Exhibition Bockmeyer Travel Grant – Collective "In Ordnung"

Exhibition Bockmeyer Travel Grant - Collective "In Ordnung"

Exhibition / 28.04. - 05.05.2023

The exhibition is the result of a trip by the collective to South Korea as part of the Bockmeyer Travel Grant.

With the travel scholarship founded by architect Heinz Arnold Bockmeyer, the H.-A.-Bockmeyer Foundation makes possible an annual trip to realise an artistic project at the HfK Bremen. Students and alumni from the degree programmes Fine Art, Integrated Design and Digital Media can apply with a concept. The amount of the travel grant is 3,000 euros.

Collective "In Ordnung" - Eier im Fluss (Eggs in the River)

Sometimes the Nakdong River overflows its banks and floods the nests of the ducks breeding there. The eggs inside die. Abundant but rotten and inedible, a Korean proverb describes duck eggs as an unwanted thing, something that is abundant but not needed by anyone.

The multiple layers surrounding the "eggs in the river" strongly resemble the concept of the island, the territory outlined by numerous definitions. The contours are defined and/or dismantled by the worldviews of contemporary knowledge systems, such as the division of ideologies, the violence of colonialism, urban developments or the travel industry. This openness in interpretation (or rather dependence on the social/historical context) makes the island a fluid entity like eggs on the river, whose temporary surfaces encounter us with multiple metaphorical spaces.

From the demilitarised zone to Jeju Island, the journey was an exploration of the term "island" in terms of various aspects. An island appears to be independent and detached, but beneath the surface and hidden by the water, it is connected to the ground and the rest of the land.

The boundary of an island appears obvious and fixed, but on closer inspection the boundary is a wave that is in constant motion, permeable and transgressive. The border between the two countries of North and South Korea is obvious and well guarded. However, the emotional border and bond is subject to fluctuations and political calculation. The term itself determines the perception, draws the border. We believe that the border exists and do not cross it, so that this border becomes more stable and solid.

Opening: 28.04.2023, 7 p.m.
Opening hours:
29.04.- 30.04. 13-17 hrs.
04.05. & 05.05. 3-6 p.m.
Ship Dauerwelle, jetty Bgm.-Smidt-Brücke, 28199 Bremen

(Be aware: The jetty and ship aren't barrier-free.)

Graphics: Clemens Gensch