Tobias Sternberg (SE)
Nat Tafelmacher-Magnat (FR)
A Tale of Conjuring and Illusion

12-21/1 2018

A Tale of Conjuring and Illusion - brings to gallery CC a presentation of common work by Berlin based artist couple Nat Tafelmacher-Magnat and Tobias Sternberg. Besides pursuing their own individual projects, the two artists have since a couple of years also been setting aside time to develop ideas around their common interest in myth and illusions. Illusion should here be understood partly in the mystical sense of the word, but perhaps even more as a desire to understand and lay bare the cognitive workings of images and perception. With a background in film-making as well as cinematic projection, Tafelmacher-Magnat brings with her an inquisitiveness into the production of images, while Sternberg with his sculptor’s skills, is ever busy at both solving and inventing new problems.
Their common film projects “The Witch” and “The Magician” are stop motion animated films both realized in the awkward and physically strenuous technique of pixilation – animating a live actor. Using themselves as both subjects and performers, they take turn in impersonating two different kind of mythical magical figures. The Witch is shot outside during a one month residency in Thailand, and describes the primordial attempts of a human subject, the witch, to tame and harness the productivity of nature. The witch is selfish, hungry and stubborn, and stops at nothing to get her way. As the shots progress, the passing of the day can be followed in the movements of shadows over the ground; a conscious effect of filming stop-motion outside. The Magician, on the other hand, records the slap-stick performances of a stage magician, trapped somewhere in a vast, dark void, and performing tricks that constantly threaten to take over and run out of control.

Apart from the two film projects, each artist will also present a few individual pieces to set their collaboration in context.

Nat Tafelmacher-Magnat was born in Zürich, Switzerland. She studied Art History and Film Studies in France, followed by Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College in London. She lives and works in Berlin, Germany, after studying filmmaking at the filmArche, and now runs the project space HilbertRaum, in collaboration with 16 other artists. Her short films and art videos have screened in many international festivals and exhibitions.
www.vimeo.com/nattafelmachermagnat

Tobias Sternberg is a Swedish artist working primarily in sculpture and installation. Born in 1973, he studied art at Goldsmith’s College in London and have since his degree in 2005 exhibited widely in both commercial and artist-run spaces and festivals mostly in Europe, but also in the US. Since 2009, he is based in Berlin, where he co-founded the project space HilbertRaum in 2015. He is represented by Krupic und Kersting Galerie in Cologne, have participated in several art fairs, and is represented in private collections in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, England etc.
www.tobiassternberg.com

Photo: Nat Tafelmacher-Magnat