Homework
Gagosian Gallery Berlin
a part of the 4th Berlin Biennale, Berlin, 2006
(curators committee)
Gagosian Gallery, Berlin is pleased to present “Homework,” a group exhibition organized by the artistic office of the 4th berlin biennial for contemporary art, featuring works in a variety of media by Safaa Erruas, goldiechiari, Sofia Hultйn, Katja Mater, Peter Rцsel, Michael Schultze, Nedko Solakov, Kathrin Sonntag, and Lorenz Strabl.
“Homework” investigates the functionality of everyday objects and activities that are
generally associated with the private domestic environment and includes art works that examine the various constructions of the home and calls into question the assumptions and reliance on everyday practices, activities and objects. These everyday tools become malicious, unstable and complex with new roles and possibilities and new connections with the home.
Household objects, furnishings and practices often carry specific connotations of societal and gender significance. As the phrase “home sweet home” implies, one’s private inhabitance is usually recognized as a place of security, familiarity and intimacy. Yet subtle twists, re-contextualization, displacement or disruptions can turn the safety of home into an unstable and disorienting space. Minimal interferences and adjustments of the rules and rituals of the domestic environment disturb and unhinge the fixed system of order: domestic tools and their renewed utility or dysfunction destroy any perceived notions of behavior and organization.
The title is also a reference to the extra responsibilities bestowed upon the staff of the biennial, with the added challenge of putting together a show while still working on the artistic projects for the exhibition „Of Mice and Men“.
