States of Being

With its exhibition States of Being, the EDITH-RUSS-HAUS for Media Art brings together two young artistic positions that seem to enter into a magical dialog. Kerstin Ergenzinger and Yunchul Kim achieve complex installations that react to external influences, including and oriented toward the visitor. Their objects pass through numerous states of being.  

Such as Yunchul Kim’s recent work, Effulge, a triptych that seems at first to resemble an abstract painting but that actually consists of highly sensitive tablets whose liquid surfaces react to electromagnetic fields and light. Right before the visitor’s eyes, an amorphous mass begins to move, reminiscent of the halos of dust surrounding stars or of interstellar nebulae and seemingly generated by alchemical experiments or wizardry. But the artist reveals that this is really about rigorous scientific research, in a laboratory set up in the exhibition space that is used for workshops, becoming an active site for experimentation and research.                                                                            
Standing in stark contrast to Yunchul Kim’s artistic material studies are the fragile installations of Kerstin Ergenzinger. Whiskers in Space, which is situated across from Effulge in the central entryway of the EDITH-RUSS-HAUS, resembles a cat’s sensitive whiskers. Structures of a feathery light appearance rise into the air and form a moving landscape, registering the most delicate movements of air and translating them into kinetic and acoustic reactions.

he works by both of these artists are complemented by drawings, some of which were generated during the creative process and others of which comment on the finished works.

In States of Being, the poetic, powerful works of Kerstin Ergenzinger and Yunchul Kim show each other off and allow the visitor to participate in a magical juxtaposition.
Both artists are fellows of the EDITH-RUSS-HAUS with a Foundation of Lower Saxony Media Art Scholarship, Kim in 2011 and Ergenzinger in 2012.