The fifth volume in the Helsinki School series, this publication looks back at the development of this group of photographers over the past 20 years. In a collection of essays, international curators, critics and museum directors describe their encounters with the Helsinki School, from the first exhibitions in the late 1990s to the work of the youngest generation. A discussion between Timothy Persons and Alistair Hicks concludes these contributions. The texts are accompanied by installation shots of exhibitions, archival material and recent work by the artists. Not only a history, the book also looks toward the future of the Helsinki School. This volume includes work by Elina Brotherus, Ilkka Halso, Tiina Itkonen, Sandra Kantanen, Timo Kelaranta, Ola Kolehmainen, Tanja Koljonen, Milja Laurila, Anni Leppälä, Janne Lehtinen, Niko Luoma, Susanna Majuri, Nelli Palomäki and Jorma Puranen.

The Helsinki School: From the Past to the Future

Arts & Photography

Rexer, Lyle

Hicks, Alistair

Persons, Timothy

Tannert, Christoph

Photography & Video

Hatje Cantz

She has been called a symbol of a new globalised generation. In Korea, SEO is regarded as an almost official representative of the country and as one of the world-class artists Korea has given birth to. SEO was born Soo-Kyoung Seo in the South Korean city of Gwangju, 330 km to the south of the capital Seoul, in 1977. Enraptured, some of her countrymen see her as  a Cinderella in BerlinA". This praise is not least due to the renowned art collections that have works by the 32-year-old artist in their possession and have brought her much initial renown, including New York's Judith Rothschild Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art. SEO has had a fairytale career. She moved to Berlin in 2001 to study with Georg Baselitz, where, through her art as well as worldly, non-artistic adventures, she investigated the rites of everyday German life on the lookout for the peculiar and surprising. SEO now proclaims self-confidently,  I am a German artistA". SEO unites Asian and European elements in her pieces.  She makes use of an exceptional artistic process to create her works: Thousands of paper strips are affixed to the canvas - collage-like - painted, pasted over and then painted again to compose fascinating pictures with an extraordinary structure and depth that "illustrate the essence of things and not the immediately apparentA".

SEO Monograph

Prestel

* A critical exploration of the cultural consequences of colonialism * Offering a platform for emerging young artists This book documents the project Radio Carabuco of the Bolivian artist Andrés Pereira Paz, which he created during his residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. A podcast (www.radiocarabuco.com) developed in collaboration with international artists, researchers, and activists forms the centerpiece of the project.Pereira Paz's critical reflections were inspired by José López de los Ríos's painting of a vision of hell, commissioned by the Catholic Church during the colonial era. Created in the Andes town of Carabuco in 1664, the work is still on display at the local church. Like many paintings from that period, the Christian motif was brought to Latin America by the Spanish colonial rulers to convert the indigenous population from paganism to Christianity and to peddle propaganda for Catholicism's message of salvation. The episodes of Pereira Paz's podcast investigate the methods and consequences of religious and cultural colonialism and scrutinize various political and societal perspectives, in particular with regard to his native country of Bolivia. The rejection and suppression of everything that is perceived as 'other' is a key theme of his work, which also addresses the question of whether the traditional Western idea of 'hell' has potentially become a symbolic place of active resistance against propaganda, censorship, and discrimination that should be defended as effectively as possible.

Andrés Pereira Paz: Radio Carabuco

Leykam, Daniela

Bethanien, Kunstlerhaus

History & Criticism

Verlag Kettler

Gladys Kalichini (born 1989 in Chingola, Zambia) is a contemporary visual artist and academic who investigates how women have been portrayed in relation to a dominant, colonial past. For example, the artist sheds light on instances in which women have been deleted from historical narratives and the collective memory of society. As a result of her extensive research, Kalichini has demonstrated that women were intentionally marginalized in the official representations of Zambia's and Zimbabwe's struggles for independence. In her elaborate multimedia installations and video art, which she often develops on the basis of research material and photos from archives, Kalichini highlights the omissions in the dominant representations of the two countries' fight for freedom. She thus expands the history of their liberation struggle by drawing attention to the deletion and invisibility of female freedom fighters. By reminding the public of several of these women, Kalichini creates a diverse and complex alternative narrative of national independence.

