43_137_normal

Given to the Space

Experiment: visual art by Eva Koethen and music by Florian Halm meet as two unknown

Exhibition from Sept 20 – Oct 19, 1997

KunstWerk Burghausen, Max-Planck-Strasse 5, 84489 Burghausen, Germany

A cycle of paintings by the Berlin artist Eva Koethen can be seen in the hall. This draws its inspiration from findings the artists has collected alongside footpaths and roads, on the seashore, and on terrain difficult to access. Most of the items are metal objects, used and changed by man or aged by the elements of nature. By incorporating these objects into her work, Eva Koethen creates three-dimensional pictures-spaces; hence the title of the exhibition, ‘dem Raum gegeben’ (‘Given to the Room’). To achieve this three-dimensionality, the artist aligns her painting with the structure, form and colour of the objects. What emerges is a unique combination of realism and constructive-concrete components. (…)
Just before the exhibition the composer Florian Halm saw reproductions of the works described above. They left a deep impression and inspired him to respond with a series of musical compositions, which are here presented together with the three-dimensional pictures-spaces for the first time. It was a brave experiment: neither had Florian Halm seen the originals nor did Eva Koethen have any idea of the musical compositions. In the space of the KunstWerk Burghausen visual art and music meet as two unknown.
(Michaela Strebel-Dreier on the exhibition of Eva Koethen and Florian Halm)