Restraint Relief
16.02. until 17.03.2024
Weiden Space,
Düsseldorf, Germany
Cristiana Cott Negoescu’s exhibition at Weiden Space focuses on the complex relationship between people, structures, and the ground they walk on. Her work is dedicated to exploring the impact of migration-specific processes and takes a poetic, yet critical look at the reciprocal relationship between people, grievances, and territory. Restraint Relief explores the emotional need for protection and vulnerability, the circular trauma of memory, and the importance of familiar ground.
Description:
The dense fog in the first room of the exhibition is permeated by a vibrant, haunting sound of a foghorn. Powerful and deep, the sound creates an almost physical experience of warning and resonance that seems to call from another world and echoes vibrantly through the space. The sound is completely deep and sonorous, a fascinating interval of melancholy and sublimity that seems to harmonize with the aesthetics and size of the metal object that emerges from the mist, breaking its isolating effect. The constant and rhythmic sounds of beating drones, which have become a common and dangerous noise in acute war zones, blend seamlessly into the surroundings. In this multi-channel audio installation by Antonia Alessia Virginia Beeskow, electronic and mechanical noises alternate to create a sense of awe in the foggy landscape, which slowly becomes clearer with each step.
The second room exhibits 3D-photographic and casted representations of lifejackets.
The final room of the exhibition focuses on the materiality of a trusted territory. Walking on solid ground is an everyday experience, but then there is a small anomaly, a slight deviation from the norm, a tremor that indicates that something is wrong. The ground vibrates and pulsates at a frequency of 60 Hz beneath the different layers of the soil, making every step feel different. Nothing is safe anymore.
Idea:
In uncertain terrain, where land and sea converge and the solid blurs with flux, a sense of orientation is necessary to navigate through ambiguity. Without it, there is a risk of disaster – ships foundering or running aground. Common ground suddenly feels volatile, prompting a reassessment of perspectives and a willingness to explore and adapt to the obscured unknown, despite limited visibility.
The life jacket, which is seen as an intermediate object between protection and danger during dangerous crossings, symbolises a constantly changing sense of security that undergoes an emotional metamorphosis in the course of ongoing migration processes. Put on like a second skin, it conveys a protective effect in the acute moment of flight wrapping itself around the body like a tight, heavy embrace. With time and the evolving experience of displacement, this feeling begins to change. Linked to the idea of a constant, but also deceptive cycle of acceptance, the need for protection gradually becomes less important – year after year, drop by drop it is melting away to find a new shape.
Embedded in the collective memory of trauma and loss, the 3D scan reveals the traces left by the memory of past events. The rendered image resembles a printed wound, suggesting permanence despite the loss of its matter. It serves as a signpost to a remembered feeling – and as a constant warning.
How do we respond when a crisis strikes, and we find ourselves walking on uncertain ground? The moment before catastrophe can be daunting, and it can feel as though the ground is about to be pulled out from under our feet. In such situations, how do we take the next step and move forward? Where do we find the courage to persevere when everything feels unstable and unsafe?”
Text by Miriam Hausner
The audio piece for this work has been done in collaboration with Antonia Alessia Virginia Beeskow.
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