How to talk to birds, fish, shell, snakes, bulls and lions
Lecture and Discussion with Antje Majewski
Januar 9th 2020
Antje Majewski: Les Oiseaux de Cameroun. In the foreground: Hervé-Yamguen, Histoires des Têtes. Exhibition view: How to talk to birds, fish, shell, snakes, bulls and lions, Hamburger Bahnhof Berlin
Antje Majewski's work is about the connections between people, things, plants and other living beings. Her artistic investigations show that knowledge of individual objects or living beings is not conceivable without knowledge of the contexts in which they are found and which can be very diverse. It can be about trade routes such as genetic research, museum archiving or questions of restitution.
The difference between animate and inanimate objects becomes fluid. Majewski's videos, paintings and installations always give a voice to people who share their knowledge. Different narratives, different ways of recognizing and dealing with each other and the world intertwine to form a complex web.
Majewski also creates new contexts herself, whether she plants apple trees together with gardeners and patrons or invites artist friends to enter into a dialogue with her works. From the collective thinking and doing, possibilities arise which would not be accessible to the individual without the need to transfer the respective special experience into a collective.