Carsten Höller is into doubles or/and halves: At Art 40 Basel my favorite Berlin gallery Esther Schipper brought new works titled “Doppel Pilze” from Carsten Höller, which are part of the artist’s current solo exhibition “Bird Mushroom Mathematics” in Berlin. At the same time Höller’s art project “The Double Club“, ‘a cross-pollination without any attempt of fusion’ (with Fondazione Prada) is located in an old Victorian warehouse in London and is in its last month. The venue is ‘A Bar, Restaurant and Dance Club where the Congo Meets the West | A Bar, Restaurant and Dance Club where the West Meets the Congo’, combining contemporary music, lifestyle, arts and design (closes July 11, 2009)!
‘These are Doppelpilze (Double mushrooms) – halved and newly put together moulds of different kinds of mushrooms, always combined with one half of a toadstool. Some of the mushrooms are edible, others not.’ The “design” of the Double mushrooms is based on a mathematical formula of doubling and halving. The idea of introducing them as a new specie by putting them on view in steel vitrines, sold quickly at the fair.
‘The Double Club consists of three spaces: Bar, Restaurant and Dance Club. Each space is divided into equally sized Western and Congolese parts on a decorative and functional level, generating an inspiring perspective on double identity as well as on cultural coexistence. The different sections have been conceived and designed to represent the most challenging elements of both cultures, encompassing music, food and visual aesthetics.’
‘In the central courtyard bar area, there are two Western portions and two Congolese: a large tile garden with Portuguese azulejos (depicting a flying city originally drawn by Russian architect Georgi Krutikow in 1928) and a copper bar with a pink neon sign saying Two Horses Riders Club; another bar with coloured plastic chairs, parasols, and wall paintings of beer advertisements, where Congolese beer can be enjoyed and a reproduction of Cheri Samba’s J’aime les Couleurs enlarged to a surface of 7 x 4 m.’
‘In the restaurant Congolese and Western food is served on Congolese tablecloths or on Kram and Weisshaar’s acclaimed Breeding Tables, each of which is unique. The Double Club is the only place in London where you can choose between a Liboke na mbisi (fresh fish wrapped and stewed in large leaves) and a range of extraordinary Western dishes, all made of special ingredients combined in an original yet simple way. The restaurant also includes outstanding art works from the West and from Congo (the stage dress of the guitarist Luambo Makiadi, a.k.a. Franco, a painting by Mosengwo Kejwamfi, a.k.a. Moke the Painter, Kinshasa, a Cheri Samba painting).’
‘In the dance club, the DJ plays alternately Congolese and Western music on a circular dance floor which slowly revolves at about one turn per hour. When the DJ is in the Western part of the room, ‘Western’ music is played, while as coming into the Congolese part it will switch into Congolese Rumba, Wenge or Ndombolo. Furthermore, once a week the Club will present the best of contemporary Western and Congolese music live, showcasing both local and international bands.’
Carsten Höller, born in Brussels, is a German artist who lives and works in Stockholm. Most recently, he realised the The Double Club (with Fondazione Prada) in the London borough of Islington and earlier on Test Site at the Tate Modern in London, as well as the Revolving Hotel Room at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Quotes from Esther Schipper Gallery and Fondazione Prada
Doppelpilzvitrinen, 2009
Mushroom replicas in different sizes (polyurethane, acrylic paint), vitrine (steel frame, glass)
Please refer to the gallery for inquiries and prices.
Esther Schipper
Linienstr.85, 10119 Berlin Germany, Tel. +49 30 2839 0139
office@estherschipper.com
The Double Club, 2008 (November 21 2008 - July 11, 2009)
The Double Club
7 Torrens Street, London EC1V 1NQ, UK , Tel +44 207 837 2222
info@thedoubleclub.co.uk
{ 0 comments }