June Issue 2002
The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, Features Exhibition Comparing Charlotte and Berlin Germany
The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC, is presenting
the exhibition entitled, Urban Identities: The Topography of
Desire, featuring photographic works by Jacqueline Heer and
Christian Rothmann. The exhibition will be on view through June
15, 2002.
Urban Identities: The Topography of Desire is an on-going
project by Swiss-born, Charlotte, NC, multi media artist Jacqueline
Heer. The purpose of the project is to extend a conceptual exploration
of the city beyond national boundaries, by reflecting comparatively
on two dynamic urban centers: Charlotte, an emerging banking capital,
and Berlin, an emerging political capital.
Charlotte and Berlin are apt sites for a variety of divergent
and parallel considerations, the most immediately apparent being
that they are both undergoing a rapid transition from traditional
insular cities and into much larger internationally connected
urban environments. Both cities are at a critical point of transition,
experiencing fundamental structural mutations while attempting
to define their new location in a rapidly changing global arena.
This process of transformation is a product not only of functional
necessity, but also of the collective desire and imagination of
the people who occupy these physical spaces, at once enshrining
the past and aspiring to the future.
The pulse of this project draws its beat from the assumption that
these cities reflect a record of collective memory as well as
collective desire manifested in an artistic exploration of the
many parallels shared by these cities as they recreate themselves
anew in a changing world order.
To broaden the perspective on this project, painter and photographer,
Christian Rothmann has lived and worked in Berlin most of his
life and will offer his insight based on his unique impressions
and interventions in both cities. An artist who has lived and
worked in Berlin for most of his life, his method has been to
travel the world over asking passers-by, tourists and local people
to hold his portrait and pose for his camera. The resulting color
images are finally paired with abstract photographic images in
order to produce mirrors of worlds near and far, of stillness
and movement, of things abstract and concrete, micro and macro.
Over the last three years, Rothmann's work has evolved from a
sort of diary into a site-specific ongoing project, documenting
the inter-human communications of various cities. The transformations
Charlotte and Berlin are experiencing are inadvertently associated
with complex sociological, political, and economic problems, but
are also ground for exciting new visions. It is well known that
Berlin has undergone a fierce public debate on this issue and
the intention of Urban Identities: The Topography of Desire
is to stimulate a broader discourse in Charlotte. What better
place to explore these debates than in an art gallery setting
- the common ground in which a safe space is established to create
dialogues around art and ideas.
For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 704/333-9755, e-mail at (info@lightfactory.org)
or on the web at (www.lightfactory.org).
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
Subscriptions are available for $18 a year.
Carolina Arts
is published monthly by Shoestring
Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts
Online, Copyright© 2002 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved
by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use
without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina
Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.