For Centuries

Artists Solveig Schmid and Jane Garbert interweave independently created works and also a jointly composed piece of music in their second duo show, titled for centuries: like all other things art senses the passing of time paint becomes dry fabrics get thin marble breaks and cracks resins and plastics become yellow dust, grime and grease accumulate on surfaces sometimes for centuries for centuries for centuries for centuries In their exhibition at AgvA CIAT, located in the basement of a Kreuzberg backyard, the artists' works approach an archaeological search for traces that you explore artistically. Large-format paintings, in watercolor green and earth tones, as well as smaller formats, so-called hieroglyphs by the artist Solveig Schmid, are placed in direct dialogue with Jane Garbert's anabeki plants, a concrete sculpture and tapestries. Together, these various groups of works describe a state of preservation and a search for temporal value. The artists turn to each other in a fragmentary manner and, in their dialogue, animate empty spaces that make the as yet unformulated tangible and create fertile ground for associations. An ambiguous atmosphere pervades the space. Themes such as weathering, sedimentation and permeability are negotiated in painting and sculpture. The title for centuries refers to the fundamental need to leave traces and find signs in the world that question the cosmic order. We do not encounter an unchanging world building or an accomplished creation, but a world in constant change. The law of this world says that nothing is lost, but also nothing remains as it is. Over centuries, artistic processes are activated, which constantly drill through the geological protective layers of tradition. It is a continuous attempt to find resonances in a changing world.