Caroline Achaintre is part of group show Pissing in a River. Again! at Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethani

Pissing in a River

Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin

Until 13 January 2019

Caroline Achaintre, Yael Bartana, Caro Bittermann, Teresa Burga, Susanne Bürner, Keren Cytter, Natalie Czech, Tatiana Doll, Kerstin Drechsel, Valerie Favre, Berta Fischer, Laura Horelli, Nadira Husain, Anne-Mie van Kerckhoven, Stephanie Kloss, Folke Köbberling, Julia Lazarus, Hanne Lippard, Sarah Lüttchen, Inge Mahn, Andrea Pichl, Katrin Plavcak, Laure Prouvost, Sabine Reinfeld, Farzaneh Rosta, Katharina Sieverding, Céline Struger, Barbara Trautmann, Raphaela Vogel, Ina Weber, Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt.

Patti Smith's "Pissing in a River - Watching it Rise" (1976) is a metaphor for resistance and rebellion. The lyrics initially point to intense feelings of hopelessness, insecurity and injury, which transforms the musician into strength and power through a provocative and self-determined act. The break with social conventions leads to a self-empowerment of the lyrical ego. As part of the exhibition project Pissing in a River. Again! 31 contemporary artists of different generations show video projections, sculptures, paintings, photographs and performances. Her works deal with social issues in different ways. Supposedly male-connoted attributes such as strength, independence and determination claim the artists of the project thematically for themselves. This is also taken up in the spatial concept, which was also conceived by the artists Stephanie Kloss and Andrea Pichl: Fragments of a roof structure made of black sea-meadows connect all spaces and positions with each other. The partially used color Cool Down Pink serves as a critical commentary: the mentally calming pink, which according to psychological studies is supposed to reduce the potential for aggression, refers to traditional female gender roles and norms in which resistant behavior takes up no space and has long been equated with hysteria. Pissing in a river. Again! The diversity celebrates with the contemporary artists their positions intensively and offensively in a still male-dominated art world place or oppose her. At the same time, the project is an inventory of predominantly Berlin-based artists of different generations. Using a variety of methods, materials and an extensive supporting program, the exhibition explores the rules of female self-determination: provocative, humorous, loud and powerful.

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