MIXED FEELINGS

November 2019 - A stab in the heart. Early on Monday morning, unknown persons break into Dresden's Green Vault and steal a piece of our Saxon identity along with the jewels worth tens of thousands of euros. That's what you read in the newspapers for months. But how does Saxon work? As soon as we enter the room, we are greeted and overwhelmed by a tapestry of sound woven from episodes of life in Dresden. The sound installation by Manuel Sékou - a child of this city and probably better known to most as I LOST MY GEMS - is a conglomeration of sound snippets with thematic references to jewel theft and to social developments and exaggerated peculiarities of the state capital, in which the projection surface of the "East" seems to symbolize itself. Between the two audio pieces as part of the exhibition, his trilogy of works also includes the book ILMG002. Not only the painful loss of a part of Augustus the Strong's art-historical legacy, but also cult-like elements find their place here and merge into a comprehensive image of the Saxon self-image. Mixed feelings - from thoughts about class structures to unease, shame and bewilderment - arise when viewing the visual collection of impressions and snapshots that he compiles on Instagram. Social studies that paint a sarcastic but honest and self-deprecating picture of our city and reveal social subtexts. Christian Holze also explores the endless possibilities of the internet and social media. In his sculptures and pictures, he dissects traditions and relics from antiquity and relates them to our present day with the help of innovative technical processes such as 3D printing. In addition to images of tangible works of art, Christian Holz's Instagram account also features rendered creations. However, the difference between a physical work of art and a digital fake is not immediately apparent at first glance. Different realities overlap and intertwine on a meta-level that can be located somewhere between the real and the digital world, between the past and the future - perhaps at this very moment. What exists? What does not? The work Laokoon Reverse exhibited here in the Stephanie Kelly Gallery shows a replica of a mythological representation, which in its fragmentary nature and presentation is reminiscent of archaeological finds. However, the grey debris of the formerly intact sculpture is accurately and carefully staged on a scaffolding construction made of aluminum struts - as if in a museum depot. In the duo show MIXED FEELINGS, high culture and subculture enter into a symbiosis - linguistic confusion, the cult of soccer and local patriotism collide with Dresden baroque culture and Greek heroic legends. The legend of Laocoon is reinterpreted here. The priest Laocoon was the one who tried to alarm the Trojans about the wooden horse, whereupon the goddess Athena sent two snakes to kill his two sons in order to prevent this from happening. The deceived men withdrew their supposed gift behind the city walls, and the rest is history. Thus, within the exhibition, the fragments of the Laocoon group, which in their entirety visualize the father's grief over the death of his sons, become a symbol of the pain over the loss of the treasure through the simultaneity of the audio piece. The allegory itself is a means of concretizing, even allegorizing abstract circumstances. It is similar with the related meme, which has become an integral part of our communication: on the one hand as an element of cultural identification and demarcation on the other, it creates a sense of community and the impression of supposed superiority over the ignorant. An ambivalent state of permanent alert manifests itself in Florence on the Elbe. The mood is changing. The culture of protest in Dresden is constantly evolving. Revolt seems to be an adequate means of exerting influence - from antiquity to the present day. And yet largely peaceful coexistence is possible and desirable, as it inevitably leads to dialog, as recent events against a picturesque backdrop illustrate time and again!!!!!11elf 🤬🤬😡😡😡😡