Marcel Odenbach Exhibition

Anton Kern Gallery

poster for Marcel Odenbach Exhibition
[Image: Marcel Odenbach "Die Bibliothek von Babel" (2021) Collage, 56 1/4 x 73 5/8 in.]

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Third Floor Gallery

In his eighth exhibition at Anton Kern Gallery, German artist Marcel Odenbach allows the viewer a precise glimpse into his multi-faceted practice. The exhibition consists of a video installation entitled Tropenkoller (tropical frenzy) and a wall-papered environment that includes two large paper collages and a set of silkscreen prints.

Tropenkoller is a haunting two channel video installation that contrasts archival material from Togo’s colonial history with images of the persistence of colonial structures in the West African Nation today. The larger of the two collages entitled View of the House of the Wannsee Conference depicts a deceivingly picturesque view of the place where, on January 20th, 1942, the implementation of the so-called “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” was formalized. The companion collage called The Library of Babel is based on a snapshot the artist took during his travels in South America depicting the spines of an unlikely collection of books. The title alludes to the eponymous short story by Argentine author and librarian Jorge Luis Borges conceiving of a universe in the form of a vast library. The wallpaper imagery and the prints are based on a selection of Odenbach’s Schnittvorlagen (cutting templates), a pictorial atlas the artist has accumulated since 2001 and which was recently published in book form and presented in a comprehensive exhibition at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.

Viewed at a distance Odenbach’s collages convey a sense of tranquility and casualness, however upon closer inspection, the subjects’ latent histories are slowly revealed through hundreds of images that make up the larger work.

Media

Schedule

from October 27, 2022 to December 17, 2022

Opening Reception on 2022-10-27 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Marcel Odenbach

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