DOUBLE VISION

Double Vision, an exhibition of work by British artists selected for the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) British Artists’ Programme, was a collaborative project between Visual Arts, the DAAD and the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst in Leipzig.

The DAAD programme has run since the 1970’s and this exhibition was curated by Andrea Schlieker who had been a jury member for seven years.

The fourteen selected artists present a cross-generational section of Britain’s artistic landscape: Victor Burgin, Mat Collishaw, Tacita Dean, Willie Doherty, Douglas Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen, Vong Phaophanit, Richard Wentworth, Rachel Whiteread, Stephen Willats, Richard Wilson and Jane and Louise Wilson.

The artists have all spent time living and working in Germany, principally in Berlin. Their stay, ranging from a few months to one year, invariably generated a fruitful dialogue between the artist and the adopted city, equipping then with an invaluable binary vision and often leaving an indelible mark on their work. The selection included works that relate either directly (Tacita Dean, Stephen Willats, Willie Doherty) or obliquely (Victor Burgin, Mat Collishaw) to German locations and events.

Tacita Dean’s film Fernsehturm, is a bird’s eye view of sky and cityscape shot from Berlin’s television tower. Victor Burgin’s new film takes its cue from a fateful encounter between Nietzsche and Lou Andrea Salome in Leipzig (although we never see the location in the film) and Willie Doherty’s series of photographs feature dark windswept staircases and occasionally lit windows taken at nights in the streets of Berlin. Covering a broad spectrum of media including paintings, sculpture, photography, installation as well as sound, film and video work, Double Vision showcases the work of some of the most central figures in the contemporary British art scene.