Nikolai Frerichs, Clemens Fischer, Yumo Wu, Moritz Jekat, Ilse Kind, “Converging elements” at Backshop, Berlin

“Converging elements” by Nikolai Frerichs, Clemens Fischer, Yumo Wu, Moritz Jekat, Ilse Kind, curated by Milo Keller at Backshop, Berlin, from 11/07/2024 to 15/07/2024.

Observing nearby objects causes your eyes to converge and point inward, creating two lines of vision that meet at a very close point. This exhibition explores the convergence of technology and nature as two elements that have not yet met but orbit around one another. Their interdependency in one space results through the works of Nikolai Frerichs, Clemens Fischer, Yumo Wu, Moritz Jekat, and Ilse Kind, five artists investigate the intersection of these two domains and how they might touch. Unstable assemblages of ancient wood build structures that autonomously produce images by C. Fischer, are in dialogue with negative photographs by Y. Wu that play with the boundaries of perception within the human brain, appearing as positive images to our eyes. Meanwhile, sculptures and fragile canvas engravings of teeth, seemingly exposed to never-ending growth by N. Frerichs, question the contradiction of technology as both a destroyer and potential savior of nature. On another front, we encounter an avatar embedded into wooden panels and home-like cabinets, expressing its deep subconscious feelings and pondering in a gradually approaching meeting point. Its life before birth, alongside 3D-printed “constructed emotions” by M. Jekat. Surveillance systems are humanized in the works shown by I. Kind, emphasizing our shared tendency to misinterpret each other’s realities. We enter their minds and view the world through their eyes.