NOWs: Don‘t think about death by Dan Stockholm

NOWs:

Dan Stockholm: Don‘t think about death

at

REITER Berlin prospect

Opening reception: 27 April 2017, 6- 9 pm

Artist Talk: 29 June 2017, 7 pm

The concept of Danish artist Dan Stockholm’s solo show »Don’t think about death« started from the friendship formed between himself and Syrian artist, Nourhan Sondok. The two met on social media, and from behind their screens in Copenhagen and in Damascus, their correspondence has led to several new works specifically made for the exhibition spaces at R E I T E R | Berlin prospect.
In spite of the dangers faced in Syria, Nourhan has been collecting building fragments from all over Damascus. The fragments are compiled from a wide spectrum of constructions: from 4000-year-old columns; to newly constructed buildings destroyed in the Syrian conflict. The collection of fragments portrays Damascus, which is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The collection is part of a filmed performance where inhabitants of Damascus use the fragments of their city as tools to create drawings directly on the ground.
While Nourhan was collecting fragments in Damascus, Dan Stockholm has also been collecting building fragments throughout Berlin. The fragments will be used in the courtyard of the gallery during the opening of the exhibition, where inhabitants of Berlin will be invited to draw using the fragments of their city.
Other new works in the show include an archive of images printed on glass showing Nourhan’s hands whilst handling the fragments; and ‘Body~Build’, a series of new pre formative sculptures presented on scaffolding displays that merge the body and construction into one.

In »Don’t think about death« Stockholm examines ‘the fragment and the fragmented’ a recurring theme in his work. To Stockholm ‘the fragment’ inspires us to envision lost entities, but at the same time it encourages us to think about new beginnings. The fragment is a catalyst for imagining both the past and the future. Architecture is a frequent reference point in his work, as he concentrates on the conceptual fields of present and past, presence and absence, fleeting and enduring. Stockholm practices a “creative archaeology”, which includes field research and working with various findings. His recent work evolves from what he calls the “performative process,” a method that turns the finished piece into a vessel which carries the story of its own making. Stockholm uses sculpture as a storage medium, an interface, a link, or a passage through which environments and bodies – across temporal as well as spatial distances – are placed in relation to one another.