Leerlauf und: Warten auf Durchzug

Exhibiting in the showcases of the Kunstverein, Florian Deeg and Jáno Möckel deal with the forgetting of places, objects and human encounters. In doing so, they question the dualcharacter of showcases, on the one hand as a form of museal presentation for art and on the other hand as an advertising format for consumer goods. In their multimedia installation, Deeg and Möckel combine the process of preserving memories with the aesthetics of decay. For this purpose, they appropriate objects and sceneries from everyday life. The recognizable objects and spaces are staged surreally by alienating the material or through unusual perspectives. Behind the glass panes of the showcases, they seem strangely removed from day-to-day life. In his work, Florian Deeg deals with the possibilities and transitions of analog and digital models. In a spatial installation whose aesthetics move between shop window, office space and private interior, Deeg shows the website "https://leute-in-deutschland.de/" he developed. It's called up on an old, nicotine-yellowed computer with clear signs of use. All the names listed in the German telephone directory in the fall of 2016 appear once for one single time on the page. The random appearance of people, represented exclusively by their names here, establishes an analogy to what happens in the train station. The meeting of people and their simultaneous "appearance" are arbitrary, both on the screen and in real life on site. Deeg thematizes the Harburg train station, its paths and winding corners in another piece of work. Two screens show synchronously running videos dedicated to the immediate surroundings outside the usual field of vision. With the help of a self-built camera construction, Deeg creates recordings that challenge the viewer's sense of orientation. Jáno Möckel's works reflect the shortcomings of everyday life in a socio-economic context. In the showcases he stages the front window of a pawn shop. The objects advertised in such stores are not new goods, rather valuable commodities. They are only displayed in the shop window when a loan cannot be repaid and the pawned object is not sold at the subsequent auction. Behind the goods for sale lie personal stories and human predicaments. The question of value production or, in turn loss of value of such goods, are recurring themes in Möckel's work. In the exhibition he confronts the peculiar aesthetic of pawnshop windows somewhere between a jeweller and second-hand store with a diorama of gray flocked objects. Typically used to finish surfaces, flocking is used in jewellery boxes for display and storage. From a distance, however, the diorama appears artificially dusty. The alienated goods testify to neglect and loss of value, as well as refinement and value production. In two collaboratively designed showcases, the works of Deeg and Möckel enter into a dialogue. Both implement, mirror and re-contextualize each others’ artistic materials and architectural elements. The concrete examination of the themes of decay and nostalgia becomes even more present in the pandemic. This becomes obvious when looking into the deserted showcases.