Vesselroom Project is delighted to present the collaborative project within the frame of the solo exhibition ‘Structure of its theme’ by Rubén González Escudero (ES) which will open on Saturday, 13th of June 2015 at 7 p.m. The exhibition will host two different events: Fête de la musique, on the 21st of June 2015 and a workshop for children on the 2nd & 3rd of July 2015.
'Structure of its Theme' is a study of the facade of the iconic Neue Kreuzberger Zentrum (NKZ) building in Kottbusser Tor, in order to convert its antennas into musical notes from which their score lines constitute the structure of the building. The reason for the large number of antennas at the Neue Kreuzberger Zentrum is connected to the origin of the building. Designed by Wolfgang Jokisch and John Uhl, it was built between 1969 and 1974 within the first program of urban renewal in West Berlin.
It was negatively received and completely rejected by the local residents as it meant the demolition of much of the surrounding area’s buildings that had predated and survived the war. Moreover, the new building was designed to shelter a highway that would cross the neighborhood; hence its characteristic shape. NKZ was intended to accommodate the mass of immigrants that arrived as «guest workers» in the 60s and 70s due to the economic boom in West Germany, mainly Turkish people in the case of Berlin.
«I’m interested in the antennas as a connection tool to their culture of origin; like enormous ears or belly buttons which connect to a distant motherland. They become architectural elements, as the inhabitants of the building modify and personalize its appearance through an unintentional act of mere functionality. I am interested in the poetic act of encoding through music the physical facts, in this case obtaining a soundtrack which is defined by the tenants themselves, so fragile and connected to them, and exposed to be easily altered as soon as they have to change home.»
Rubén González Escudero
*Madrid, Spain. Lives and works in Berlin
Rubén González Escudero was born in Madrid in 1979, graduated in Visual Arts by the Complutense University of Madrid in 2007. Since then he lives in Berlin and has performed screenings of his videoworks in GlogauAIR (Berlin) and Loop (Barcelona) and exhibited in different places like Casal Solleric in Palma de Mallorca, Galería Kreisler in Madrid, Alte Kindl Brauerei, Tachelles o Werkstatt der Culturen in Berlin. Since 2009, he is part of the artistic collective Dreiecke with Elena García Jiménez and Marina Escorial.
His work comes from a particular view of the world and its context, that he sees as an affecting cultural construction of our perception. His interest lies primarily in the subject and his environment, which he considers not only on a physical level, but also in its broader meaning. In his artistic process, he begins with the observation and exploration of his surroundings, to later analyze them by photos, paintings, drawings or video. This is followed by the deconstruction, contextualization, alienation and abstraction of the results. Ultimately, reality is reconstructed in a new order again, gathered up or associated in an alternative way. The result of this process brings up the question of how unconditional conventions affect our reality.
