Melanie Kress
August 1 - September 5, 2008
Schalter is pleased to announce "Bidens hyperborea". The exhibition features an installation by New York-based artist Melanie Kress. This is the first time her work will be presented in Berlin.
As the culmination of a summer internship at Schalter, Kress has chosen to introduce a Bidens hyperborea in to the gallery. Bidens hyperborea is a type of plant found throughout the United States, as well as in Germany and Europe. A member of the Daisy family, it is otherwise referred to as the "beggar-tick" or "stick tight," due to its flat, prolonged and often bothersome seeds, which cling to clothing, fur and feathers. The plant's flowers bloom in late summer and early fall, afterwards shedding the seeds that have earned its status as a common weed. Two of the five forms of the plant found in Germany were introduced to the country via these traveling seeds, and are often found growing alongside train tracks, roads, and the edges of wide, sunny fields.
Through the seemingly simple and innocent gesture of placing a flower, "Bidens hyperborea" considers the position of art and artist as simultaneously insider and outsider. Is the presentation at best, a "bloom" that quickly fades or is there something we take with us? Who is begging whom? Within an exponentially globalized world and art scene, how does what we potentially import unknowingly effect what we see and understand? And does the introduction of something "alien" have a potentially negative impact on the local environment?
Melanie Kress is an American artist currently studying art and linguistics at Columbia University in New York. In addition to her studies, Kress has organized and curated a number of exhibitions and events designed to integrate young artists with institutions from across the northwestern United States. This summer, Kress has completed an internship at Schalter, while continuing her German studies at Humboldt University.
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