Linus Rauch, There, Here at Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin

There, Here by Linus Rauch, curated by Clara von Schwerin, at Galerie im Körnerpark, Berlin, 18.11.2024 – 28.02.2025.

The intervention There, Here takes up the round arches of the neo-baroque architecture at Körnerpark and creates a dialogue between material, space and illusion. Inside each of the twenty niches, a precisely cut layer of billboard paper is attached – however with the sky-blue reverse side facing outwards – thereby making the color blue the protagonist of this site-specific work.

The usual function of the intensely blue back of standard billboard paper is to prevent older layers of advertising posters from showing through. Usually a medium for communication, the material is here transformed into a silent element full of ambiguity – drawing attention to the interplay of form, color, architecture and surroundings.

The geometric unity of the blue surfaces suggests a façade and echoes the classic window-motif in painting. The impression of a sky reflected in these windows could be understood as an allusion to an unfulfilled longing – for an imagined south, or an idealized past.

This poetic suggestion of distance enters into a dialogue with the historical layout of the public park, which itself evokes the air of a utopian place, and is mirrored in the transience of the blue hour, the ephemeral moment between day and night.