios in New York, Istanbul, and Paris, others have already completed, or are about to begin, their journeys to Poland, Japan, or Malta. The exhibition is intended to be a form of appraisal of the here and now and shows both the results of the travel and work scholarships as well as a selection of works to date of individual artists.

In their works, the scholarship holders reflect on questions concerning geographical and ecological aspects, engage with local events and traditions, or consider the nature of feeling uprooted. The works simultaneously mirror the bonds of friendship and family that extend beyond national borders. The question of how cultural experiences can be recorded in the body or transferred into a work of art also forms part of the exhibition. In the field of tensions between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, ecological footprint, travel restrictions, as well as political and cultural conflicts, the 16 artists find new perspectives or work through resistance.

Installation view The Tide is High, Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Max Brück, 0-5mm, 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Laura Langer, Homesick (left), Headlines (London) (right), 2021 and 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy Weiss Falk and the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Installation view The Tide is High, Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Jonas Brinker, Interval, 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, ^Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Rosa Aiello, Amore Molesto, 2018, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Nina Kuttler, Measuring the Curve of the Tail, 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Daniel Stubenvoll, The Croco, 2021, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Grace Schwindt, Protection, 2019, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Antonia Hirsch, Twin (left), Linguist (middle), Bob (right), 2021, 2022, 2020, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Antonia Hirsch, Twin 2021 installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Yong Xiang Li, A Break (by the bamboo wave), 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Deborah Schamoni, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Haleh Redjaian, The Pattern Singing Series (left) and Untitled (right), 2020, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Haleh Redjaian, Untitled, 2020, , installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist and Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Yvonne Roeb, Organs I-III (left) and Weltinnenraum II (right), 2020 and 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Yvonne Roeb, Weltinnenraum II, 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Onur Gökmen, Dumbo, 2022, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Onur Gökmen, ongoing work (Fatma), 2022, , installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Patrik Thomas, TAIWASTE, 2020, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

Patrick Alan Banfield, My View, 2017/2018, installation view Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, 2022, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber

bellu&bellu, A series of microhistorical failings: sun going down, 2022, installation view, Kunsthaus Wiesbaden, Courtesy the artist, ©Hessische Kulturstiftung, photo: Jens Gerber