a-mouth-a-tale

The group exhibition A Mouth; A Tale presents works by three artists who raise questions about the premises for a peaceful, progressive coexistence. How do obsolete binary and heteronormative structures manifest themselves in a society and what can be an antithesis? How are different patterns of violence and vulnerability revealed in this context? Mahya Ketabchi, Laure Marville and Lotte Meret approach these questions with tales in which, eventually, collective memories, utopias and fantasies unfold themselves in a climax-like manner. The installation شمع آجین / Shamajin by Mahya Ketabchi consists of slide-projected photographs on a mixed media multi-layered collage concealed by candle wax. It situates a dichotomy between pain and pleasure. The work is the outcome from a process in the time of scarcity and indignation over unrestricted state violence. After a year and a half, she accompanied Shamajin with a sound piece, an acousmatic lullaby, where resistance and the labor of missing both act as a subject within the social field. Especially commissioned for the exhibition, Laure Marville’s work Moodboard 4 takes up the idea of filtering. Over the course of twelve months, she collected text fragments which she encountered in her daily life, which she then pieced together on a curtain-like textile work with embroideries and linoleum prints. By combining the various snippets of language and the emerging associative connotations to them, Laure Marville questions to what extent language can shape the togetherness of a society. With Moodboard 4, the artist refers to the French philosopher Edgar Morin and his definition of knowledge as something thrown together and not linear. What most of the female warriors have in common is a lonely journey. This thought is part of the dance performance Mephala, which is conceived by Lotte Meret and will be streamed live on Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 5 pm. The first-person narrator reveals her thoughts about female protagonists and fighters from video games, mirroring herself and the expectations of her digital and analog roles. Oriented to androgynous video game characters, often with various gender attributions, Mephala reflects on pop-cultural avatars, questions about gender identities and their representation. The costumes and props, which Lotte Meret made for the performance, are displayed in the physical space and have a fantastical effect. In harmony with this, the objects speak to a utopia of fluid forms of existence. Despite their different aesthetic expressions, Mahya Ketabchi, Laure Marville and Lotte Meret are united in their engagement with the questions of the exhibition. Their thoughts are reflected in the narrations of the works and thus become the tale of the show. A Mouth; A Tale refers to the singular narratives of the artists, to which, however, collective relationships emerge - not least between the visitors, the artists and the works. (Text: Louisa Behr)