Berlin | ArtRegion: Berlin, Mitte

Kuckei + Kuckei

Random Repeat Refine

Groupshow

25. Februar – 14. April 2022

CÉCILE DUPAQUIER,MARIE RIEF,FIENE SCHARP

A piece of paper repeatedly cut hundreds of times; ten, twenty, thirty copies of the same motif; building material structurally taken apart and reassembled—artists Cécile Dupaquier, Marie Rief, and Fiene Scharp’s minimal and reproductive approaches strip their respective materials of their particular function, calling into question via creative processes their intended purposes and potential essence. What identity does a copy have, what is unique about repetition? Where does coincidence end and where does the artistic gesture begin? When do material circumstances become the subject? How are materials transformed into art?
Dupaquier, Rief, and Scharp show that everything is essentially already present or laid out: materials, possibilities, methods. The artists research and test out their materials, pushing them beyond their technical-industrial functions, taking them out of the workshop, office, or laboratory setting—and into the studio. They start from raw materials with reproductive characteristics: standardized material from the hardware store manufactured according to specifications and guidelines; industrial graph paper for mathematical calculations; multiple laser copies of one and the same surface.
Each of the three artists deconstructs the material in their own way. Working the actual object by hand (e.g. by cutting, sanding, or reproducing it) first turns it into something amorphous, raising new questions about its status going forward. Repeated or more refined interventions over the course of working the material evolve into an artistic gesture, setting a transformation in motion. The amorphous suddenly becomes abstract, and even chance is smitten by an idea.