From the Assembly Scheme at M17EN-version
Read more about the artwork
As part of a one-month artist residency at the Institute of Automation in Kyiv in October 2023, the Berlin based artists Norman Behrendt and Eric Pawlitzky worked on the construction of an underground metro line between Kyiv and Berlin. The aim is to create a poetic connection between the two cities.
The work on the project began with extensive research in Kyiv. Based on a walk along the M1 the artists made sketches and technical drawings, took casts of locally characteristic decorative elements, such as the well-known PO-2 wall segment and a concrete version of the Kyiv Metro Company signet, in order to produce plaster reliefs in original size in the studio. Behrendt and Pawlitzky created a metro plan as a sunken relief and models for ventilation architecture that visualise the underground connection between both cities. To give the work the further dimension the artists used sounds from the Kyiv metro and the Berlin subway to create a sound installation that emanates from the two ventilation shafts.
Finally, in late October 2023, with the completion of their residence in Kyiv the work was presented for the first time on a wasteland on Kazymyr Malevich Street in Kyiv's public space.
Based on the research and the sculpture drafts the artists aim to build a permanent sculpture in the public space of Kyiv and also plan in analogy to it a similar sculpture in Berlin in order to complete the cross-border work of art.
The European idea, translated into a direct underground connection between both cities, where distance and borders play no role. The project envisions a Europe, in which the increasing control of mobility, the geographical separation from our neighbours and the belief that the world can be a safe place, if only we can control the risks and uncertainties, will be a thing of the past.
From the Assembly Scheme at M17Emergency exit300 x 150 cm, consisting of 4 modular parts, 3 metallic grates and a „M“ and „U“ cast in plaster, unique, 2023€4000
From the Assembly Scheme at M17Metroplan Berlin - Kyiv118,5 x 47cm, cast in plaster, sunken relief, size: 118,5 x 47 x 5 cm, + mirror, 2023€2000
From the Assembly Scheme at M17Kyiv - Berlin Metro Construction24x30 cm, analogue black and white print, framed, 2023€490
From the Assembly Scheme at M17„M“ cast of gips42x42x8 cm, cast in plaster, sunken relief, 2023€1200
From the Assembly Scheme at M17„U“ cast of gips42x42x8 cm, cast in plaster, sunken relief, 2023€1200
From the Assembly Scheme at M17Ventilation tube with underground soundtrack from Kyiv and Berlin120 x 25 cm, ventilation tube + sound with putty coated metallic tube + speaker, 2023€950
About the artists
Eric Pawlitzky
In his artistic works Eric Pawlitzky combines seemingly unspectacular sub- jects or landscapes with social issues. He has something to say, it is never about aesthetics alone. Dealing with a theme is preceded by extensive research, which in turn often leads to texts that interact with photographs, installations and movies. His seeing is influenced by landscapes and port- raits of the Baroque and early Romantic periods.
EDUCATION1967 - 1979 classical violin1983 - 1987 classical singing1990 PhD Law Philosophy (Jena)2009 - 2012 seminars at Ostkreuzschule für Photographie und Design, Berlin
SOLO EXHIBITIONS2022 312 KM THE LINE THROUGH THE LAND , Maison Heinrich Heine, Paris2021 312 KM THE LINE THROUGH THE LAND, 5 movie screenings in different villages in Eastern Germany2018 UND ALLES IST WEG Places of World War I. in Poland, Anti-Kriegs- Museum, Berlin2017 DOPPLEREISE, Maison Heinrich Heine, Paris2016 DOPPELREISE, Trafo-Jena, curated by galery Huber & Treff, JenaTEN WAYS TO FORGET, Atelier Bärendwald, JenaTEN WAYS TO FORGET, Maison Heinrich Heine, Paris 2015 UND ALLES IST WEG Places of World War I. in PolandFotogalerie Freidrichshain, BerlinSkansen Rzeki Pilicy Museum Tomaszow (Poland) Kraszewski Museum DresdenCYANO Galerie 81°stopni, WarschauTEN WAYS TO FORGET, Galerie Carpentier, Berlin2014 THALLIN CONSTANTA 3.000 KM EUROPA, Jenaer Kunstverein, Jena UND ALLES IST WEG Places of World War I. in Poland, Polnisches Insitut München, Regionalmuseum Elk (Poland), Regionalmuseum Brzeziny (Poland), Atelierhaus Darmstadt
Norman Behrendt
EDUCATION BACKGROUND
2017 – 2018 MA Photographic Arts, University of Westminster London, United Kingdom2017 – 2018 DAAD scholarship, MA studies, University of Westminster London, United Kingdom2006 – 2012 BA Photography ans Communication Design, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
AWARDS AND GRANTS (SELECTION)
2021 highly recommended, European Architectural Photography Prize architekturbild, Frankfurt 2019 finalist at Voies Off Award 2019, Arles, France
2017 DAAD scholarship, London, Geat Britain
nominated at New Discovery Award, Rencontres-Arles, France 2016 finalist at Kaunas Photo-Festival, Lithuania
2015 finalist at Kaunas Photo-Festival, Lithuania
finalist at Belfast Photo-Festival, Northern Ireland
finalist at Athen Photo Festival, Athen, Greece 2014 finalist at PhotoIreland Festival, Dublin, Ireland
winner at FEX, competion for experimental photography, Künstlerhaus Dortmund 2013 winner at Photobook Dummy Award, 7th Fotobook Festival 2013, Kassel
appreciation at 10. Aenne Biermann Preis, Gera
2011 scholarship by Kulturfonds Berlin Soziale Stadt, QM Schöneberger Norden, Berlin
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2023 Urban Spree Gallery, Lost in time, Berlin
Kasseler Architekturzentrum im Kulturbahnhof, European Architectural Photography Prize, Kassel 2022 National Gallery Prague, No One Belongs Here More Than You, Czech Republic
Fotograf Gallery Prague, Extremely Normal, Czech Republic
Delphi-Space, Collection Simonov, GVBK Freiburg, Germany
2021 European Architectural Photography Prize,Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt 2020 festival Circulations, Cent-quatre, Paris, France
Good Bye Great Britain, solo exhibition, Gallery Alles Mögliche, Berlin 2019 PhEST, Festival Internazionale di Fotografia e Arte, Monopoli, Italy
Voies Off, Arles, France
2018 Photographs, Phillips Auction House, London, United Kingdom
Transformare, Guardini Gallery, Berlin
Probable Lies, Ambika P3, London, United Kingdom
10. Darmstädter Tage der Fotografie, Darmstadt
Brave New Turkey, solo exhibition, Uno Art Space, Stuttgart
2017 Le monde tel qu’il va!, Hangar J1 Marseille, France New Discovery Award, Rencontres Arles, France
Paris Urban Art Fair, Paris, France