PM/20_gen+esc
- PROJECT M
- Urban Nation
- August 27, 2023
EXHIBITION: PROJECT M/20_generati0n+escape_ _thoughts_and_c0ntradicti0ns_//_seas0n_01:02_BERLIN
ARTIST: RABI
CURATED BY: Michelle Houston
URBAN NATION Museum Satellite Gallery
Sonnenallee 126, 12059 Berlin
OPENING: September 13, 7–10 pm
EXHIBITION DATES: September 14, 2023 – April 7, 2024
Thursday/Friday, 1–6 pm
Saturday, 1–8 pm
Sunday, 1–6 pm
URBAN NATION presents the latest solo exhibition by artist RABI in the Project M/ series, Project M/20_generati0n+escape_//_thoughts_and_c0ntradicti0ns_//_seas0n_01:02_BERLIN, curated by Michelle Houston.
The inaugural exhibition will be presented at the new URBAN NATION Museum Satellite Gallery, in Neukölln, during Berlin Art Week, featuring short art films, installations, print editions, and ceramic sculptures.
_gen+esc (generation+escape) is a series of short art films that capture subjects whilst they share their most intimate spaces and thoughts. They are veiled by green suits and share details about their lives and practices that fuel the vehicle to escape. The green suit provides a canvas for creator Rabi, whose artistic and editorial vision takes us on a journey through open-sourced footage sliced together to form artworks unto themselves—every frame an homage to the individual’s narrative.
The self-recorded audio extracts each subject’s private thoughts separate from the gaze of an audience. As they discuss themes of identity, belonging, process, and coping with global change, commonalities of escapism and contradiction arise among them all—highlighting our society’s obsession with self-image and the ironically ubiquitous bid for individuality. Taking these surfaced feelings and realizations, Rabi has created pieces that explore how this change has impacted art as a whole.
In a digital age sculpted by super-curated experiences of false reality, Rabi uses these vignettes to pose fertile questions: Are we a generation fated to chase freedom through escape? Can we accept the pervasive and persistent contradictions of the human experience?
For _seas0n_01:02_BERLIN, the artist has created a new, dedicated episode in the series. It features social worker Tobias Braun from JOBMOBIL, a cooperation partner of Stiftung Berliner Leben as part of its Stadtraum!Plus program.
Beyond the gallery, RABI will be creating a new mural as part of the URBAN NATION ONE WALL Mural project, which he is due to paint after the exhibition opens in September 2023 at Bötzowstr. 53, in Prenzlauer Berg. In this wholly interactive experience guests will be invited to utilize AR technology that casts the imagery onto green-screen components throughout the space, extending the show past the expected gallery experience.
Accompanying the exhibition, a film screening and talk will take place on 27 September as part of the MCL presents series at the URBAN NATION Museum.
