Katharina Kiebacher and T. A. Straub
At the beginning there is darkness
Exhibition
21.02.2008 - 20.03.2008
Goethe-Institut Glasgow
Free Admission
The exhibition will be opened on Thursday, 21 February, 7pm.
This exhibition presents works by Katharina Kiebacher and T.A. Straub who have received scholarships by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and are currently students on the MFA programme at Glasgow School of Art.
Image credits: Kiebacher "Wirthe", 2005 and Straub "Hundekampfszene" (Dog Fight Scene), 2007
Katharina Kiebacher is interested in the essence of photography as a medium that creates universal visual conventions and contributes to the collective memory of images in society. In her work she presents basic and specific images that are familiar to all of us. Kiebacher questions visual conventions as well as typical and ideal representations of important issues. The reduction of the composition makes it possible to express universal statements about visual phenomena and to show the potential of photography to transform reality into an image. The character of photography allows information to be included that strongly refers to the time in which the picture was taken. This may not be the intention of the photographer in the moment of exposure but can nevertheless become relevant to a documentary approach in the future. What will turn out to be evidence for a certain period of time is beyond the control of the photographic practice today. Kiebacher connects the typical and the exemplary with the present time and aims to find a contemporary visual approach for the overall important and essential issues.
Katharina Kiebacher, born 1974 in Freising, Germany, studied photography at the Folkwangschule Essen. In 2007 she received a postgraduate scholarship from the DAAD at the Glasgow School of Art.
T.A. Straub’s current work combines elements of sculpture, installation, concept art as well as graphic designs. Terms like Requisite, Inventory, Ritual, Plot, Scenography and Theatre accompany his work process. Straub’s practice, which is highly characteristic of the creative process, includes turning concerns, concepts and values, mostly associated to the occident, either into something profane or sacred. The resultant ambivalence habitually shows caricature-like streaks that are often critical of our civilisation or culture, even if the attempt of an analysis or a positioning seems to be of higher importance than a distinct educational approach.
T.A. Straub, born 1976 in Villingen, Germany, studied wooden sculpture in Oberammergau and fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe, where he graduated in 2007 as Masterstudent by Prof. H.Klingelhöller. In 2007 he received a DAAD scholarship for a one-year post graduate study at the Glasgow School of Art.
