Between Blue and Green Lies the Sea is the name of the exhibition opening on the evening of 29 January 2026 at VdBK1867. Project Space, featuring works by Friederike Klotz, Mayumi Okabayashi and Nanaé Suzuki.
Image above: Nanaé Suzuki, Dusk, Berlin, 50 x 70 cm, Oil on canvas.
What connects the three artists is their exploration of the position of the individual in an increasingly complex world, which is in danger of losing itself in fragile constellations. With their different creative approaches, they each respond to this in their own individual way.
Friederike Klotz designs a kind of experimental laboratory in which human behaviour, the control of group dynamics and forms of future development of cities, nature and society are investigated. Three-dimensional spatial and wall objects create complex worlds that repeatedly elude precise perception by the viewer through various optical phenomena, alienation effects, enlargement, miniaturisation, reflection and movement.
The kinetic objects, sound sculptures, drawings and collages present us with a miniature universe in which anonymous figures, stripped of their individuality, appear to be controlled by an invisible hand. Using the simplest of materials, often everyday plastic packaging and found objects, Friederike Klotz develops multi-layered illustrative models that have the potential to provoke current questions about the state of a totally controlled society monitored by electronic systems.
Mayumi Okabayashi‘s work deals with perception, memory and the transformation of reality. Her imagery is reminiscent of organic structures – cells, plants, roots and branches – and shows forms that exist between a state of being and movement. Just as the roots and branches of a tree grow in different directions yet remain connected, the boundaries between beginning and end, top and bottom, become blurred in her work. The cycle of life, the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm, and the relationship between humans and nature are central themes.
Nanaé Suzuki came to Europe in 1977 after working as a freelance painter in Tokyo. She lived in various cities in Europe and the United States, working in painting, performance and intermedia art until she settled in Berlin in 1981. These experiences gave her access to space-related works and objects, as well as new perspectives in painting and photography.
Her works deal with the symbolic implementation of altered perceptions through a change of perspective. Since the early 2010s, parallel to her artistic photography, the focus on painting within her work has intensified. Her painting focuses on themes such as the double appearance of figures and the times in the pictures. In recent years, her themes have expanded to include the attitude of individuals towards society, the world and the universe.
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 29. January, 2026, 6:00 pm.
Exhibition dates: Friday, 30. January until Sunday, 01. March 2026
Opening hours: Thu – Sat, 4 – 7 pm.
WHERE?
VdBK1867. Projektraum
Eisenacher Straße 118,
10777 Berlin-Schöneberg
