Reawakened, archaic voices are given voice by Emma Talbot in her site-specific installation developed for KINDL’s 20-metre-high boiler house. Talbot arranges expansive paintings on hangings of silk crepe, sculptural ensembles and hanging objects as a swirling storm that summons banshees from the swamps and in which seers urge us to join forces for common goals.
Fig. above: Emma Talbot, The Storm (Detail), 2023, Acryl auf Seide, © Emma Talbot
British artist Emma Talbot poses existential questions in her paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations. In view of the “catastrophic times” of ecological and political instability in which we live today, according to the Belgian philosopher Isabelle Stengers, Talbot postulates the necessity of a hopeful new beginning in order to be able to develop a future worth living. “Through my work I advocate change,” says the artist. The transience of human existence and lost cultures interest her just as much as female knowledge that has been suppressed and repressed for centuries.
Many cultures know of beings such as furies, sirens, harpies, oracles, witches, ghosts and spirits that can disrupt our usual reality in terrifying ways and provide a glimpse into other realities. For Talbot, these are helpful voices that warn in drastic form of the ecological and political catastrophes of our present. They tell a story of urgency and healing and point to alternatives that make a positively shaped future conceivable again.
Emma Talbot (* 1969 in Stourbridge, lives in London and Italy)
Solo exhibitions (selection): Kunsthall Stavanger, Norway (2023); Beiqiu Museum, Nanjing (2023); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2022); DCA Dundee (2021); KM21 / GEM Art Museum, The Hague (2019).
Group exhibitions (selection): STUK, Leuven (2023); K21, Düsseldorf (2023); Venice Biennale (2022); Hayward Gallery, London (2020); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2018).
WHERE?
KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art
Am Sudhaus 3
12053 Berlin
WHEN?
Opening: Sat, 16.9.23, 18:00 – 21:00
Sun, 17.09.23 – Sun, 26.5.24
Opening hours:
Wed, 12:00 – 20:00
Thu – Sun, 12:00 – 18:00
Closed: 24.12.23 and 25.12.23
Open: 26.12.23, 31.12.23, 1.1.24
COSTS?
Free entry
