Blade Memory II — Naama Arad

Blade Memory II (Co-curated with I. S. Kalter and Eran Nave)
2022, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund

Participating artists: Uri Aran, Oded Avramovsky, Marianne Berenhaut, Max Ernst,
Avner Ben Gal, Noa Glazer, George Grosz, I. S. Kalter, Talia Keinan,
Martin Kippenberger, Harel Luz, Roy Menachem Markovich, Lee Nevo, Tchelet Ram, Ariel Schlesinger, Shay-Lee Uziel

Blade Memory evokes an aching memory, a memory that strikes to the heart. The exhibition examines the role of artists whose present is marked by the disenchantment that professionalisation, corporate branding and its architectures leave in the individual’s sense of agency. Since the 1970s, and increasingly since the New Economy era of the 1990s, the world has accelerated: densified inner cities leave little room for individual expression; the time economy of digitalisation increases global effectiveness, creating not less but more work for some and none for others.
The exhibition takes place in the shell of the new premises of the Dortmunder Kunstverein, formerly used as an insurance office. Through the pandemic, deserted office buildings now

stand for a turning point in time: the ruins of the early 2000s office architecture provide a space to look at the world in its status quo, to order it, to contextualise it. Rather than exaggerating and overwhelming, the sober setting of this backdrop allows the art to appear almost incidental, giving it a chance to reclaim its autonomy outside the spectacle.
Blade Memory is an artist-curated exhibition in two independent chapters: The first was on view at CCA Tel Aviv-Yafo in 2021, and we are now pleased to present Blade Memory II at the new space of Dortmunder Kunstverein. Curated by the artists Naama Arad, I. S. Kalter and Eran Nave, invited by Nicola Trezzi and Rebekka Seubert.

︎ Ouzi Zur, Haaretz