Paula Kaniewska

Soft Power

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Exhibition from June 23th to July 14th, 2023

with soundinstallation by Ángeles Rojas

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Can a fence made of balloons keep anyone out? The exhibition “Soft Power” points to the arbitrary nature of borders and searches for ways to open them up. In collaboration with the composer Ángeles Rojas, Paula Kaniewska explores the issue of divided and inaccessible space by employing balloons: enclosed and trapped air. These fragile, yet surprisingly flexible and resilient, objects are the building blocks for Kaniewska’s barrier-shaped installation but would burst upon contact with the sharp wires of actual fences. The tension between the need to demarcate territory and the oppression of boundaries governs the exhibition – air deflates from this pumped-up border and resonates with the sounds of the confined spaces.

The exhibition is part of 48h Neukölln Festival 
23.6. – 25.6.2023, topic: Play(ground) 
and is kindly supported by an ArtSpaceLab grant. 

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Paula Kaniewska is a visual artist based in Berlin. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Kaniewska works across various media, including painting and installation, as well as map-making and video. Her artistic practice concentrates on the documentation of boundaries, with a keen eye for disruptions and discontinuities.

 

 

Ángeles Rojas is an Argentinian composer based in Berlin. Her practice is centered on the listening experience as a sensitive means to inhabit other perceptions of time and space. In her music, she explores the concept of unity through deepening into the harmonic spectrum and the resonance phenomena.