BERLIN.- Galerie Guido W. Baudach is presenting its fourth solo exhibition with Philipp Modersohn. Entitled The Selfsh Shellfsh, the show features a new flm of the same name and a new sculpture by the Berlin-based artist.
Modersohn‘s diverse practice can be seen as a poetic transformation of natural processes of sometimes earth-historical dimension, as an artistic attempt at an experimental dialogue with our non-human environment; equipped with subtle humour paired with self-irony as well as a pronounced sense for the beauty of the fragile.
The film, which uses both analogue and digital animation techniques, is the fctional self-portrait of a barnacle. The life of this shellfsh, which has been found on our planet since time immemorial and is widespread all over the world, begins as a larva that swims freely through the sea before it attaches itself to the bottom near the shore by generating a limestone casing in order to remain there for the rest of its existence, fishing food (plankton) out of the water and reproducing as a hermaphrodite in mutual fertilization in exchange with members of the same species that are settled in the immediate vicinity.
In his pictures, The Selfsh Shellfsh evokes dynamics of the intertidal zone, the constant alternation of dryness and fooding, solidifcation and mobility. In the process, categories such as ego, body, home or even very elementary aliveness are constantly softened and at the same time manifest themselves anew.
The rhythm of the film follows a baroque song whose lyrics Modersohn rewrote and had sung by a classical countertenor, and whose sounds were produced with the shells of crustaceans. With the brevity and defance of many a good pop song, it tells of the life of its species from the perspective of a barnacle.
Philipp Modersohn, born in Bremen in 1987, studied at the Universität der Künste, Berlin, and at Columbia University, New York. His works have been shown in various exhibitions at home and abroad, including Terra incognita - Fragen an die Erde, Lantz‘scher Skulpturenpark, Düsseldorf, 2021; A Stick in the Forest, LABINAC, Naples, 2021; Etwas mehr als Arbeit, Kunstverein Göttingen, 2020; Welt in Teilen, Kunstverein St. Pauli, Hamburg, 2020; BROKEN - Light shines through, Callie‘s, Berlin, 2020; Ich bin ein Riss, ich will durch Wände gehen, Salon Dahlmann, Berlin, 2018; Exhibiting the Exhibition, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2017; verbacken & verwittern, Oldenburger Kunstverein, Oldenburg, 2016 (solo); Die Punktierung der Sphärenarena, Tiergarten, Berlin, 2014 (solo); Spacerologia, Manitiusa Park, Poznan, 2013. Philipp Modersohn is one of the co-founders of the Intensive Independent International Amateur Academy. Currently, works by him can be seen in the exhibition „Identität nicht nachgewiesen“ - Neuerwerbungen der Sammlung des Bundes, at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. During Berlin Art Week 2022, Philipp Modersohn will also be represented with a work in the exhibition AS IF EVERYTHING IS FOREVER – about processes and non-belonging at Kühlhaus Berlin.
