21 March - 9 May 2010 with: Olivia Berckemeyer, Armin Boehm, Tobias Daemgen, Moritz Ellerich, Tine Furler , Tanja Goethe, Seb Koberstädt, Roman Lang, Maren Maurer, Christian Odzuck, Andreas Schmitten, Rebecca Zeller Sky Office, Kennedydamm 24, Düsseldorf Curator:       Pia Witzmann With kindly support: Sparda Bank-West, ORCO Germany, Lovells, McKinsey, Julius Bär


With the exhibition project Regarding Düsseldorf 5, 701 e.V., a non-profit initiative of Düsseldorf personalities from the fields of art and culture, business and politics, continues the exhibition series begun in spring 2005.

The Regarding exhibitions, curated from the beginning by Pia Witzmann, bring together artistic positions from the fields of painting, sculpture, installation, video and photography by young artists whose biographies are closely linked to the Düsseldorf Art Academy.

The central concern of the exhibitions is to present the diversity of artistic potential and the different approaches to visual art. Complex structures of artistic practice become visible and cast a spotlight on local art production. As much emphasis is placed on the interplay of the artistic contributions as on the quality of the individual works. The choreography highlights similarities and contrasts and establishes harmonious but also disharmonious references and connections.

Regarding Düsseldorf sees itself as a platform for young art – a main concern of Initiative 701, which would like to continue to make Düsseldorf an attractive place for artists to live and produce in the future. Changing exhibition venues are a characteristic feature. Regarding 1 was realised on 2000 square metres of vacant office space in the city centre, Regarding 2 to 4 took place in the spacious exhibition hall of the Arteversum gallery. For Regarding Düsseldorf 5, ORCO Projektentwicklung provided 701 with the 6th office floor with 1000 sqm in the newly built Sky Office.

The Sky Office – designed by ingenhoven architects – offers an ideal exhibition space with its completely glazed exterior façade and spacious hall-like rooms. The selection of artists was also made with regard to the special architectural situation. Regarding 5 will thus focus on installation and sculptural works. The attraction of the Sky Office lies not least in the encounter between inner and outer space, which is only separated by the surrounding glass construction.

The following artists have worked with these spatial conditions and developed their works for this specific situation:

Christian Odzuck‘s, Andreas Schmitten’s and Tanja Goethe’s artistic focus is on architecture, its structure and effect as well as its artistic interpretation. Rebecca Zeller has dealt intensively with the motif of the skyscraper – especially in her current photographic work. Roman Lang’s painting finds its starting point in architectural forms, while Armin Boehm visualises the imaginary space or even the soul of the place in his painting. Olivia Berckemeyer’s sculptures transform historical heroes into miniature monuments cast in wax or, more recently, bronze, to which their new garb lends a morbid and also tragicomic appearance. Tine Furler’s large-format photo collages on painted backgrounds, often free-standing in space, and Seb Koberstadt’s expansive installations enter into a conscious correspondence with their surroundings. Maren Maurer visualises the interplay of space and sculpture with her dance performance, and her installations pick up on patterns of movement. Tobias Daemgen and Moritz Ellerich (Raumzeitpiraten) show their experiments in multidimensionality in the Sky Office by projecting self-constructed sound and image instruments onto the walls.