building connections - a research about architecture and language
Ceramic buildings. Through windows or walls broken open, hidden partially abstract worlds become visible, worlds that refer to abandoned places. Nina Naußed is intent on capturing a special atmosphere. Above all through the combining of sculptures with pinhole camera photos of the built interior rooms creates a playing with spatial dimensions that the artist consciously utilizes.
The point of departure of the exhibition building connections was a working stay in Beit Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center in Tel Aviv in the summer of 2017. A fascination with the multifaceted architecture of Tel Aviv provided the artist with the idea of constructing ceramic buildings in Israel as well.
Buildings shows a mixture of inspirations, uniting Jewish and Arab influences, old and new, interior and exterior, nature and the urban world as well as the special nature of the desert.
An enthusiasm for International Style, cubic buildings, round corners and balconies as well as a centuries-old Arab-Ottoman architecture led in addition to a targeted photographic search for the most varied and diverse forms of construction. In the photo series Tel Aviv Yafo, these are juxtaposed to images of interior rooms whose location can only be identified at second glance.
Building on this, Nina Naußed continued to work further in her home town of Halle. Stimulated by the special perspective through which a person perceives an unfamiliar city, she also embarked in Halle on a photographic search for traces of modernity and distinctive architectural characteristics. In the photo series Halle (Saale), views of buildings are juxtaposed likewise to pictures of built interior rooms. The moment of irritation becomes the subject of the work. Together with the photo series of Halle, a dialogue between the cities emerges: TLV – HAL.
From interest in the architecture of Tel Aviv sprang the interest in the Bauhaus and its school in Dessau, which is located close to Halle. A ceramic building was created which both in the exterior form and the color scheme was oriented to the Dessau Masters’ Houses.
With the exhibition Room 30, Nina Naußed brings a bit of Saxony-Anhalt to Tel Aviv. The exhibition unites the view of the artist toward the localities Halle/Saxony-Anhalt and Tel Aviv, it displays commonalities and differences, making visible the effect of the surroundings on her artistic work.
However, Nina Naußed does not only wish to present connections and interlinkages via the architecture of the localities, but also through dealing with the language Yiddish.
Yiddish seems very close to German and is often comprehensible. This similarity is undercut by the Hebrew orthography Yiddish employs, totally unfamiliar to the speakers of German as a native language. If a person learns how to read these, the spoken language sounds very familiar. The opposite effect can be observed among many Israelis, who can read the letters perfectly but cannot understand the content of what they convey. The sound work Yidish likewise came about during a stay in Tel Aviv. The point of departure of personal research were ceramic bowls that were printed over as a fragmentary decorative element with the text of the Yiddish song “Zol zayn” by Yosef Papiernikov. They sparked a conversation with many individuals and thus provided an insight into very different views. The sound piece Yidish provides excerpts and principally impressions of the Yiddish language and music and its close similarity to German.
A ceramic building that also deals with the Yiddish language came into being in Beit Benyamini. The Yidish Hoyz bears traces of a new generation. It was created through joint work with Mendy Cahan from YUNG YiDiSH TLV and has found a permanent exhibition place there.