Kunstverein Nürnberg – Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft

Opening: 10.10.2024, 19:00
Duration: 11.10. – 20.10.2024

In “hallmark“, Antonia Beeskow and Lilli Lake explore the paralinguistic act of sighing. A chorus of sighs from different origins, species, and temporalities evokes moments of sorrow and exhaustion, but also longing, desire, and protest. Influenced by Eleni Ikoniadou’s essay “The Chorus” (2022), the lament of women’s groups is presented as an expression of wordless resistance in public space, with shared sighs serving to foster this solidarity.

With a particular sensitivity for the ephemeral and distinct sounds that shape our environment as well as our everyday lives and experiences, the artists at the Kunstverein Nürnberg—Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft share a (sound) installation in the form of an archive of sound samples and footnotes that stretch across the various floors of the Milchhof.

As the title suggests, “hallmark“ represents an attempt to create an acoustic signet, an affective marker of memories. These memories—with all their perceptible disintegration—are transmitted as echoes and inscribed into their created surroundings as three-dimensional spectrograms. Like déjà vu, the audience experiences the resonance of these fragmented memories in interplay with the sounds of their own breathing. The intervention is accompanied by an image of a wide-open mouth, representing the moment before speech begins.

“hallmark“ was developed by Lilli Lake and Antonia Beeskow in response to the exhibition and research project “Das Lokale ist nicht lokal“ (The Local Is Not Local) by Maximiliane Baumgartner, who examined the work and influence of Dore Meyer-Vax (1908–1980, Nuremberg) as part of her Marianne Defet Painting Scholarship. The artists were inspired by Meyer-Vax’s interest in the overlooked, the mundane, and the voiceless or silenced, as well as motifs of making one’s voice heard and calls to action and protest. The intervention opens on October 10 at 7 pm with a performative activation of the work.

Antonia Beeskow (b. 1992 in Düsseldorf, DE) is a composer, sound designer, performer, and author. Her works take the form of live concerts, performances, soundwalks, and radio plays. She was recently awarded the Karl-Sczuka-Förderpreis and the NRW Förderpreis.

Lilli Lake (b. 1995 in Mettingen, DE) is an artist, initiator, and host of the radio show “Concrete Recordings“. Her works have recently been shown at the Kunstverein Bielefeld, the Kunstmuseum Solingen, the Lantz’scher Skulpturenpark, and the Philara Collection.