Camilo Pachón "Saakhelu Hack", 2020 (with Jumu Monster, Ana Cardenas and Friedrich Boell). Photo: CAT Cologne.
Press Release, September
"Process as Resistance, Resilience and Regeneration“
CAT Cologne celebrates 10 years of process-oriented work.
Cologne's only artist residence, CAT Cologne, celebrates its tenth anniversary with a group exhibition in an unusual location. In September, 15 artists will show process-oriented works in an archway near Cologne Central Station. In response to the recent general socio-global insecurity and in search of a new consensus, these negotiate possible solutions.
Performances, interactive and time-based media unfold from three perspectives. This includes processes informing the work prior to production which are mostly related to community knowledge, cultural and biographical background. Processes that unfold at the moment of production take a look at synergies and networks. The third perspective focuses on methods of outreach and activation that ideally manifest as sustainable effects such as advancing social change or ecological awareness. Art becomes a statement, a tool to take action and to examine complex layers of our living conditions.
Instead of suggesting potential solutions, the catalyst potential inherent to the arts is rather to point to the actual questions and to raise awareness. The exhibition therefore sets up a specific context for such “’catalysing figures’ (...) capable of inventing and activating new visions of a reality of which countless details tend to slip unnoticed past the common gaze, influenced not only by the stereotypes broadly promoted in the mass media, but also by a widespread amnesia with regard to civil and human rights” (1).
Cosima von Bonin "Alles Roger Commander", 2001. Photo: CAT Cologne.
Camilo Pachón "Saakhelu Hack", 2020 (with Jumu Monster, Ana Cardenas and Friedrich Boell). Photo: CAT Cologne.
Daan den Houter "Sleeping Sculpture" & "Icepaintings", 2020.
Photo: CAT Cologne.
Hiwa K "Pin-down", 2017 (courtesy of the artist and KOW).
Photo: CAT Cologne.
With its focus on socially engaged and community-based work, CAT (‘Community Art Team’) has hosted more than 50 international artists and projects since 2010. To respond to the fact that the projects usually set focus on processes stipulated during the residencies and mostly manifest outside the white cube, works deriving from these and related projects are now translated into an exhibition context. They are further complemented with works by artists associated to the program.
The exhibition is located in an urban setting, which is both protected yet characterized by mobility and transit, offers an ideal environment to experience the process-oriented work. The public space is informed by permanent negotiation, thus critically engaging with the fixiticy of formal structures. This environment takes into account the transformative character of the works.
Javier Tapia "Karma Landscape", 2020. Photo: CAT Cologne.
Javier Tapia "Karma Landscape", 2020. Photo: CAT Cologne.
Ntando Cele "In the Crown", 2020. Photo: CAT Cologne.
Ntando Cele "In the Crown", 2020. Video still.
Sam Hopkins and David Lalé "Made in Chinafrica", 2020. Video still.
Sam Hopkins and David Lalé "Made in Chinafrica", 2020.
Photo: CAT Cologne.
Sam Hopkins and David Lalé "Made in Chinafrica", 2020. Video still.
Special events such as performances, artist talks and Dinner Parties will be framing the exhibition. Most of the artists will be present for the opening. A documentation of all projects of the past ten years of CAT Cologne will be available at the exhibition. A catalogue will be published at the closing of the exhibition.
Felipe Castelblanco, detail views of "Cartographies of the Unseen", ongoing research project.
Artists: Cosima von Bonin, BorderlessTV, Felipe Castelblanco, Ntando Cele, Ilka Geyer, Daan den Houter, Sam Hopkins, Hiwa K, Philippa Ndisi-Herrmann, Camilo Pachón, Claudia Robles-Angel, Adam J. Scarborough, Evamaria Schaller, Reut Shemesh and Javier Tapia.
The exhibition is curated by Julia Haarmann and Khanyisile Mbongwa.
Opening: Saturday the 5th of September, 12-9 pm
Exhibition period: 4th - 27th of September, 2020*
Opening hours: Friday-sunday: 4-7 pm
For further events see www.catcologne.org.
* All events take place with special observance of protective and hygiene precautions due to Covid-19.
Ambrozoic, Mara, "Regeneration", in: "Art as a Thinking Process. Visual Forms of Knowledge Production" ed. by Ambrozoic, Mara, and Vettese, Angela, 2013, pp 30-38, p. 33.