After the first exhibition dedicated to Allora & Calzadilla, then to Katinka Bock, the third exhibition in the project-room at the Calidarium,
curated by Valentina Bruschi and Ignazio Mortellaro with the artistic coordination of Vittorio Rappa, is a solo show by the German
artist Björn Braun, who has decided to install a selection of his works responding to this particular exhibition space and its context. Braun’s
works are often the result of “collaborations”, where the artist works with nature, especially with the birds but also with bees and mice,
transforming the remains of their activities - nests, burrows, abandoned eggs and feathers - in sculptures. The creative process is a fundamental
part of the work and the resulting work of art is often determined by chance. The forms that the artist predisposes for his work often recall the
minimalist aesthetic, revised through his predilection for the use of humble natural materials, creating similarities close to Arte Povera. Other
important elements of his research are the irony and alchemy of Beuysian derivation, since the artist often mixes organic materials (after
boiling, mixing or baking them) in his sculptural forms. On show the two different forms of collaboration with nature put into practice by the
artist: in the video, Untitled (2012) where he documented the creation of his sculptures-nests, built by zebra finches using objects provided by
the artist. The video reproduces the exchange: Braun supplies the fibres one by one to a zebra finch that accepts (or refuses) the offers. The
artist had tried to build his own nests, but he realized that the birds were much better for working at this particular task. So he decided to
breed a pair of zebra finches and had them build their nests, conceiving the work as a collaboration. The sculptures-columns instead present
the imprints and marks left by the various forms of teeth and bites (of different animals and of the artist himself) in the material only partially
consumed. Imprints that are normally just noticed, because they disappear with apples, potatoes, bread and corn into the stomachs of their
consumers. The artist destroys any illusion of immediacy of the biten natural materials that are translated into polymer concrete or industrial
concrete and assembled to form tall columns. The marks that emerge on the apples, corn and bread illustrate a variety of signs as in the
ancient conception of the columns that narrated a story and, in this case, the activity of the artist and his collaborators.
The book/catalogue, published by Hopefulmonster and produced for the occasion in the series of monographs designed for Radiceterna,
contains an introduction by the curators and a selection of images of Björn Braun’s works.
Biography: Björn Braun (1979, born in Berlin where he lives and works) is interested in the transformation processes through which he
generates images, collages, objects and installations, which oscillate between the natural and the artificial creation. For Braun, paper, wood,
fibers and feathers in different forms - as industrially produced materials or as elements found in nature - are the raw materials at the base
of his art that generates different narratives. The material in its original state plays an equally important role for the artist as much as the
object itself. Braun experiments the transformation potential of each material as a starting point, examining the extent to which an object
must be modified to produce a narrative element. The concept of transforming the material into a narrator is a substantial component of
his work. The spectator, as the recipient and witness of the process of transformation, is able to understand the narration and, at the same
time, perceives an unlimited spectrum of meanings. Another central theme in his artistic work is the collaboration with animals, often with
birds, which he integrates in his artistic process in various ways. Sometimes the animal is called to cooperate physically, when the artist selects
and provides him with the work material, or sometimes the artist takes possession of the shape of a specific animal habitat and forms a new
sculpture from it. Björn Braun studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe and in 2013 he was amongst the three winners of the ars viva
Fine Arts Prize awarded by the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. (Association of Arts and Cultures of the German Economy
at the Federation of German Industries) to artists under 35 living and working in Germany. He has had solo exhibitions at the Kunstverein
& Stiftung Springhornhof, Neuernkirchen (2017); Meyer Riegger Gallery both in Berlin (2012 and 2016) and Karlsruhe (2007 and 2018);
Marianne Boesky Gallery New York (2015) and the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2012). The group shows include: The Nest, an exhibition of
art in nature, Katonah Museum New York (2016); Ars Viva 13/14, Gam Torino, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt / Main (2014) and
Neues Museum, Weimar (2013). In 2011 he participated, with Rossella Biscotti, in the series of exhibitions, Solo un quadro al massimo, at the
Accademia Tedesca (German Academy), Villa Massimo, Rome.
Radiceterna Arte Ambiente
Björn Braun’s solo show is part of the project inaugurated on May 19, Radiceterna Biblioteca Arte Ambiente, which consists in the creation
of a permanent library, built thanks to Planeta’s support within the Calidarium, an eighteenth-century building of the Botanical Gardens,
with a collection of books by national and international publishing houses curated by Eveline Wüthrich (co-founder and coordinator of “I
Never Read, Art Book Fair Basel”) and an exhibition space for the study and research on the themes of Art and Nature.
Radiceterna comprises also of a project room, opened on the occasion of Manifesta12 contemporary art biennial hosted in Palermo, with
a programme of four exhibitions (Allora & Calzadilla, Katinka Bock, Björn Braun, Ignazio Mortellaro), curated by Valentina Bruschi and
Ignazio Mortellaro, with the artistic coordination of Vittorio Rappa. The project is inspired by Pliny the Elder’s, Naturalis Historiae, a collection
of 37 books that deal, in an encyclopaedic of Man and Nature, written around 77 - 79 AD. Some passages taken from the monumental work
of Pliny are shown in the inscriptions inside the octagonal hall of the Gymnasium, the central building of the Botanical Garden.
The title of the project, Radiceterna Biblioteca Arte Ambiente, curated by Valentina Bruschi, Ignazio Mortellaro, Eveline Wüthrich and
Vittorio Rappa, refers to a significant 1984 neon work by the artist Mario Merz (1925-2003), Se la forma scompare la sua radice è eterna (If the
Form Disappears its Root is Eternal), inspired by the verses of the thirteenth century Persian poet Gialal al-Din Rumi, installed outside the
Calidarium, as a special outdoor project powered by Fondazione Merz.
On the occasion of the four openings of the exhibitions, Radiceterna promotes a series of live performances of avant-garde electronic
music curated by Luca Mortellaro, aka Lucy, founder of the Berlin record label Stroboscopic Artefacts, now a seminal reality in the
underground world scene. On the evening of September 7th Radiceterna will host Rrose, pseudonym of Seth Horvitz, US multidisciplinary
artist who uses a stage name as a tribute to Marcel Duchamp and his being called Rrose Selavy when he disguised himself as a woman, as
does the same DJ when he plays in clubs around the world, transforming his live performances into “gender bender” performances. His
music, influenced by pre-techno electronics, is known for the tactile qualities of the sound and the integration of gradual and interconnected
transformations. In 2012, Rrose launched Eaux, a label dedicated to solo productions and collaborations and in 2013 he made his début with
Stroboscopic Artefacts in Monad, a release series focused on sound experimentation. For more info: http://rrose.ro/
Radiceterna is part of the Collaterals Events of Manifesta12, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, and within the programme
of Palermo Capitale della Cultura 2018.
Radiceterna wishes to thank all the partners and sponsors, the artist Björn Braun and Meyer Riegger Gallery.
The third exhibition of the programme Radiceterna Biblioteca Arte Ambiente, from Pliny’s II book, Geography of Eastern Europe: Björn
Braun, will be open from Monday to Friday 10.00 am - 1.00 pm and 4.00 pm - 8.00 pm; Saturday 10.00 am - 1.00 pm until October 6 2018
with entrance ticket to the Botanical Gardens or Manifesta 12.
On Friday September 7th, due to the limited capacity of the space which hosts us, access to the Calidarium will be open to 20 people at the
time and guaranteed for those who have the Manifesta 12 local season pass or entrance ticket to the Botanical Gardens which will close at
8pm on that evening. Spaces for Rrose’s live act are limited and available on a first come, first served basis.