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until 07.12. | #4473ARTatBerlin | AOA;87 contemporary presents from 25. Oktober 2024 (Vernissage: 24.10.) the exhibition MARCKS SPIELSALON of the artist MARCK.
A coin and three or more matching symbols, often in the form of numbers or fruit, and a little luck lead to a win. The payout is a clinking, clashing metal – the sound of joy. Or does it fail to materialize?
MARCKS SPIELSALON, Außenansicht AOA;87 Berlin
Confronted with the typical urban, pop-culture aesthetics of gaming arcades, the visitor gazes at a shop window that is closed off from view by a heavy red velvet curtain. In front of it are flickering LED illuminated lettering, an outdated but excitingly designed slot machine and the lettering: MARCKS SPIELESALON. Such places of entertainment seem familiar to us, and yet there is something unsettling about them. We are in Sophienstraße, an area with the typical old town charm of the Spandau suburb. In the shop window is a slot machine that is not decorated with the symbols and lettering we are familiar with. ‘INVEST IN ART’ is written on it. An invitation that does not seem absurd in the context of a gallery exhibition, but here it has a very decisive effect. MARCKS’ exhibition leads the visitor through a world full of fun, greed, addiction, arbitrariness, sensory overload, chance and predictability, profit and loss social themes or even an analogy and criticism of the art market? It is not typical symbols that play out in front of the players’ eyes, but works of art, artsy rankings and artist portraits. The art market as a game of chance and the artists, gallery owners, curators and collectors as players? Slot machines are based on the principle of pseudo-randomness, in which events that appear random at first glance are actually predetermined and repeatable by a specific algorithm and fixed initial values.
Pseudo-random number generators produce number sequences that appear to be random values, but always deliver the same sequence with identical input values. So do we live in a world of pseudo-realities in which everything is actually predetermined and chance and arbitrariness are just an illusion of attractive colorful lights and sounds? Is what determines us and what arouses our interest ultimately the result of a pre-programmed system? If this is the case, the question arises: how free are we in our decisions if they are merely the product of invisible mechanisms and algorithms? Are our aesthetic preferences and our appreciation of art also merely the result of algorithmic randomness? Is art – like the slot machine – ultimately just a marketplace controlled by opaque algorithms? The artists themselves could become pawns in a game governed by data points and rankings, while the supposed “chance” merely repeats what has already proven successful. If everything is a predictable pattern, what remains of the authenticity of art and the creative process? Do we ultimately find ourselves in a cycle that makes us believe we have choices, when in fact we are only acting in predetermined ways? Art and culture as a mirror of our society – a game whose rules have long since been written.
MARCK, Pyramide, 2023, 43″ Screen, Eisen, 115 x 78 x 20 cm
MARCK, born in Zurich in 1964, is an internationally recognized artist distinguished by his innovative combination of sculpture and video. His video sculptures transcend classical artistic boundaries and create multi-sensory artworks that evoke emotional and intellectual responses, each piece is made by hand, emphasizing MARCK’s materiality and physical presence and setting him apart from the digitally driven art world. At the center of his work is the examination of social and individual limitations.
MARCK questions established norms and challenges viewers to rethink their view of social constraints. His works, conceived as “fragments of our mental cinema”, leave room for personal interpretation and make the viewer an active participant in the art process. His works have been acquired by numerous renowned institutions, including the ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, the Grande Finale Museum in France, the Dosan Artcenter in Korea and the Artcenter Istanbul, and are highly sought after by private collectors. Since 2007, MARCK has been shown internationally in over 200 solo and group exhibitions.
Vernissage: Thursday, October 24, 2024, 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Exhibition dates: Friday, October 25 to Saturday, December 07, 2024
To the gallery
Image caption: MARCK, Dream Bust, 2023, 43″ Screen, Holz, Elektronik, Antenne, 125 x 78 x 15 cm
Exhibition Marck | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
