Project #19: Natalia Carstens
11. April - 14. July 2025
Our project space is open on Sunday, May 25th, from 12 till 5 pm. The artist is present.
DavisKlemmGallery Projektraum, Kirchstraße 4, 65239 Hochheim am Main
Project #19: Natalia Carstens
THE ARTIST
Natalia Carstens is a Berlin-based photographer - and a craftswoman who knows her trade. She documents art fairs, exhibitions and art objects. She is passionate about space, especially interiors. Anyone who thinks of documenting as sober photography is not familiar with Carstens' eye: she is interested in depth, staging and structure. Her photographs are not emotionally charged, but full of suspense. They keep the gaze moving - not frantically, not indifferently, but concentrated and questioning.
THE MOTIFS
In the project space, she is showing three works from her series “Leerer Raum?!” (engl. "Empty Space?!"), in which she examines movie theaters empty of people. On display are three Berlin arthouse cinemas - not huge multiplexes with 500 seats, but smaller venues with a strong character. No popcorn cinemas with premium seats and 3D glasses, but curated programs driven by a passion for film. The architecture of these cinemas seems almost lavish - and usually remains hidden in the dark. This is precisely why they are suitable for Carsten's question: Empty space? Although they are deserted, they carry history and atmosphere within them.
THE QUESTION
When is a room empty? That is the central question for Natalia Carstens. When there are no people in it? When it is unfurnished? Or when nothing has happened in it yet? Her works play with the idea that the use and meaning of a space always need to be taken into consideration. Other series by the artist show deserted clubs or swimming pools - places that are defined by their use. The presence of people echoes in them. Empty seats evoke the image of spectators. A club without people? A swimming pool without swimmers? A movie theater without an audience? The more a space relies on people, the more clearly their absence is felt.
REALIZATION
Carstens photographs booths at art fair, exhibitions and art objects for a living – documentary photography, but never neutral. She decides on details, perspective, focus, light and color - and thus she brings her own view into the picture. In addition to technical experience, intuition flows into her work. Her sense of space was also decisive in the “Empty space?!” series. She discovered many cinemas during the Corona pandemic - first online, later on location. Photographs were taken in bright light: glaring, revealing, like a spotlight on the last piece of popcorn. Her own position in the empty room - in the middle of the field of vision - also causes irritation. The feeling of being watched is palpable.
INSTALLATION
Three empty rooms in our empty project space. To make the photographs visible from the street, Carstens had them printed on large tarpaulins. Two movie theaters now face each other - like screens for each other. Empty rows of seats look at each other. A showdown between seats? And outside, the audience - the passers-by - stand opposite a movie theater without an audience. A double reflection: of gazes, of emptiness.
THE SPACE
The 20 m² room, in which pens and exercise books were previously sold, is now available to artists from the DavisKlemmGallery as a project space. Instead of regular but limited opening times, the room can be viewed around the clock: the entire room and thus the project can be viewed at all times thanks to the large window front. Changing projects, installations, works of art and artists can be discovered here. The current presentation will be on view until July 14th, 2025.
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Project #18: Dorothee Wenz
24. January - 06. April 2025
DavisKlemmGallery Projektraum, Kirchstraße 4, 65239 Hochheim am Main
Project #18: Dorothee Wenz
THE ARTIST
Dorothee Wenz (*1968 in Marburg) is a renowned ceramic artist who interprets natural processes artistically. Her works explore the beauty of wind, sand and water in ceramic form. Although the objects shown here have the traditional form of vessels, the artist does not produce them as utilitarian objects, but as objects that are simply “allowed to be” in their aesthetics. Together with two fellow artists, she is part of the Zündholzwerkstätten in Kostheim, where regular group exhibitions show her figurative and vase-like works. Numerous prizes, such as the State Prize for Arts and Crafts Rhineland-Palatinate 2022, underline her work. Her works are represented in important collections (for example in the Grassi Museum Leipzig) and international exhibitions and trade fairs.
MATERIALS
Clay is one of the oldest materials in the world for art objects - some preserved finds are estimated to date back to around 24,000 years BC. Clay occurs naturally and is found in many cultures. Depending on where it is quarried, clay has different colors, but they are not as bright as the colors Dorothee Wenz uses. To obtain these, she not only has to add special pigments, but also porcelain. This in turn does not occur naturally, but is created artificially - according to a recipe that was already known in China 2000 years ago, but was only discovered in Germany in 1708. This white mass enables bright colors such as the radiant red of the vessels.
PRODUCTION
Coloring, layering, cutting, building, sanding, polishing - this is how Dorothee Wenz describes the production of her objects in keywords. All the steps - from mixing the clay with ceramic pigments to making the smooth surface - are done by hand. In addition, many years of experience are incorporated into the production process: how do pigments behave at high firing temperatures? What needs to be considered when building a vessel?
After making clay blocks with different colored layers, she cuts strands from these. Depending on how she cuts and reassembles the strands, she creates different patterns. After this preparatory work, the construction of a vessel begins. Slowly and layer by layer, the work progresses - with pauses so that the layers of clay dry and thus become more stable for further progress. This technique - a kind of mosaic technique - of combining several different colored clay strands is called Nerikomi. The term comes from the Japanese and means “kneading”.
After several firing processes comes the sanding and polishing. The result of the long production process is visually and haptically beautiful objects.
INSTALLATION
Dorothee Wenz always produces her vessels in series that are similar in terms of color or pattern. Nonetheless, they are all different - in shape, color and pattern. Slim and tall, bulbous or with a waist, with more or less inclination - each piece is individual and unique. The artist has arranged them in various constellations in the project space. Whether in small groups, as pairs or as individual figures, they relate both to each other and to the other vessels in the room. The aesthetic interactions between the individual objects come together to form an overall picture.
THE SPACE
The 20 m² room, in which pens and exercise books were previously sold, is now available to artists from the DavisKlemmGallery as a project space. Instead of regular but limited opening times, the room can be viewed around the clock: the entire room and thus the project can be viewed at all times thanks to the large window front. Changing projects, installations, works of art and artists can be discovered here. The current presentation will be on view until March 30th, 2025.
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