2023-11-18 05:00:00
On November 17, the annual international art fair Art Cologne opened in Germany. This time 170 galleries from all over the world are participating. They brought to Cologne about a thousand works of art worth from several thousand to several million euros. The most expensive object is Pablo Picasso’s painting “The Artist and His Model”, which the Berlin Galerie Bastian valued at 3.75 million euros.
New co-author – artificial intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence is one of the main trends in recent years, which has not bypassed Art Cologne. In 2023, the exhibition will especially feature works by contemporary artists created with the help of AI. “Big changes are taking place in this area,” Stefan Berg, general director of the Bonn Art Museum, who regularly visits Art Cologne, stated in a conversation with DW, including to replenish the museum’s collection. But he does not see a danger for artists – according to the German art critic, AI is not capable of replacing human creative activity. “Technology is only as good as its ability to enable creative imagination. At the moment, human intelligence cannot be rendered redundant by AI. It is just a tool,” says Stefan Berg.
Work by Tallinn artist Katya Novichkova / Temnikova & Kasela gallery Photo: Elena Dozhina/DW
With the help of artificial intelligence, a young but already very famous artist from Tallinn, Katya Novichkova, creates her works. Several of her works were presented in Cologne by the Estonian gallery Temnikova & Kasela. In her work, Novichkova tries to understand how the modern “digitized” world influences and shapes real existence. One of the works presented in the exhibition is based on a photograph of an albino fawn near a stream, taken by a night surveillance camera in the forest. “Katya Novichkova looked at thousands of images from forest cameras that were not intended for the general public, but only for statistics,” Olga Temnikova told DW. According to her, we are accustomed to such images because they are part of our everyday information flow, they allow us to get closer to nature than ever before, and at the same time they no longer surprise us. The artist combined the everyday – sweet and touching images of deer – with the soulless and mechanical. “It refers us to the first images of animals,” noted Olga Temnikova. Another work by Katya Novichkova, a composition of two kissing deer, was designed by artificial intelligence with four legs for two. This image evokes completely different emotions – from admiration for the absolute fusion of two animals into one, to pity or even disgust due to missing limbs.
It’s hard to miss the installation by Canadian artist Sarah Friend, also created using artificial intelligence. On the wall there is wallpaper and a screen designed for an Instagram account. It is filled with erotic pictures of naked women in various positions. The AI selected these bodies from the network, and the artist “tried on” them for herself, replacing the heads of the originals with her own. This installation exists in two versions – with and without censorship – the latter was presented at the exhibition. “The question is what is a person actually selling by posing naked on social networks,” Lisa Bening, a representative of Berlin’s Galerie Nagel Draxler, which brought the work to Art Cologne, explained to DW.
New Positions
Art Cologne is not only a parade of famous artists, whose works can cost more than the annual salary of the average German. The New Positions project plays a special role. The organizers of the art fair give several young promising artists, selected by a special jury, the opportunity to present their works to the general public for free. Galleries that collaborate with juried artists receive additional exhibition space to present their new work. This year, there were twenty artists on the New Positions list, including several from post-Soviet republics.
Among the young talents selected by the jury is Moldova-born Irina Ojovan. “This is very important for me. Because I don’t work for myself, my works are for people to see,” the young artist said in an interview with DW. When creating a series of works presented at Art Cologne, Irina was inspired by memories of how her father worked in his architectural studio.
The New Positions list also included Kiev resident Marta Dyachenko and Orsk native Artur Leven, who live and work in Germany.
Düsseldorf artist Rimma Arslanov at Art Cologne 2023Photo: E. Dozhina /DW
“The support provided by the organizers of the fair is very important for any young artist, because this is an opportunity to show their works to a wide range of people,” Rimma Arslanov noted in an interview with DW. She was born in Tajikistan, spent her childhood in Uzbekistan, lived in Israel, and ten years ago moved from Tel Aviv to Dusseldorf, so she does not associate herself with only one country. “I am an Israeli artist, but I also feel like a German artist, because I have lived in Germany for quite a long time,” said Rimma. She says that the influence of Uzbek culture is felt in many of her works.
War theme
The Vienna gallery Christine König Galerie, with which Rimma Arslanov collaborates, also brought works by Kyiv artist Nikita Kadan to Cologne. In 2022, at Art Cologne, his other installation attracted a lot of attention, in the center of which was a road sign to Lisichansk, pierced by bullets and shrapnel. As last year, Nikita Kadan’s works are related to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Funds from the sale of his works go, among other things, to support Ukrainians affected by the war. “The world does not stand still, and sometimes the focus shifts. People are unjustifiably less interested in war,” Robbie Greif, director and partner of the Vienna gallery Christine König Galerie, told DW. Nikita Kadan, in his opinion, is the person who considers it his task to constantly remind and talk about what is happening in Ukraine. “Nikita Kadan is an artist and a person who informs about the war. His works have always had political overtones,” said Robbie Greif.
The topic of war today is especially relevant for Rimma Arslanov, whose parents live in Israel. “Of course, the current situation in Israel greatly influences me. I had a series called “War Without a Name.” For three years I painted soldiers. Everything that happens has a strong influence on creativity,” notes the artist.
Unique exhibition and sale of art
At Art Cologne 2023 you can buy both the creations of the most famous masters of the 20th century – Andy Warhol, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, and the most expensive living artists in the world – the German Gerhard Richter and the Japanese artist Yayomi Kusama. The fair organizers also put a lot of effort into supporting young authors.
Participation in Art Cologne is a kind of mark of quality in the art world. Of the approximately 400 galleries that applied, the art fair organizers ultimately selected less than half. Every year it is visited by tens of thousands of people – gallery owners, artists, experts, collectors, museum workers, as well as ordinary spectators who perceive the art fair as a unique exhibition of contemporary art. Since all copies are intended for sale, many works can perhaps be seen here for the last time before they end up in private collections, primarily German.
For example, several galleries brought to Cologne the works of Alexei von Jawlensky and Serge Polyakov, immigrants from Russia who became famous while working in Germany and France. Prices for their work range from several hundred thousand euros. “The demand for Jawlensky is always very high, because he is a universal, delightful artist, whose work is not connected with his origin,” Quirine Verlinde, director of the Swiss Galerie von Vertes, said in an interview with DW. A gallery from Zurich, specializing, among other things, in German impressionists, brought five works by Jawlensky from different creative periods.
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