Unboxing

Unboxing
alexander levy zu Gast bei LEVY
Osterfeldstrasse 6
22529 Hamburg, Germany
7. November – 22. December 2017
Opening : 6. November 2017, | 19-21 Hrs

LEVY Gallery is pleased to announce that the gallery alexander levy will present the exhibition Unboxing featuring artists from the Berlin gallery program in the Hamburger space for the first time: Julius von Bismarck, Felix Kiessling, Fabian Knecht, Daniel Mohr, Nik Nowak, Colin Snapp, Vicky Uslé and Sinta Werner.

“Unboxing”—a concept from internet culture—refers to videos, in which insiders film themselves unpacking newly acquired, coveted objects and then upload them for potential circle of collectors. For the show the gallery alexander levy brought together works from its artists to be exhibited in the setting of Hamburg for the first time. The gallery, founded in 2012, focuses on the presentation of young national and international artists, which engage with our present age in a critical and often ironical way. The emphasis is predominantly placed on conceptual positions, which investigate our perception, reflect societal structures and subversively take up scientific and political themes. They challenge our perceptual habits and expectations—to some extent, “luring” us out of the boxes of our mind. To travel plays a decisive role for the artists, in which they realize worldwide projects in urban and natural settings, from which their final works result.

Many of the series of works on display in the exhibition emphasize a particular part of our surroundings, reality or environment. A new type of attention and involvement emerges with the variously engaged subject matter, by dint of the isolation of these sites and the focus of our gaze. To that end, the artists combine and contrast old and new media: from kinetic sculpture to videos, photographs, sculptures and painting.

During "Unboxing", Nik Nowak will present is work Dubplate 8.

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Nik Nowak - Dubplate 8, 2015

As part of a generation of German post-Cold War artists, Nik Nowak confronts the viewer with remnants of the historical past. His sound object "Panzer" forms the basis for the resulting series "Dubplates". Based on the appearance of a tank and equipped with a sound system, he uses his sculpture for performances with other musicians - as a unifying and peace-bringing symbol. The tank is used as a tool for the series of works: varnish is applied on wood and aluminum plates in several layers. The tank rolls and rotated over the plates and scrapes the layers. The title "Dubplate" refers to a term from music: a special record with a short life span as the audio material is cut into the record. For the further series "Dubplate (torque)" he used a smaller vehicle, titled "Echo (Drohne)", which he developed for the eponymous exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie.

About the artist

Nik Nowak’s works pose central questions about the relationship between man and machine. In his artistic practice, he examines our interaction with technology. His cross-media works frequently address the effect of sound and the role that sound systems play as transmitters of culture and acoustic weapons. 

Equipped with monitoring desks and speakers, his military-looking sculptures are hybrids that Nowak uses virtuously in musical performances. In doing so, the artist combines the pure aesthetics of sculpture with the use of the artwork as a functional and performative object, exploring military and urban phenomenas.

As a complement to the exhibition room, a shipping container—a video box—will be installed in the gallery’s garden, which will screen live video works by the artists.