28 May - 27 June, 2010
Artists in Dialog

2^-1/4-n/2 x 2^1/4-n/2
Heidi Hove & Jens Axel Beck

Opening: Friday, 28 May, 2010, 8 PM
Performance/ work in progress (open to the public):
31 May - 3 June, 2-6 PM
Artist talk: Saturday 12 June, 2010, 6PM

The exhibition runs 29 May - 27 June, 2010
Open: Fri - Sun, 2-6PM and by appointment

Each exhibition in Artists in Dialog will take the form of a discursive examination between two artists, whose work has a common point of contact (e.g. in aesthetics, theme or process). The exhibition will be based around each artist interacting with the other's artistic position. It is our intention that their artworks come together not through a series of traditional curatorial (and hierarchical) decisions, but that the artists, working together, find a specific form of display for their own and each other's works.

Thus, this form of exhibition as dialog will present an additional phenomenon: both artists will take part intensively in the curatorial aspect of the project, breaking down traditional barriers between artistic and curatorial production.

The exhibition title 2^-1/4-n/2 x 2^1/4-n/2 is the formula for calculating the dimensions of the paper sizes in the ISO A series. Within the A series you will find the standard paper size ISO A4, which are widely used in offices all over the world today. At Art Laboratory Berlin the A4 will be the basic element for building up the exhibition.

"We have been invited to take part in Artists in Dialog, a new concept for an exhibition series initiated by Art Laboratory Berlin. Our contribution is a project, which can partly be described as an exhibition, and as an office/workshop. Within these settings, we have set up a system of rules for ourselves for engaging with the surroundings of Art Laboratory Berlin in Wedding, the exhibition space in itself and our individual practices.

"We have chosen to work with the A4 paper as a material and with a certain limited amount of office working tools, thereby creating a range of elements and projects to be displayed in the gallery.

"Working ad hoc and dealing with the unexpected limitations of the working tools in the office, we have started working on various projects that take their starting points in themes that we usually work with in our individual practices, but also where we think we can meet or clash - such as memory, history, traces, tags and surfaces as well as the standard vs. the individual." (Heidi Hove & Jens Axel Beck, Berlin, Mai 2010)

Both Heidi Hove and Jens Axel Beck are interdisciplinary artists, whose practice includes sculptural objects and installations as well as architectural, spatial and social interventions. A point of convergence in their work is a focus on daily life and the public and private spaces that we daily travel through. Their work examines how we navigate and organise ourselves in the world. Through simple and diverse manipulations, the daily and the recognisable are brought out of their regular condition. Thus common and ordinary objects are manipulated, copied and placed in new connections for the purpose of changing the meaning or perception of how we look and deal with these in our daily lives. In addition, humour plays an important role in their work, and it is often used to start a dialogue with the viewer.

Regine Rapp & Christian de Lutz

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Heidi Hove (born 1976 in Denmark, lives and works in Copenhagen) studied at the Funen Art Academy, Odense, DK, and the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA. She has participated in exhibitions in Denmark, Macedonia, Germany, Belgium and USA. Since 2006 Heidi is a co-director of the artist-apartment and residency, The Berlin Office, NeuKölln/ Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Jens Axel Beck (born in 1976 in Denmark, lives and works in Copenhagen) studied at The Funen Academy of Fine Arts, Odense, DK and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, department of Media Art, Copenhagen, DK. He has participated in exhibitions in Denmark, Germany, Finland and USA.

Both Heidi Hove and Jens Axel Beck are co-founders and curators of the Copenhagen artists run space Koh-i-noor which has existed since 2004.