Gladys Kalichini: …these gestures of memory

Individual Artists

Talya Lubinsky: Marble Dust

* Part of the Künstlerhaus Bethanien series* Emerging young artists in the spotlightHamlet Lavastida (b. 1983 in Havana, Cuba, lives and works in Havana) creates installations made of posters, prints, collages, photos, and video clips compiled into comprehensive archives. He primarily uses texts, images, and symbols, as well as political speeches and ideological terminologies, from the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, the period in which socialism became increasingly institutionalized in his native Cuba. By reappropriating and reinterpreting this material from an artistic perspective, Lavastida seeks to question the political developments of that era. This publication showcases Lavastida's most recent installation at Künstlerhaus Bethanien. Through his personal confrontation with those cultural archives, which are not recognized as such in Cuban society, Lavastida creates a kind of register and calls for a critical examination of Cuba's history. In particular, he condemns the failure to raise awareness about and address the scars of the past in today's Cuba.

Hamlet Lavastida: Cultura Profiláctica

- From the series Künstlerhaus Bethanien- Offers a platform for emerging young artistsA central pillar of Daniel Lie's artistic practice is time - ranging from age-old memories to the beginning of the world, from the life span of a human being to the geological time of the elements. Lie's art explores concepts such as life, death, and decay, as well as biographical relationships and heritage, with an approach that centers around personal memories, family stories, cultural objects, and natural products that survive for a long time and are linked to memories of the past. Taking a lifetime as a comparative measure, the works are inspired by developmental processes and the transition from one state to another. Installations, sculptures, and a combination of different media reveal the performative qualities of the referential objects - time, transience, and presence. Lie turns a spotlight on these three aspects by creating complex installations and giving pride of place to organic elements that grow and age and have life cycles of their own, such as plants and fungi. Engaging in an interdisciplinary exchange with mycologists, archaeologists, and environmental specialists, Lie addresses the fault lines in binary thought patterns such as science and religion, past origins and present existence, life and death, while attempting to subvert them.

Daniel Lie: Scales of Decay

Since the fall of the Wall, Berlin has become a mecca for exceptional artists who have innovative approaches. Today, both up-and-coming and established artists have made Berlin their place of residence. Who are these creative artists who are working in Berlin as painters, illustrators, sculptors, concept artists, and photographers, and are giving the city the distinction of being the centre of the art world? Christoph Tannert is the exhibition organiser for the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, a well-known international cultural centre in Berlin, and a man who knows the Berlin art scene well. In this book, Tannert introduces a number of prominent artists he considers to be representative of the two generations of artists working in Berlin. They have all influenced Berlin’s art scene and are part of the shift the city underwent from being a place of great freedom for a passing wild art movement to becoming the newly established centre for art that it is today. The internationally acclaimed author and curator Mark Gisbourne conducted interviews with the artists that shed light on their artistic production methods. Stefan Pielow, who became well-known through his unique staged photographs, spotlighted each of the artists for this book.The exceptional quality of this photography volume can be seen before even opening the book. It is a large format edition and the cover inlay showing the skyline of Berlin is embossed in metal. This book is also a collector’s edition as it includes artistic inserts that will only be published here, and is only appearing in a limited, numbered printing of 9,999 copies worldwide.

Berlin Art Scene

Becker Joest Volk Verlag GmbH

German photographer Frank Rothe has created an unusual and unique portrait of modern China. He breaks through the cliché that we think of "the Chinese" only collectively and shows nude portraits of young and old individuals of Beijing and Shanghai. Rothe then juxtaposes each portrait with a long-exposed cityscape photograph reflecting China’s mass society.

Frank Rothe: China Naked (German Edition)

Lunsford, Celina

Kehrer Verlag

* An effort to self-heal through connecting with our ancestors and our historical heritage * Focusing on female and transfeminine perspectives * Installation art as safe spaces In her art, Gaëlle Choisne (*1985, lives and works in Paris and Berlin) addresses the world's complexity with its numerous political and cultural crises - such as the overexploitation of nature and natural resources or the consequences of colonialism and the scars it has left. Her works are often designed as collaborative projects that evolve over years and are continuously redefined at changing locations and with varying participants. Choisne's long-term project Temple of love - To hide is based on the idea of self-healing through sharing our experience with others, through our connection with our ancestors, respect for our historical heritage, and an inner physical balance. In a number of interviews, she asked female and transfeminine people about their situation as racialised women in contemporary society, including several women who have developed the ability to "heal" through various methods and techniques: for example, by creating communities or through family care, music, or "alternative" medicine. Her installation, composed of video projections and objects, presents itself as a safe space which highlights self-care and caring for others. Visitors are invited to participate in an energetic healing process or to drink soothing concoctions.

Gaëlle Choisne: Temple of Love

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Books by Tannert, Christoph